AP – FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010 picture, Muslim men pray
at the Darul Uloom Institute in Pembroke …
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer – Fri Aug 13, 9:37 am ET
NEW YORK – The lunar calendar that Muslims follow for religious
holidays is creating a potential for misunderstandings or worse in a
year when American Muslims are already confronting a spike in assaults
on their faith and protests against new mosques.
Eid al-Fitr, a joyous holiday marking the end of the holy month of
Ramadan, this year falls around Sept. 11. Muslim leaders fear that
their gatherings for prayer and festivities could be misinterpreted by
those unfamiliar with Islam as a celebration of the 2001 terrorist
strikes.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los
Angeles, is contacting law enforcement and the Justice Department
civil rights division to alert them to the overlap.
The Islamic Circle of North America, which organizes Muslim Family
Days at the Six Flags amusement park in several cities around Eid al-
Fitr, this year planned nothing for Saturday, Sept. 11, because of the
anniversary. A founder of Muslim Family Day, Tariq Amanullah, worked
at the World Trade Center and was killed in the attacks.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil
rights group, is urging mosques to review the group's security
guidelines, including clearing brush where people could hide and
installing surveillance cameras.
"The issue I can sense brewing on hate sites on the Internet is,
`These Muslims are celebrating on September 11,'" said Ibrahim Hooper,
national spokesman for CAIR. "It's getting really scary out there."
The exact date of Eid al-Fitr this year is not yet known. Muslims
follow different authorities on moonsightings and astronomical
calculations to decide when a holiday begins. In North America, the
eid could fall on Thursday, Sept. 9, Friday, Sept. 10, or Saturday,
Sept. 11.
It is one of the two biggest Muslim holidays of the year, often
compared to Christmas in its significance and revelry. (The other
major holiday is Eid al-Adha, at the end of the hajj, the annual
pilgrimage to Mecca.)
Muslims who rarely attend congregational prayer fill mosques to
overflowing on Eid al-Fitr. Mosque leaders often rent hotel ballrooms
or convention centers to handle the crowds. Families wear their best
clothes, exchange gifts, plan special meals with friends and
relatives, sometimes decorate their homes inside and out, and organize
carnivals for children.
In predominantly Muslim countries, the celebration can last for three
days. But because of work and school obligations in the U.S., American
Muslims generally attend congregational prayer on the day of the
holiday, then continue the festivities over the next weekend or two.
Most mosques usually intensify security around Ramadan because of the
attention the month brings. This year, leaders have grown especially
concerned about safety. In recent months, mosques around the country
have faced protests and vandalism. The debate over a proposed mosque
and Islamic center near ground zero has become a national issue.
Yet well before these recent tensions, American Muslim leaders saw
trouble ahead when they checked the calendar. Haroon Moghul, a New
York Muslim leader who speaks regularly at mosques, said mosque
leaders have been discussing Eid al-Fitr for months.
"When we realized that Ramadan would be ending around that time, a lot
of people started sitting down together and saying, `How do we handle
this in a way that's appropriate?'" said Moghul, executive director of
Maydan Institute, a communications consulting company.
Moghul said most New York Muslims likely won't celebrate the way they
normally do, and noted that a significant number lost relatives when
the World Trade Center was destroyed. Many imams in the city plan
sermons on dealing with loss and grief.
"It's a very painful day for everyone," Moghul said.
However, he and other American Muslim leaders don't want to make so
many changes that they appear to be giving in to those who reject any
Muslim observance in the United States. Some critics have said Muslims
should move the date of the eid.
"It's like being offended that 9/11 and Christmas fall on the same
day," said Safaa Zarzour, secretary general of the Islamic Society of
North America, an Indiana-based communal group with tens of thousands
of members. "There is something unsettling about that."
Yvonne Maffei, 35, of Des Plaines, Ill., a Chicago suburb, said she
and her husband plan to stick with their usual Eid al-Fitr plan. They
will attend morning prayers at their local mosque, go out for brunch
then visit friends during the day.
"I think most Americans understand the value and place of religious
holidays in a person's life," said Maffei, editor of My Halal Kitchen,
a blog with recipes that meet Islamic dietary laws. "For those who
don't, I just hope they will take the time to try and understand not
only why we are celebrating at this time, but also what we are
celebrating, which is the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a blessed
month of fasting and attaining closeness to Allah."
Rizwan Jaka, a board member of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society,
based in Sterling, Va., near Washington, D.C., said he hopes the
attention to Muslim traditions during the month of Ramadan will help
educate non-Muslims and decrease the likelihood of any problems.
He said the mosque will reach out to its interfaith partners and
others ahead of the eid. The All Dulles Society is one of the largest
mosques in the country and expects to host as many as 20,000
worshippers during the holiday at several locations.
Jaka said the board met a few weeks ago to discuss the overlapping
dates and decided to include condemnations of terrorism and extremism
in the holiday sermons. The mosque will also hold its annual
interfaith, memorial and peace events tied to the anniversary.
"Could there be some misperceptions because of the anti-Muslim
climate? Potentially," Jaka said. "We will make sure our neighbors and
friends understand that we all stand firmly as Americans for peace and
for creating an environment of respect."
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