President Barack Obama greets children from Al-Rahmah school and other guests during his visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday in Baltimore, Md.

WASHINGTON — First came an honor guard of Muslim Boy Scouts proudly carrying a U.S. flag. Then a rousing pledge of allegiance from hundreds of Muslim Americans. Then an introduction from a Muslim college student, wearing a hijab over her head, who wants to be a doctor.

The symbolism was unmistakable Wednesday when President Barack Obama visited the first American mosque of his tenure, a politically fraught trip to the sprawling Islamic Society of Baltimore, where he condemned Islamaphobia on the campaign trail and tried to reassure Muslim Americans not to become isolated in their own country.

Although he never mentioned Donald Trump or other Republican presidential candidates, Obama called for an end to invective that confuses millions of patriotic Americans with a “radical, tiny minority” who engage in violence.

“We have to reject a politics that seeks to manipulate prejudice or bias, and targets people because of religion,” he said. “We can’t be bystanders to bigotry.”

The event was a personal milestone for the president with the Islamic name, who was elected only after convincing Americans that he was a Christian and not an adherent to the religion of his Kenyan grandfather.