--- title: White House Says It Won't Declare Muslim National Holiday description: The White House has declined to name the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr as a national holiday. canonical: https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-12T17:10:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:18.184Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Says It Won't Declare Muslim National Holiday og:description: More than 127,000 signed a petition calling for Eid al-Fitr to be a holiday og:url: https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255e3aeb89b7dcf/69887521524fc09c06df5e68/gettyimages-134305052.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2180 og:image:height: 1226 og:image:alt: 134305052 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Says It Won't Declare Muslim National Holiday twitter:description: More than 127,000 signed a petition calling for Eid al-Fitr to be a holiday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255e3aeb89b7dcf/69887521524fc09c06df5e68/gettyimages-134305052.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Says It Won't Declare Muslim National Holiday > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: TIME Raw: Presidential Candidates React to Trump's Ban Muslim Comment [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Presidential Candidates React to Trump's Ban Muslim Comment](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5RhOTVZO.m3u8) (3:47)  _Published 2015-12-08_  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 12, 2015 5:10 PM UTC  Eid prayers mark the end of Ramadan in India. Eid prayers mark the end of Ramadan in India. (Akash Banerjee Photography-Getty Images/Flickr RF)  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 12, 2015 5:10 PM UTC The White House has declined to name the [Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr](http://time.com/3963001/eid-al-fitr/) as a national holiday after more than 100,000 people called for the designation in an online petition. President Barack Obama “understands the importance” of the three-day event that marks the end of Ramadan – but said it’s up to Congress to make the call, [according to the White House’s response to the petition](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-eid-muslim-holiday-public-holiday-state-connecticut). “Proposals for new permanent federal holidays are typically the province of Congress,” White House officials wrote. “While Eid is not among the public holidays designated by Congress, we want you to know that the Administration is committed to advancing the ability of all people to practice their faith, observe their religious practices, and celebrate religious holidays.” The government petition was created in September. It garnered more than 127,000 signatures, prompting federal officials to review it and issue a response. [New York City’s school district became the largest in the nation](http://time.com/3731692/nyc-public-school-muslim-holiday/) earlier this year to recognize Eid as an official holiday. “As Muslims mark the end of the month, they are reminded that Ramadan is a time to reflect spiritually, build communally, and aid those in need,” Obama said at the time. “While Eid marks the end of Ramadan, it marks a new beginning for each individual – a reason to celebrate and express gratitude on this holiday.” ## Transcript I think Donald Trump's comments are some outrageous, fascist, demagoguery. And I think it plays right into the hands of ISIL. Because the President said last night, we cannot allow our values to become the first casualty of this new, Threat of terror. We have to realize what we have in one another, and the truth of the matter is our Muslim American neighbors are our front lines of defense here. And so, what Donald Trump has said I find to be absolutely outrageous. It is un- American. There was a letter written by about [ UNKNOWN ] About 1, 000. Was it 1, 000? Rabbis the other day, that said in 1939, we didn't do a very good job as a nation at distinguishing between who are enemies are and who the victims of our enemies are. And let's hope we're not repeating that mistake again in 2015. So, in conclusion, I think Donald Trump's statements are the sort of demagoguery that sometimes precedes fascism. And I think it's outrageous and I think all of us have an obligation to speak out against this. Unfortunately I think Donald Trump's over reaction is as dangerous as President Obama's under reaction. President Obama isn't prepared to do anything, which is clearly foolish but Donald Trump Trump always plays on everyone's worst instincts and fears, and saying we're not gonna let a single Muslim into this country is a dangerous overreaction. I'd rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him. I wish he would leave the party. I don't care if he runs as an Independent. If we lose the 2016 election, so be it. This is not about an election. This is about the future of the country and our party. You know how you win this war? You side with people in the faith who reject this ideology, which is 99 %. And you know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell. Well, that is not my policy I've introduced legislation in the Senate that would put in place a three year moratorium on refugees coming from countries where ISIS or al- Qaeda control a substantial amount of territory. And the reason is that's where the threat is coming from. And the Obama administration, the FBI, has told us they don't have the resources to properly vet those refugees. Refugees to determine whether or not they are Isis terrorists. I think that's the approach we should take and we need a Commander In Chief who is focused on, on keeping this nation safe and the way to do so is focusing in particular on radical islamic terrorism which is exactly what I intend to do. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/"},"headline":"White House Says It Won't Declare Muslim National Holiday","datePublished":"2015-12-12T17:10:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:18.184Z","description":"More than 127,000 people signed a petition calling for the designation","url":"https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/","keywords":["faith","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255e3aeb89b7dcf/69887521524fc09c06df5e68/gettyimages-134305052.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255e3aeb89b7dcf/69887521524fc09c06df5e68/gettyimages-134305052.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"134305052","caption":"Eid prayers mark the end of Ramadan in India.","creditText":"(Akash Banerjee Photography-Getty Images/Flickr RF)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/","name":"White House Says It Won't Declare Muslim National Holiday"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Presidential Candidates React to Trump's Ban Muslim Comment","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5RhOTVZO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-08T15:47:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5RhOTVZO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/","duration":"PT3M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4146780/eid-al-fitr-muslim-holiday-white-house/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```