[1] Bush praised Muslims in the United States for their contributions to society and noted that some feared they would become the targets of harassment or violence from Americans upset about the September 11 attacks.

[2] Compared to the days preceding Bush's speech, the number of hate crimes committed against Muslims decreased after his remarks.

It was the first American presidential statement issued for Eid al-Adha, and Bush praised the "variety of nations and cultures represented by those who travel to Mecca each year" as "reminders that ethnic and racial differences need not divide us when we share common values and purposes".

[11] On September 14, which he had declared a National Day of Prayer, Bush spoke at a memorial service alongside Muzammil H. Siddiqi, a Muslim imam.

[2] Intending to head off Islamophobic prejudice,[17] he added that he was aware that some American Muslims, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, were "afraid they'll be intimidated" if they tried to go about their "ordinary daily routines".

[18] Bush condemned Islamophobia in the United States, saying that people who would "take out their anger" about the September 11 attacks against Muslim individuals "represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior".

[22] Sociologist Louise Cainkar considered the remarks at the Islamic Center "a positive speech" but criticized Bush for undermining this effort in other addresses he delivered that played into stereotypes that Muslims opposed freedom, like his September 20 speech to a joint session of Congress delivered only days later.

[3] Salon contributor Aymann Ismail called Bush's September 17 remarks and his other speeches about Islam "lip service" because his actual policies were significantly negative for American Muslims, but he further argued that Bush's remarks at least demonstrated that his administration "felt responsible for how their words affected" American Muslims, which Ismail considered starkly different from the overtly Islamophobic first presidency of Donald Trump.