By Riad Z. Abdelkarim, MD, Anaheim, CA
This year, Eid-ul-Fitr was somehow different. The Eid - which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and represents the first of two major holidays on the Islamic calendar - was marked this past Sunday by the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims and our nation’s estimated 7 million American Muslims.
Sure, as always, American Muslims gathered at mosques and convention centers and halls early Sunday morning to offer communal Eid prayers. At one of the larger gatherings in our nation in Southern California, an estimated 14,000 worshipers gathered at the regional fair grounds to pray and celebrate together. Men, women, and children of all stripes and backgrounds - brown, white, black, yellow - dressed in their Eid-best clothes. While many donned typical Western attire such as suits with ties and dresses, some opted for traditional ethnic clothing from their places of origin. Men wearing traditional Afghan turbans mingled with others wearing Pakistani gowns or traditional Arabic headdresses. Women wearing flowery African robes mixed with others wearing glittery Indian or traditional Palestinian dresses. Impatient children wearing crisp new clothes -purchased just for Eid - scurried about the prayer halls, impervious to their parents’ calls for silence and the din of traditional Islamic chanting that permeated the hall prior to the prayer service.
But the differences in the Eid celebration this year were also apparent. Many worshipers - young and old - wore red, white, and blue pins with phrases such as “Proud American Muslim”, demonstrating their pride in both their nation and their faith. Also, tight security prevailed this year from the parking lot to the prayer hall entrance. Large signs declaring that personal belongings were subject to search seemed ubiquitous. And a sheriff’s bomb squad team made its rounds around the premises - complete with a bomb-sniffing dog.
The heightened security at the event came as a relief to those who attended the event. These measures - like others instituted at airports, arenas, and other public venues throughout the nation after the September 11 terrorist attacks - were a sign of the changing times and the deep transformation undertaken by our country since that horrible day. Furthermore, American Muslims had even more reason to be concerned about their safety this Eid. In the aftermath of September 11, mosques, Islamic centers, and other Muslim institutions around the country have been the targets of hate-inspired crimes including shootings, arson, and in one case, a car being driven through the front entrance of a mosque. More recently, the arrest of two Jewish Defense League militants plotting a terrorist bombing attack on a Los Angeles area mosque and the offices of a Muslim advocacy group and Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) have heightened the American Muslim community’s concerns about safety and security.
The traditional sermons following the Eid prayers this year were also different. Usually upbeat talks were replaced by more somber, reflective sermons. Prayers were said for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the loved ones they left behind. More prayers were uttered for the loss of innocent life in Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir, and other hotspots around the world. Preachers spoke of their concerns for the erosion of civil liberties in the post-9/11 era, which have hit the American Muslim and Arab-American communities especially hard. Over 1,000 individuals detained indefinitely, many without legal representation and most on minor visa violations, their futures unclear. Three major American Muslim charities shut down during Ramadan - Holy Land Foundation, Global Relief Foundation, and Benevolence International - on vague (and most believe unjustified) suspicions of “terrorist” affiliations but without our government offering credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing. “Will our mosques, our Islamic schools, and other institutions be next in this witch-hunt?” many have asked.
In Southern California, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui - a renowned American Muslim scholar and a participant in the National Cathedral prayer ceremony last September - made an impassioned plea for an end to a widespread smear campaign in some quarters of the media directed against American Muslims and their faith. His theme: American Muslims must speak against those who misrepresent our faith, whether they are Muslims who distort the teachings of Islam or others who seek to unfairly tarnish the faith because of the actions of a few.
This Eid was also different in a few positive ways. American Muslims are particularly grateful to our nation’s Christian community, which has offered overwhelming support to us in these past few months. The Pope’s call for Catholics to fast with Muslims on the last Friday of Ramadan stood as a powerful example of this solidarity - and one not soon to be forgotten by Muslims worldwide. Here at home, many Christians of differing denominations also “broke bread” with their Muslim neighbors by hosting them for the evening fast-breaking meal of Iftar.
American Muslims are quite appreciative of the support they have received from our Christian neighbors, and we hope to be able to reciprocate with similar displays of generosity and kindness in the near future. Such acts demonstrate that shared spiritual bonds among adherents of different faiths can transcend superficial differences and promote genuine interfaith harmony. Now, we can only pray together that the rest of the world stumbles upon this simple but powerful formula for peace.
(Riad Z. Abdelkarim, MD, is Western Region Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), our nation’s largest American Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization).