Many Muslims in America are navigating balancing religious and social rituals with concerns over the virus as they look for ways to capture the Eid spirit this weekend. | AP
Eid al-Fitr — the feast of breaking the fast — marks the end of Ramadan, when Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Just like they did during Ramadan, many are resorting to at-home worship and relying on technology for online gatherings, sermons and, now, Eid entertainment.
“We don’t want to have gatherings and congregations,” Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, who prepared the council’s fatwa, or religious edict, said in an interview. “We should try to keep the spirit of Eid alive, even if it’s just in our houses, even if we just decorate our houses and wear our finest for each other.”
On Sunday, Qadhi, resident scholar at East Plano Islamic Center in Texas, and just a few others chanted “Allahu Akbar” from a mosque that he said remained closed to worshippers. Normally, it would have been packed with thousands of believers.“Today we are celebrating Eid like we have never celebrated before,” Qadhi said in a sermon streamed online. “It’s an atypical celebration but it is a celebration nonetheless.
“Eid is important but more important is the health of the people,” said Maulana Abdulrahman Patel, the imam. “We’ve been taking a lot of precautions,” and not acting on “sentiments or emotional feelings,” he said before the holiday, adding they have been consulting with health and other officials. The Masjid Taqwa prayer was open for men only, the mosque said, citing “constraints.” Plans for men-only prayers announced by at least one other mosque have prompted objections by some about excluding women. For Masjid Taqwa, the decision to include just men was taken because having families together would make crowd control more difficult, Patel said.
In Michigan, the Michigan Muslim Community Council is organizing a televised Eid ceremony. It includes the Eid sermon, greetings from local elected officials and members of Muslim communities, said council chairman Mahmoud Al-Hadidi.
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