Malayali Muslims hold inter-faith Iftaar meet in New Jersey

Apart from 400 Muslim families from different parts of the US and Canada, 150-odd leaders of different organisations and faiths attended the meet

Malayali Muslims in the United States of America organised an inter-faith Iftaar conference in New Jersey on Sunday. The Iftaar meet held at Royal Albert’s Palace, New Jersey, was organised under the banner of the North American Network of Malayali Muslim Association (NANMMA) and the Malayali Muslims of New Jersey (MMNJ).

Apart from 400 Muslim families from different parts of the US and Canada, 150-odd leaders of different organisations and faiths attended the meet.

U.A. Nazeer, founder president of the NANMMA, said that it was the first time that such an Iftaar meet was organised in the history of Malayalis in the US.

He said the guests from different States were welcomed in a traditional fashion. The programme began with a Quranic recital by a little child named Anan Wadud. NANMMA leader Samad Ponneri welcomed the gathering. Dr. Ponneri reminded the philanthropic work undertaken by the Malayali community in the US when Kerala was devastated by the floods in 2018 and 19.

J. Mathews, former president of the Federation of Kerala Associations in North America (FOKANA), underscored the necessity of having harmonious co-existence of people of different faiths.

Unni Moopen, urologist and head of Long Island Interfaith Institute, described how warmly and deeply Kerala had accepted different faiths. Dr. Moopen pointed out that Abrahamic religions had rooted in Kerala even before they spread to other parts of the world.

Aniyan George, former president of the Federation of Malayli Associations of Americas (FOMAA); Krishna Kishore, journalist; and U.A. Nazeer, president of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Committee in the US, spoke.