As they celebrate Eid, young Londoners share lessons they learned from Ramadan
CBC
Thousands of Muslim Londoners gathered at BMO Centre on Wednesday to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and mark the end of Ramadan.
Youth from the community say the holy Islamic month taught them plenty about their religion, but also valuable life lessons they carry with them in their everyday lives.
"When I was younger, it was about it being a fun event but now that I'm older, I have more of an understanding of what Ramadan and Eid are really about," said Noor Ul-Haq, 16.
"[It teaches us] to always look for a positive outcome in a situation and think that if it ended badly, maybe there's a reason why it ended that way and how it could've been worse, just always being thankful of how a situation came about."
Organizers estimate more than 10,000 people attended the two morning Eid prayers, hosted by the London Muslim Mosque. The event was followed by a festival market with several vendors and bouncy castles for kids to play in.
Data from the 2021 census suggests more than 35,000 people in London identify as Muslim.
Although the month of Ramadan flew by, it was a peaceful time that brought Gesma Awad, 17, a lot closer to God and taught her patience, she said while attending the festival with her younger siblings and niece.
"I learned to be patient and take every day one by one because sometimes looking at the big picture is really hard," she said.
"At first I'm like 'Oh Ramadan is going to be really hard because it's like 30 days of fasting,' but when you take it one day at a time, it's a lot easier."
For Mehdi Abdullah, Eid is a time of togetherness. The 15-year-old had been looking forward to celebrating Eid all month with his family and enjoying different traditional meals, he said.
"We gather around and we thank God for fasting for 30 days and all the hard work we did during Ramadan and then we have celebrations together," he said. "Our whole family wears our best clothes and we pray the minute we wake up in the morning together, it's very fun."
Abdullah was helping his dad, Mohammad, who was a vendor at the event selling gift items like tea sets, glasses, and blankets.
Watching London's Muslim community congregate for Eid was heartwarming and reflects how united everyone is, said London Muslim Mosque treasurer, Hashem Ramadan, adding that the holy month drew higher than usual crowds to the mosque.
"Ramadan is a month of peace and love, a month of giving and generosity. We have to feel how the unfortunate people are living while we enjoy life with a car, money and a home," he said.
