Muslims celebrate Eid, reflect on travel ban and Islam in America
2,000 gather here for end of Ramadan
About 2,000 people gathered Friday morning in Monroeville for a vibrant celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
After fasting from dawn to dusk every day for a month, members of the Muslim Community Center celebrated with two prayer services, a huge feast, plenty of socializing and several attractions, including a petting zoo for children.
“It’s our main celebration,” said Mona Nasir of Murrysville. She said fasting for 16 hours a day is “not that bad,” but, in fact, “very spiritual.”
While Eid al-Fitr, one of the year’s two main Muslim holidays, is a day of joy and festivity, it is also a time for reflection.
In his sermon Friday, Salah Almoukamal, the former president of the Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Monroeville, spoke about the importance of contemplating one’s actions and the impact they may have on the community.
“There are people in our country, one or two miles down the road, being discriminated against,” he said, calling the United States “a land where Islam is being challenged.”
It was clear in an interview after the sermon that for Dr. Almoukamal, who emigrated from Syria in 2001 and became a U.S. citizen in 2005, the plight of his parents is never far from his mind.
For years, his mother, now 65, and father, 75, have been hoping to visit their two sons and five grandchildren in the United States. In the middle of May, they traveled from their home in Damascus to the U.S. Embassy in Jordan. They had applied for an immigrant visa and were going to the embassy to be interviewed.
Under the Obama administration, the couple applied for a travel visa through the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. It was rejected, so they decided to apply for immigrant visas. That was in January 2017, about the time President Donald Trump announced his first ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, including Syria.
The process to obtain an immigrant visa usually takes six to nine months and moves more smoothly when the applicants are parents of American citizens, Dr. Almoukamal said.
Only last month, though, more than a year after the application was submitted, were his parents interviewed. They now are awaiting word on whether the immigrant visa will be issued.
“If there was no travel ban, they would’ve been [American] residents right away,” Dr. Almoukamal said.
“That story repeats itself in many different forms,” he said. “I have two countries, two hometowns.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the travel ban later this month.
Not all attendees at the Eid celebration — for example, Sohaib Zahid — have been directly affected by the ban. Mr. Zahid, of the North Side, is from Pakistan, which is not one of the countries included in Mr. Trump’s executive order.
For the community, though, Mr. Zahid said the ban is “a big thing.”
“A lot of people you see here are immigrants or children of immigrants,” said Abdul Aziz, imam of the Muslim Community Center.
Still, Mr. Aziz called the travel ban “just a political move,” noting that the vetting process is “already very stringent.”
In reality, Mr. Aziz said, things are not as bad as they may seem on social media.
“People are people,” he said. “It’s undeniable that there’ve been changes, but day to day, everything’s normal.”
Mr. Zahid expressed a similar sentiment. He said the holiday should be more about celebration than political discourse.
During the past month, a Muslim couldn’t be found with a morning cup of coffee, he said, pointing to the almost-finished brew in his hand.
“After 30 days, people get tired. Now, you know what, we’re good. We pleased God.”