Former US President Bill Clinton has condemned anti-Muslim rhetoric and discrimination, saying he is tired of people being targeted because of their Islamic faith.

Speaking at Koinonia Worship Center in Florida on Thursday, Clinton cited a Quranic message urging people from different backgrounds to get to know and understand one another.

“I’m tired of people denigrating Muslims for being Muslims,” Clinton said, criticising religious intolerance and what he described as growing religious and cultural divisions in the United States.

Clinton recalled that his daughter, Chelsea Clinton, introduced him to the Quran when she was a teenager. She had read the religious text and later encouraged him to read it, he said.

He said the passage emphasises the importance of understanding people from different communities rather than treating their differences as grounds for hostility.

The message echoes verse 49:13 of the Quran, which says humanity was created into nations and tribes so that people may know one another.

Clinton said religious differences should not be used to justify discrimination or hostility, arguing that every faith has people who do wrong because human beings are imperfect.

He urged people to view cultural and religious diversity as an opportunity for mutual understanding rather than a source of conflict.

His remarks come amid an increasingly heated political debate over Islam and Muslim representation in the United States.

They have drawn attention as Muslim Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed faces criticism over his faith while campaigning for a US Senate seat in Michigan.

El-Sayed, a former public health official, is seeking to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. His campaign has faced attacks from political opponents who have attempted to associate him with extremist groups.

US President Donald Trump recently referred to El-Sayed as “Mohammed” and called him a “jihadist”, according to reports.

El-Sayed has also publicly denounced the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political movement founded in Egypt in 1928.