REFLECTING ON RAMADAN

For those who left Bangladesh only months ago, Eid al-Fitr brings neighbours together to celebrate and start a new life

New Canadians find a deep bond as holy month draws to a close

The first few days of Ramadan were hard for Taslima Akhtar’s family. They immigrated to Canada from Bangladesh just three months ago and didn’t know many people in their neighbourhood in Toronto’s east end.

Ramadan is a month of fasting and reflection, ending with Eid al-Fitr, a day of celebration. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, which in Canada in July is about 17 hours. It is a time to concentrate on prayer.

But when the sun goes down, it is common to get together with family and share the iftar meal.

Akhtar’s family longed for their relatives back home. Even her young son told her, “Mom, I am not like this Ramadan.”

It took a few days, but soon, Akhtar’s family met other Bangladeshi families in their building and they began to share iftar together. Those families introduced them to yet more families, and slowly the loneliness began to fade.

“I feel better because friends become relatives here,” Akhtar said. The stretch of Danforth Ave. near Dawes Rd. where Akhtar lives is home to many in Toronto’s Bangladeshi community.

Living nearby, Mohammed Moinul Islam’s family also immigrated to Canada from Bangladesh three months ago.

“Though we are in a different country . . . now we don’t feel we are isolated from our country,” says Moinul Islam.

While it may not be as hot here, the daylight hours are longer, making it tougher to fast, added his wife, Rehana Begum.

Mousomi Shahariar came to Canada from Bangladesh last August to be with her husband.

“When I’m fasting, I think of my God because I think my God showed me this wonderful world and he sent me to this world to do something for Him also,” she said.

For the iftar meal, Shahariar recalls her mother and mother-in-law starting to cook in the afternoon to prepare the food they would all share on a decorated table after sunset.

Here, she often must cook and eat alone.

However, an unexpected gift came during Ramadan this year, when her husband — who has been in the country for four years — got his invitation to a citizenship ceremony and took an oath to become a Canadian citizen.

“(It) became confirmed that we can stay, we can spend our whole life in Canada. We can do something for Canada and we can do something for us also,” Shahariar said.

MARTA IWANEK/TORONTO STAR Mousomi Shahariar, who came to Toronto from Bangladesh to be with her husband, prays in her home in the Danforth Ave. and Dawes Rd. area. She is spending her first Ramadan in Canada.

MARTA IWANEK PHOTOS/TORONTO STAR Nadir Shahariar pledges his oath to Canada during a citizenship ceremony last week. He has been here four years.

Men gather for prayers at a hall in Crescent Town, an area near Danforth Ave. and Dawes Rd. with a large Bangladeshi community.

Taslima Akhtar, centre, prepares an iftar meal (with a distinctly Canadian flavour). “Friends become relatives here,” said Akhtar of her new community in Toronto.