Celebrating Eid over dead bodies!

Karachi buried about 200 victims of
 unrest and terrorism in Ramadan 2011

Eid ul Fitr is tomorrow. In order to celebrate it fully, I am supposed to do tons of things like: cooking biryani and desserts, decorating my house, getting nice clothes for my children, throwing a big party and buying and wrapping gifts for my friends, family and community members.

But I don’t want to do any of the above. I just don’t feel like celebrating Eid this time.

It’s because I am surrounded by dead bodies. Dead bodies from all over the world - Syria, Libya, Karachi, Norway, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Yemen, Somalia, … list goes on and on. How can I celebrate this Eid when thousands of mothers all around me are mourning for their children?



I am surrounded by Somali children waiting for their death. They are dying, because they have NOTHING To EAT. How do I prepare a feast for my children? That biryani? That kheer? Samosas or kebabs?

I am surrounded by homeless American children. I am surrounded by American poor and needy with no food to eat, no medicine to heal, no house to live, and no shoulder to weep. How do I throw a party without including them in it??


Not dead yet,
How painful for a parent to watch this!

So many children are dying of hunger and we eat cakes and ice creams?  

So many parents can’t afford life-saving medicine for their kids and we set moonwalk and rides for ours?

So many parents are not even able to buy coffins for their children and I buy those accessories to match my daughter’s fancy clothes. How? When did I become so heartless, so self centered?? Who made me so?

It’s holy month of Ramadan, the month of mercy. All over the Islamic world, people are giving in charity. There are fundraisers being organized for Somalis. There are protests and fundraisers being organized for Syria, Libya and elsewhere. There are prayer vigils being organized for Karachi. I may have given some dollars here and there. I may have made one or two prayers for those in need once in a while. But, am I done with my job? Is it enough??

Shall I just close my eyes, or duck my neck under the sand and pretend that ALL IS WELL?

Shall I comfort myself by reminding about those couple of dollars that I sent to Somalia and elsewhere? That means I have done my job. That’s enough. Right?

Wrong. I may have helped a little, but I am not done until the peace and justice is restored in the world.

Restoring peace and justice is not something that I can do alone. This is something that can only be done by a community that has a will to bring that peace. Individuals like me can only bring ideas to table. We may push them to some bit by launching a project or two, but it’s up to our community to actually buy and implement those ideas.

In Muslim American community, mosques and ethnic organizations play a vital role in changing community’s culture and priorities. Majority of these organizations are mostly focused on their own establishment. They have their own agendas and goals which are valid up to some point. Since they collect money from the community to run their organizations, they make it incumbent upon themselves to serve the community by organizing several social events including Eid parties, picnics etc. This is normal and expected. But what should they do at the time of crises like we are facing now? Shall they spend thousands of dollars in throwing community parties and festivals at times like these? Or shall they take community in confidence and use this money in saving poor and needy and oppressed around the world and in their own backyard? These are the questions that must be answered by both parties by mutual understanding.

Here I would like to share an episode from 1999 when Eid fell upon us in the middle of genocide in Kosovo. Thousands of our brothers and sisters were running bare feet in the jungles of Kosovo to save their lives from Serb attackers. Local mosque in the city where I was residing at that time was throwing a big Eid party. My husband and I took upon ourselves and requested our mosque re-allocating those funds to help people in Kosova. We were told that “the people are suffering all over the world all the time. Every year, all year round, there are crises in the Islamic world. If we started canceling Eid parties for these reasons, we would never have a party again and that would be devastating for our children. So we shall never cancel or make it any simple.” We were also told that money had been sent to Kosova and the Eid party would be organized with different funds, hence it was justified.

I could not believe what I heard at that time, but over the last 12 years, I have learned that my mosque was not alone in making that argument. Unfortunately, there are several organizations and individuals who use this argument quite frequently. That’s how we have justified spending thousands on our superficial needs, when people literally died because they did not have a loaf of bread to eat.

We may have seen so much bloodshed and oppression in our lives that we have become immune to it. It does not affect us anymore. People die and we throw parties and festivals over their bodies. At the same time we lecture others about how caring and loving Islam is. Indeed Islam is caring and loving, but we are not the true followers of Islam. Perhaps, we may have become one of those self centered and heartless people who were rejected by Allah, the almighty, throughout the history of mankind. Hellfire, how bad is the final destination of such people? – Quran asks.

If we genuinely believe in the holy Quran that we read extensively throughout the Ramadan, we should do our best to change this situation. We need to sober up. We need to make big decisions as a community. We need to think about all “those others” as if they are us. The blessed prophet Muhammad said “Muslims are like one body. If one part of the body hurts; whole body feels it.” In our case whole body is hurting and we are feeding it with chocolates and candies instead of medicine. How sane is it?

Honestly, we need to cut these festivals and parties. It’s a call for change. Make it simple, perhaps one dish, one dessert and a simple picnic. Use our gatherings for further reflections and prayers. Stop using children as an excuse for such parties. Our children are smarter than us. When we talk to them sincerely, they donate their toys and Eid money and feel happy about it. It’s time to team up with them to do something different. Make it an Eid of Muslim community that is alive and alert, God willing.

That’s the kind of Eid I want to celebrate this year!

I pray to my Lord that He softens our hearts and gives us wisdom to put our energy and money into the projects that take us to the Heaven. May He help oppressed and needy around the world, and may He help us in helping them, ameen.