Islamic Holiday: Eid al-Fitr, the Celebration of Concluding Ramadan

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Renee

Proposal:

Muslim, Islam, Islamic, Arab, Arabic, and Arabian.

Do they all mean the same thing? Not necessarily so. Still, I occasionally see people misusing the words like, “Islamic women, Arabian language and Muslim culture.” If you have not found any problem with these, then imagine some American proudly saying, “I speak American not English.”  Ouch. That is just not right, isn’t it?  Similarly, “Muslims” believe in religion “Islam” and cherish “Islamic” culture. Arabs are generally referred to  as the descendents of a Semitic group from the Middle East; they commonly speak Arabic and share Arabian culture that also indicates Islamic culture (religious aspects).

There are about 5 to 8 million Muslim immigrants living in the United States who originally came from more than 22 countries all around the world. New York City’s popular image as the center of cultural diversity, tolerance and acceptance has been one of the greatest attractions to them.

According to Peter Awn, Columbia University dean of the School of General Studies, “Numbering an estimated 600,000 Muslims now represent one of the fastest growing religious communities in New York City.” http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/04/09/muslims.html

However, how much do we know about our neighbors and their culture? The entire nation celebrates Christmas as one of the biggest national holidays, but who knows about Eid al-Fitr?

Eid al-Fitr, which means the “Festival of Breaking the Fast” in Arabic, is Muslim community’s one of the biggest celebrations of the year. This is the celebration of ending Ramadan, a month-long  religious fasting in Islamic culture. Muslims celebrate the day by dressing up in their new or nicest clothes and sharing suppers with their beloved families, friends and neighbors. Due to Islamic teaching’s heavy emphasis on the spirit of “sharing,” all Muslims are required to thank Allah’s (Islamic word for God) grace in their lives by feeding the have-nots, and making donations (sadaqah al-fitr) to the charities and mosques.

Recently, the Park 51 project brought an enormous political uproar not only in New York City, but in the United States as a whole. New Yorkers, who were supposedly the most diversified and open-minded citizens in the United States, already took aside without even having a full understanding of the religion of Islam.

For my IDC final project, I intend to create a perceptive approach of comprehending the religion of Islam and Islamic culture through researching the Muslims’ biggest holiday, Eid al-Fitr. I would like to compare the differences in experience and perspective regarding Eid al-Fitr between two Muslim immigrant groups from different continents. (I am currently considering about choosing one group from the Middle East and another  group from Southeast Asia).

Overview:

  1. Defining Islam and Islamic culture: A brief introduction about the religion Islam, and its culture
  2. Explaining historical context of Eid al-Fitr (1 Shawwal): General information about its origin, meaning, ritual, and practice
  3. Answering questions: “How did Muslim immigrants celebrate in their original countries?”, “How do they celebrate in NYC in 2011?”and “What is NYC community’s reaction toward the celebration?”
  4. Researching specific cases: Find out if any political movement was made by Islamic activist groups for gaining recognition of their holiday both in state and nation-wide.

Method:

1.     General research (using both web and academic resources)

2.     Interview (Islamic Cultural Center of NY or personal interview with Muslim colleagues)

Research/ Reference list:

1) Islam and Islamic culture

2) Eid al-Fitr

3) Celebration

  • Interview

4)    Political movement

General Resources: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/islamicholidays.html


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