The month-long Muslim holiday, full of prayer and fasting, begins Monday.
The Muslim holy yet festive month of Ramadan, during which believers fast from dawn and dusk, pray more ardently than usual, and redouble their charitable efforts, begins Monday.
The exact date and time is always a matter of lively discussion in the Islamic world, because it depends on the initial sighting of the new moon, which varies by location.
Fawad Siddiqui, a 32-year-old Hialeah born-and-bred actor, remembers when debates on the subject got so “vitriolic’’ at the mosque where his family worshipped that someone would call the cops.
Muslims from the Indian Subcontinent tend to rely on direct observation, he said, while in the Arab world, governments “make a pronouncement. They want it to be streamlined and a little neater.’’
But Friday, following afternoon prayers at the Islamic Center of Greater Miami in Miami Gardens, which his family helped establish, Siddiqui said that people don’t get so wrought up about it anymore, and not just because sophisticated astronomical observations can pinpoint the moment.
“Nine-eleven rubbed over the nuances,’’ said Siddiqui, whose parents emigrated from Pakistan. “Nine-eleven put everything in perspective.’’
That’s good news in South Florida’s culturally diverse Muslim community, he said, noting how many nationalities were represented among Friday’s worshippers.
But distinctions within the community are largely lost on non-Muslims, as some of the loudest voices — “demagogues who try to paint it as a monolith’’ — preach suspicion and distrust, he said.
In his pre-Ramadan sermon, the Islamic Center’s spiritual leader, Imam Ahmad Akcin, addressed the matter broadly, defining the fast not just as abstinence from food, but as a commitment to humility and reverence.
“When anybody approaches you to fight with you, you must say: ‘I am fasting. I cannot respond to your provocation.’’’
Violence, he said, “spoils our piety.’’
Encouraging several hundred worshippers to embrace the discipline that Ramadan demands, he stressed the health benefits of fasting on the digestive system and its spiritual benefits on the psyche, which, ideally, should linger once the holiday ends on the last day of Islam’s ninth month: Eid al-Fitr on Aug. 31.
“Ramadan gives you peace and tranquility,’’ Akcin said. “Personal hostility is at a minimum.’’
Kadiatou Traore, a 21-year-old nursing student from the West African country of Mali, was among the first worshippers on the women’s side of the mosque, separated from the men by walls made of gauzy fabric.
She was looking forward to the holiday because of the fast, and because the community gathers each evening to pray and eat supper as one big family.
Seated on thick green carpeting, she explained that she grew up with a Christian mother and a Muslim father, explored both faiths, and ultimately chose Islam because “it makes me feel closer to God.’’
Ramadan “is good for my diet,’’ said Traore, who lost 20 pounds last year when she gave up fast food.
“It’s a time of change,’’ she said. “It makes me feel like I can do anything.’’
Starting with puberty, Muslims are supposed to fast all day during Ramadan, but there are exceptions for pregnancy and certain medical conditions.
Daa’iyah B. Sabir, 75, who prays at Masjid al-Ansar in Liberty City, said she has to eat because she’s diabetic, but must fulfill her religious obligation by feeding someone else, not difficult considering “there are so many poor people on the street. I’ll give them a dinner or money to get one.’’
Born Methodist in North Carolina, she joined the Nation of Islam in 1957.
Ramadan “is a blessing because you get to see all the believers for 30 days,’’ she said. “You’re praying more, and being more conscious of what you’re all about.’’
She feels pity for those who fear all Muslims because some have committed acts of terror.
“They don’t understand us and they put us all in that category,’’ she said. “I do know who I am.’’
Azhar Pirzada, a semi-retired clinical biochemist on the board of trustees at the Islamic Foundation of South Florida — a prayer hall and K-8 school in Sunrise led, until recently, by a Christian convert from Oklahoma — said that 400 to 600 people come to pray each night during Ramadan, then share a “feast.’’
Sometimes, a single person will sponsor the meal, which costs about $10 a head. Sometimes multiple donations pay for it, “because Ramadan is a time when you are supposed to do more charity...If you can’t give money, you can donate your time and effort more than you would normally do.’’
It’s a time when Muslims should look inward at their own character, he said.
“I cannot change the world until I change myself,’’ said Pirzada. “We have to win people through love.’’
Asad Ba-Yunus, a Miramar lawyer who became an unofficial spokesman for the South Florida Muslim community after taking on the defense of Miami Imam Hafiz Muhammad Sher Ali Kahn, an accused terror suspect arrested in May, said that all 30 mosques in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties came together this year to plan Ramadan open houses.
“The claim against us is that we’re violent terrorists,’’ said the New York-born Ba-Yunus, 36, whose family came from Pakistan, “so we’re trying to engage elected officials, county officials, and the public, to come in and visit with us — be part of fast-breaking and get to know your neighbors.’’
He said that the community is striving to create a more positive image by staging blood drives, feeding the homeless, doing beach clean-ups and other volunteer projects.
To deal with the angry stares and occasional verbal assaults, “I have to compartmentalize,’’ he said. “If I dwell on what others perceive, I would constantly be dealing with the fear of repercussions. But life is all about pleasing God, so it doesn’t matter if people despise me.
“Allah is always with me.’’
To locate a nearby mosque that is hosting a Ramadan community open house, check: http://www.islamicfinder.org/.
Source: The Miami Herald
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