US President Obama Expected Visit To A Mosque In The US For The First-Time

Obama will speak at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque in Maryland on Thursday morning.

He has visited mosques in other parts of the world on official trips abroad during his seven years as president.

The White House said the visit was intended as a defence of religious freedom and a statement against bigotry.

'Tradition of religious freedom'

The president would "reiterate the importance of staying true to our core values - welcoming our fellow Americans, speaking out against bigotry, rejecting indifference, and protecting our nation's tradition of religious freedom", a White House official was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it has tracked a growing number of attacks on mosques and Muslim individuals since the Paris attacks in November 2015 and a shooting in San Bernardino, California, in December.

A report by the group warned that "levels of anti-Muslim sentiment follow trends in domestic US politics", highlighting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's call in December for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US.

Barack Hussein Obama has had a complicated relationship with Muslims. Early in his presidency he vowed to reshape relations with Muslims overseas after the disastrous fallout from the Iraq War.

That fizzled out in the tumult of the Arab revolutions. Back at home, he faced persistent allegations that he was a secret Muslim pretending to be a Christian, fuelled by his name and his Muslim relatives.

That came to a head with a satirical 2008 New Yorker cover depicting Mr Obama and his wife as terrorists - the presidential candidate in traditional Islamic clothes. Mr Obama has dismissed rumours about his Muslim faith as silliness. He's focused instead on refusing to link Islam with terrorism, for which he is praised by American Muslims and excoriated by Republicans campaigning for his job.

It's not clear if any of this history prompted him to delay visiting a mosque until his last year in office: American presidents rarely pay formal visits to houses of worship and he waited until last May to attend a synagogue in his presidential capacity.

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Ibrahim Hooper from CAIR said: "I don't think there's ever been this level of fear and apprehension in the Muslim-American community.

"For some time, we've been asking for pushback. Perhaps this will start a trend."

Mr Obama is in his final year as president. A week ago, he became the first sitting president to speak at the Israeli Embassy, where he warned of growing anti-Semitism.

Akbar Ahmed, an Islamic studies specialist at American University, said Mr Obama had left it "literally to the last" to visit a US mosque, but he said: "Better late than never."

In 2010 the White House blamed a "misinformation campaign" for a growing belief that Mr Obama was a Muslim. Over the course of his presidency, some people have said he is a Muslim pretending to be a Christian.