LI Muslims celebrate End of Ramadan

Nadeem Sadar has spent the last month fasting with no food or water for up to 16 hours a day. But he says the Ramadan ritual was relatively easy compared with one he experienced 30 years ago in his homeland of Pakistan, when the fasting was just as long but temperatures reached 115 or more.

"I'm fine," said Sadar, 52, a Miller Place resident. Ramadan generates "a spirit that makes us feel good because we are doing it for the sake of our God."

The holy season of Ramadan ends Sunday for 75,000 Muslims on Long Island and about 1.4 billion around the world with a three-day festival called Eid ul-Fitr. The festival will include feasts celebrated at home with family and friends, as well as gift-giving and prayers.

Ramadan was particularly challenging this year because it fell during the summer months when days -- and fasting -- were especially long. Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan.

They also slept little. Prayers in many mosques ended about 11:30 p.m. each night after the reading of the Islamic holy book, the Quran. Then many of the faithful woke up at 4 a.m. or so to have a light snack before the next prayers began at sunrise.

The dates for Ramadan change each year because it follows the lunar calender.

Sadar said the holy season did not feel like a sacrifice but a blessing. "It's like God gave us the courage to do all this for 30 days," he said. The fasting, he added, allowed Muslims "to purify our bodies from inside."

Habeeb Ahmed, of the Westbury-based Islamic Center of Long Island, said the end of Ramadan is "a very festive, very happy day for all Muslims in the world."

He said that during the three-day festival Muslims will continue the Ramadan rituals of practicing charity, praying and reflecting.