Source: The Baltimore Sun
On January 20, 1999, The Baltimore Sun published an article on the breaking of the fast celebrations held at the Masjid al-Rahmah, the mosque of the Islamic Society of Baltimore in Catonsville, MD. Since Ramadan began with the U.S. bombings of Iraq and closed with the massacre of 45 Albanian Muslims in Kosovo, the Muslim community in Baltimore was saddened and angered over the situation of Muslims in the world. Imam Adam El-Sheikh, the spiritual leader of Masjid al-Rahmah, called on American Muslims to organize and speak out against the atrocities. Syed H. Ashruf, a Catonsville physician who is the president of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, stated, "we do not want America to sit in the world as a military might, but we want America to stand tall in the world, morally right."