(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - “I am very privileged to be here and I am grateful to the grand imam for allowing me to come,” Kerry told reporters, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
Calling it an “extraordinary place”, the top US diplomat removed his shoes outside the Istiqlal mosque in the heart of Jakarta.
He walked through the vast building accompanied by grand imam Kyai al-Hajj Ali Mustafa Yaqub.
US-Muslim relations severely deteriorated after the September 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York.
Ties hit all-time low under the administration of Bush, over his so-called "war on terror" which saw the invasion of two Muslim countries; Afghanistan and Iraq.
After winning his first term in 2008, Obama delivered a landmark speech from Cairo where he pledged to repair US relations with the Muslim world after a decade of mistrust under his predecessor George W. Bush.
After he assumed presidency, Obama offered a stretched hand to Muslims with two speeches in Egypt’s Cairo and Turkey’s Istanbul in which he pledged that his administration will seek a “new beginning” with the Muslim world.
Yet, Indonesia remained as the cornerstone to which the United States and other Western powers have often referred to as a bridge to the Muslim world.
Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, also visited the mosque in 2010 when he travelled to the archipelago.
Furthermore, Kerry expressed his admiration with the magnificent Muslims’ worshipping house.
“It has been a special honor to visit this remarkable place of worship,” Kerry wrote in a note to be placed in the mosque’s guestbook.
“The amazing space and light and the extraordinary dome are the perfect way to welcome prayers.
“We are all bound to one God and the Abrahamic faiths tie us… together in love for our fellow man and honor for the same God. May peace be with you.”
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim state with Muslims making up around 85 percent of its 237-million population.
The Istiqlal mosque was commissioned in 1961 by the then-Indonesian leader Sukarno and took 17 years to complete.
Its vast 12 columns hold up an impressive green dome, and at Ramadan it is often packed to capacity with space for some 130,000 worshippers.
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Calling it an “extraordinary place”, the top US diplomat removed his shoes outside the Istiqlal mosque in the heart of Jakarta.
He walked through the vast building accompanied by grand imam Kyai al-Hajj Ali Mustafa Yaqub.
US-Muslim relations severely deteriorated after the September 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York.
Ties hit all-time low under the administration of Bush, over his so-called "war on terror" which saw the invasion of two Muslim countries; Afghanistan and Iraq.
After winning his first term in 2008, Obama delivered a landmark speech from Cairo where he pledged to repair US relations with the Muslim world after a decade of mistrust under his predecessor George W. Bush.
After he assumed presidency, Obama offered a stretched hand to Muslims with two speeches in Egypt’s Cairo and Turkey’s Istanbul in which he pledged that his administration will seek a “new beginning” with the Muslim world.
Yet, Indonesia remained as the cornerstone to which the United States and other Western powers have often referred to as a bridge to the Muslim world.
Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, also visited the mosque in 2010 when he travelled to the archipelago.
Furthermore, Kerry expressed his admiration with the magnificent Muslims’ worshipping house.
“It has been a special honor to visit this remarkable place of worship,” Kerry wrote in a note to be placed in the mosque’s guestbook.
“The amazing space and light and the extraordinary dome are the perfect way to welcome prayers.
“We are all bound to one God and the Abrahamic faiths tie us… together in love for our fellow man and honor for the same God. May peace be with you.”
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim state with Muslims making up around 85 percent of its 237-million population.
The Istiqlal mosque was commissioned in 1961 by the then-Indonesian leader Sukarno and took 17 years to complete.
Its vast 12 columns hold up an impressive green dome, and at Ramadan it is often packed to capacity with space for some 130,000 worshippers.
/149
