WASHINGTON/COLUMBUS, Ohio, 14 October 2007 — American Muslims were split yesterday on when Eid Al-Fitr started this year, the feast that follows the Ramadan month of fasting, with some celebrating it Friday and others opting to continue fasting until yesterday.
The imam at the Noor Mosque in Columbus, Ohio, during Friday’s “khutba” reminded people to make lots of supplications as it was the last day of Ramadan. “Who knows how many of us will be here next year,” he said. Yet the imam at the Al Khattab Mosque was wishing everybody a happy Eid.
The Muslim community was divided on the issue of the sighting of the new moon, which would denote the beginning of a new month and the beginning of Eid, just like their counterparts in Atlanta, Alabama and other US cities. In Ohio a sizable number of Muslims decided to celebrate Eid with Saudi Arabia on Friday.
“We are no longer moon sighting, but moon fighting,” said the imam at the Noor Mosque, noting that this year, all of American Muslims started Ramadan on the same day so there was the hope that Eid too would be celebrated together without any controversy.
Muslim organizations like the Islamic Society of North America and the Islamic Circle of North America all announced Eid would be yesterday, but many local mosques still looked toward Saudi Arabia and decided to follow it by declaring Eid on Friday.
“My husband wanted to celebrate Eid on Friday, so that he wouldn’t have to fast one more day. But he was outvoted. My daughter who goes to Ohio State had a test on Friday so we decided to go along with the group that’s celebrating Eid on Saturday,” one woman told Arab News.
“I am all confused,” Ayesha said. “It is not permissible to fast on the day of Eid, but here half the community is fasting and the other half is celebrating Eid. Everyone says follow the mosque you go to. I wish there would be one accepted organization that would announce if Eid is today or not. All the division is really unhealthy for us Muslims.”
Eid Al-Fitr was celebrated with zeal and fervor in spite of the difference in opinions. “Ultimately it all boils down to celebrating with your friends and family. As long as we fast, pray and enjoy the true spirit of Eid, we shouldn’t fight over when the first day of Eid is,” said one Ohio resident.
Most Muslims marked the holiday by attending prayers at their mosques, and after the prayers and two brief sermons — one in Arabic and another in English — the celebration began with a breakfast. Later in the day, America’s Muslims planned to gather in homes across the country to continue the festivities.
One thing that made this year’s Ramadan different, Muslims told Arab News, was a resolution passed by the US House of Representatives recognizing Ramadan and commending Muslims in the US and throughout the world for their faith.
The resolution, which recognized the “holy month of Ramadan” and expressed “deep respect to Muslims in the United States and throughout the world” was adopted by the House earlier this month by a vote of 376-0.
The resolution acknowledging the importance of Muslims in America, the first of its kind, was introduced by Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson and co-sponsored by 30 legislators, including Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress.
“It’s a sign of respect and recognition. It’s a very American thing to do. We are a nation of religious tolerance and religious inclusion,” Ellison recently told Arab News.
Aziz Junejo, in Seattle, Washington, said that for the first time this year local Muslims joined those in 22 other US cities for “Humanitarian Day,” a day of giving to the region’s destitute and homeless. They worked during Ramadan in downtown Seattle, “and each volunteer was cold and hungry, but passion and zeal to serve the less fortunate with kindness and dignity made the participants forget their own pain,” he said.
Junejo hosts “Focus on Islam,” a weekly cable-television show.
For Hanan Alnasr, of Orland Hills, Illinois, she said her mosque celebrated Eid on Friday, and they prayed in a soccer stadium for Eid, which was a little odd. “But it doesn’t matter. The important thing is we have to pray; that’s it,” Alnasr said.
Volunteers placed sheets of heavy-duty cardboard on the concrete and grass in the bowl of the Bridgeview stadium so worshippers could kneel.
Men gathered in one section of the stadium, and women gathered behind them, separated by a field of green grass.
She said she planned to take her children to Chuck E. Cheese’s and then meet family for dinner at a restaurant. The rest of the day would be spent visiting friends and family. Outside the stadium, she said some people snacked on halal hot dogs and nachos before the day’s big meal, and the Islamic foundation set up games and an inflatable jumping jack for the children to enjoy after the services.
In Memphis, Tennessee, Muslims celebrated Eid on Friday. About 5,000 Memphis-area Muslims joined in a community prayer Friday morning at the DeSoto Civic Center. The event was organized by the four mosques in the Memphis area.
In Canada, thousands of Muslims in Edmonton took the day off from work or school Friday to celebrate Eid.
