Calgary Muslims reflect and show gratitude on Eid al-Fitr, marking end of Ramadan

Thousands of Muslims in Calgary will mark the end of Ramadan by celebrating Eid al-Fitr on Friday, bringing to a close a month of worship, reflection and fasting.

“It brings a sense of achievement for all the believers who have fulfilled all the conditions of fasting,” said Attaul Wahab, the imam at Baitun Nur Mosque. The northeast Calgary mosque expects thousands of worshippers to mark the occasion. 

“They have been fasting for the sake of Allah ... and also spending more time in worship and remembrance of God or reading his book, the Holy Qur'an, reciting it on regular basis.”

Eid al-Fitr marks the conclusion of the holiest month in the Muslim calendar. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset while engaging in spiritual practice.

The religion follows the lunar calendar, based on the moon’s phases. As a result, Ramadan and the date of Eid al-Fitr vary from year to year, depending on the night of the first sighting of the crescent moon.

Eid al-Fitr is partly about reflecting on the perspective gained through the sacrifice of fasting. 

“During the month of Ramadan, we Muslims are emphasized to do charity a lot,” Wahab said. “[Ramadan] reminds us that we have to show sympathy towards other people who are not lucky enough to find food and water and everything … these basic necessities of life and the people who have been deprived of them.”

Iqbal Gora, the imam at the Al-Salam Centre in Calgary's northwest, feels the same way.

“You're expressing gratitude for the blessings that we're able to enjoy through the fast because you only really appreciate a blessing once you no longer have it,” he said. “So, by the end of the day, when you're breaking your fast, you start to appreciate those small things.”

He added that the Prophet Muhammad was said to have been particularly generous during Ramadan.

“When you take a step back in terms of your own consumption, then you start to appreciate the fact you have things that other people don’t,” he said. “It makes you more willing to be generous in that way.”

Gora mentioned that Muslims typically don’t fast on the day of Eid itself.

“It's a day of celebration," he said.

Growing up in Calgary, he recalled big Eid celebrations at the BMO Centre, with tens of thousands of Muslims congregating to pray and eat together. Times have changed, but the essence of those moments remains for him as he celebrates Eid with his own family now.