COLUMBUS, Ohio, 25 October 2006 — For the first time the majority of Muslims in the Unites States celebrated Eid on the same day.
Eid prayers were held in several locations and thousands of Muslims took the day off to attend, braving cold weather and the city’s first snowfall.
In the past, Ramadan and Eid have been celebrated on different days in the US giving rise to general confusion and disenchantment among Muslim communities in the US.
“It feels great that my cousins in San Francisco, Illinois, and New York are celebrating Eid with us on the same day. It feels like we were all united in Islam,” said Samina, a Muslim woman. Another woman, Shahin, said that her son, who was living in nearby Cleveland, Ohio, celebrated Eid on a different day last year.
Addressing a large gathering for the Eid sermon at the newly opened 28,000-square-foot Noor Mosque, Alimuddin Alimuddin praised the American Muslim community, saying they are the ambassadors of their faith in the Western, predominantly Christian nation.
Muslims “need to become active in the Islamic community so that (non-Muslim) Americans can see that Islam is a religion of peace and progression.”
Alimuddin said that the greatest challenge for US Muslims was not from the US government or media, but from “our children whom we have not been taught Islam properly.”
He recalled that when he was teaching, a student once told him: “I’m not sure I am a Muslim.” To this, he said another student added: “I’m not sure I want to be a Muslim.”
He said when he tried to talk to the boys, the principal reprimanded him for going off course. “The principal said to me: ‘You are supposed to teach them about teyammum (ablution) so stick to that’,” he said.
Alimuddin said that parents and the older generation of Muslims needed to be good role models and needed to make their children proud of being Muslims.
There was a festive atmosphere with children and teenagers making the most of it. Over the weekend, several events were held in which teenagers danced, applied henna to their hands and packed presents for their friends and relatives.
Fitra (alms) was $8 per head this year. Computer games were high on the list of presents but cash was the No. 1 desired present, as one teenager put it.
