Muslims Celebrate End of Ramadan

December 28, 2000

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On December 28, 2000, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that about 400,000 Muslims from the Chicago area celebrated the end of Ramadan on Wednesday with communal prayer and Eid-al-Fitr, the communal feast of fast-breaking. "The monthlong Ramadan is the most holy period in the Islamic year." It "is a time of personal and communal abstention and religious discipline," which includes daily fasting from dawn to dusk. Fasting "is considered to be an effective way of cleansing the believer's heart, especially when it is accompanied by increased religious devotion." In Chicago Eid-al-Fitr was celebrated by thousands of Muslims "jammed into the Rosemont convention center," which was transformed for the purpose "into a Muslim bazaar and house of worship."