Muslims across the world are going to be celebrating their most important holiday of the year, Eid al-Fitr (“the festival of delivering the fast”), after a month-long sacrifice of fasting from food, water, and sexual intimacy from dawn to sunset during Ramadan.
Along with the required ritual of fasting, many Muslims chose to engage in increased meditation, recitation, and reflection on the Quran, tarāwīh prayers that require long standing in most parts of the night, or silent supplications where they surrender their troubles, burdens, and wishes to the Divine. They carefully evaluated and assessed how they divided their day by prioritizing their spiritual practices over mindlessly scrolling on social media, for example. If someone was argumentative with them or addressed them harshly, they chose to abstain from responding in an emotional manner and instead said, “I am fasting.”
Today is the day when we celebrate God’s forgiveness in hopes that we earned it by becoming better versions of ourselves after a month of spiritual, mental, and physical endurance. However, the gloom of the war and violence our siblings in Palestine, Sudan, and Yemen are undergoing rips our hearts.
We wonder how we can be happy today when our siblings are suffering. There are people here at the College who are connected to those killed in ongoing conflict in Gaza, Sudan, or Israel. Several students are refugees or children of refugees from war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Ukraine, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who are living their generational trauma. At the same time, they wait for their families, scattered in various corners of the world, to be reunited with their loved ones. There are students and professors struck by the tragic passing of a student last February. We wonder: How can we smile amidst our grief when we are invited to be festive and joyful on this day of Eid?
Since Ramadan was mandated two years after the first Muslim community settled in Medina in 624 C.E., there is no precedent of “canceling” a holiday altogether in the Islamic tradition. It may have a subdued tone, but people still do whatever they can to celebrate the joys of Ramadan and Eid, as we saw Palestinians praying in congregation in the remaining quarters of the al-Farouk mosque in Rafah or hanging Ramadan decorations in their family tents.
Eid is a time of collective joy, and that’s why Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, set a precedent for the Eid prayers to be held outside of the mosque, often in a large and publicly accessible location so everyone who witnesses the celebration, feasting, and happiness could join along, whether they are Muslim or not.
Last Saturday, we witnessed this joy when Dodd House was filled to capacity with the Muslim community and its allies at the Ramadan Storytime: Potluck Iftar. Some students even spent the day fasting with their Muslim friends and were overcome with a sense of friendship and allyship unlike any other.
In the shared spirit of joy, the Muslim community at the College is hosting its second annual Eid al-Fitr celebration at 7:30 a.m. outside Bascom House. I, as the College’s Muslim chaplain, along with the Muslim Student Union, personally invite you to participate in our joy.
In past years at the College, Eid celebrations were either held on a smaller scale on campus or in Albany, N.Y., where Muslims traveled to mosques that have more thriving and organized Muslim communities. Since last year, when the Muslim Chaplain position became full-time, we have been blessed to forge connections with Muslims in the Berkshires and create opportunities for them to gather right here in Williamstown. We will be joined by local families all the way from Great Barrington with their children as well as students from Bennington College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
Eid celebrations at the College are intentionally held early in the morning so that students, employees of the College, and families can attend if they are not comfortable requesting the day off, though I urge Muslims to do so. I encourage students and staff to utilize the College’s policies that allow for flexibility in attending religious commitments, like its policy on observance of religious holidays for students and its policy on cultural, religious, and spiritual observances for staff.
Please join us and experience the joy of religious pluralism as it looks and feels like when one immerses oneself in someone else’s indigenous cultural or spiritual experience. We will have local treats and sweets from the Muslim world, along with balloons and a bounce house for children. Even if you missed the Eid celebration and are reading this op-ed later in the day, please remember to smile and celebrate joy today no matter what is happening in the world within or around you.
Sidra Mahmood is the College’s Muslim chaplain.
