by Nash Alonto
April 11, 2024
Prayer rugs of different colours were laid down on the artificial turf pitch.
The men gathered at the front of the congregation right behind the imam, the women sat behind them.
For the first 30 minutes of the gathering, chanting echoed throughout the entire facility, as a few men in front, old and young, sang the Takbir Mursal, sung during the two Eid holidays.
Almost a thousand Muslims from all over Prince Edward Island converged at the Norton Diamond Indoor Soccer Complex in Stratford to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, one of the two most important holidays in Islam, marking the end of Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam.
For Charlottetown resident Bayan Abbassi, the Eid al-Fitr service plays an important role in the Islamic faith, as it marks the end of a month-long period of prayer and reflection.
“We fast for 30 days, and after that, we do the Eid prayer and celebrate for three days,” she said.
However, it’s not always smiles for Abbassi, a Palestinian living on P.E.I., as the war in Gaza, thousands of miles away, still rages on.
“Everything is crazy over there, and I can’t have the feeling of full celebration…deeply from inside, we’re not happy at all, and we just can’t wait for this war to end,” she said.
Abbassi was one of nearly 1,000 Muslim Islanders who attended the celebrations on Wed., April 11. It’s the first time that it is celebrated in a centralized location. In previous years, it was held at the two locations: the downtown Charlottetown Mosque on Queen Street and the Masjid Dar as-Salam in Sherwood.
According to Tahir Rafiq, treasurer of the Muslim Society of P.E.I., the centralized gathering was held out a need for space big enough to accommodate a community that has been growing in the last few years. The society considered community halls in the West Royalty and Hillsborough Park neighbourhoods of Charlottetown but they were too small.
“The places we have is getting quite smaller, so that why we need a bigger space,” Rafiq said.
Despite the large attendance, not everyone was able to make it there due to work commitments, since Eid al-Fitr is not a non-working holiday on the Island.
“But still, it’s an important occasion for us…the turn-out is pretty good still,” Rafiq said.
The main event of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations is composed of two parts: first is the prayer and the second is the sermon, called a khutbah.
Omar Shokr was the imam for the Eid al-Fitr service. This is his first time leading the congregation. He was a bit nervous at first.
For Shokr, the best thing about leading a congregation, especially for Eid al-Fitr, is about sending a message.
“It’s a feeling of a community coming together,” he said.
Shokr’s sermon was basically a reminder to those who participated during the Ramadan season.
“Keep in mind the stuff that we’ve learned during Ramadan, the habits that we’ve raised, (and) keep them moving forward after Ramadan,” he said in a nutshell.
Rafiq said they’ll continue having another Eid al-Fitr event at the complex next year, unless they could find a similar indoor space, depending on how many people attending, as the event is held annually during the winter.
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