Muslims mark end of Ramadan with low-key celebrations

Muslims on Long Island mark the end of the monthlong Ramadan holy season starting Thursday and Friday morning with a three-day holiday. But the Eid ul-Fitr festival and feast this year partly coincides with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, prompting some Muslims to tone down the celebration.

At least one mosque, the Masjid Darul Quran in Bay Shore, the largest mosque in Suffolk County, has canceled plans for a communal dinner that normally attracts at least 200 families at the end of monthlong Ramadan daytime fasting, said Hafez Rehman, a past president of the mosque.

The plans were jettisoned also in part because of the controversy over a proposed Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero, and the recent stabbing of a Muslim taxi driver in Manhattan.

"It is dampening everybody's spirits," said Rehman, a pediatrician. "I don't think there are going to be any large scale celebrations just so people don't take it wrong."

At the Long Island Islamic Center in Westbury, there will be no special Eid activities on Saturday, said mosque president Habeeb Ahmed. Instead, congregants will gather with elected officials and other leaders to dedicate a new rose "Peace Garden" built to honor the victims of the 2001 attacks.

Ramadan marks a holy time of renewal and worship when Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by God. It ends for most of Long Island's 70,000 Muslims Thursday with the appearance of the new moon. That will be followed by the start of Eid ul-Fitr, or the festival of purification, on Friday morning, when most mosques will host a series of prayer services. Afterward, most observant Muslims will spend the day visiting with family and friends in their homes, and sharing a special meal marking the end of the fast.

They will also continue the self-reflection that plays a central role in Ramadan, and give money and gifts to children and the needy.

Some may also continue low-key visitations to relatives on Saturday, Rehman and Ahmed said.

While most Muslims will start Eid on Friday, it could get complicated for some who insist on traditional ways of seeing the new moon firsthand with the naked eye rather than relying on astronomers. If those groups cannot see the moon on Thursday night, it is possible their Eid celebration could be pushed to Saturday, Sept. 11.

But Ahmed and others said the vast majority will likely start Eid Friday. That was good news to Fazlul Haq Syed, president of the Jaam'e Masjid mosque in Bellmore. "That's what we want," he said. "We'll be glad if it is on Friday."