Ramadan Iftar at the California State Capitol
By Ras H. Siddiqui
The Council on American-Islamic Relations-California Chapter (CAIR-CA) held its 15th Annual Iftar (breaking of the Muslim Ramadan fast) at the California State Capitol building on Monday, May 21, 2018.
It was a very dignified and warm event where around half the guests were non-Muslim friends from within the greater Sacramento community and from different parts of California, including elected officials.
This year the number of co-sponsors who made it all possible included Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Kevin Mullin, Senator Richard Pan, Assemblymembers Joaquin Arambula, David Chiu, Kevin McCarty, Eloise Gomez Reyes and Shirley Weber all of whom deserve our thanks for continuing what has now become a tradition here at the Capitol. CAIR-California has Chapters in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Sacramento with another opening soon in Fresno.
The event started off with a social half-hour and formally began with a beautiful recitation from the Holy Qur’an by Khalid Sayedi. The emcee for the evening was Yannina Casillas who is CAIR California’s Statewide Legislative and Government Affairs Coordinator. Yannina wasted little time and invited CAIR-Sacramento President Eyas Abdeen who started by welcoming everyone and ended things off on a somewhat humorous and spiritual note. He spoke about the inception of this Iftar at the Capitol 15 years ago under the leadership of Rashid Ahmad with few participants back then. Today, he said, we have outgrown this room MashaAllah. We are very blessed to have you here. Eyas indicated that Trump being in office in a unique way has united us and has helped the younger generation to become engaged!
Next, two emerging leaders from our Muslim community took the opportunity to inspire us. Mark Farouk who is Chief of Staff for Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes, spoke first, and Maheen Ahmed, a Legislative Aide to Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, followed. Mark wished everyone Ramadan Mubarak and said that this event at the Capitol brings him the most joy, seeing the crowd continuing to grow, and to see the diversity of the community here. He said that coming together here and sharing a meal makes a powerful statement. He added that Ramadan is also a way of bringing people together. In her speech Maheen shared what the month of Ramadan meant to her. She focused on community, both here and globally. She touched upon the sadness of recent events in Gaza and the shooting at the Santa Fe school in Texas. The tragedy of one of the victims of the Santa Fe school shooting, 17-year-old Sabika Sheikh from Pakistan, was highlighted by Maheen with great sensitivity that moved everyone. She specifically mentioned the response of Sabika’s American host family to her death which has inspired us all.
Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula next spoke very highly of Maheen and said that after working with her, he was honored to be co-hosting this event today. He also explained how he learned about Ramadan through her commitment to it. It was not surprising that he along with Assemblymember Reyes were inspired by members of their own staff (Maheen and Mark and others) and became the key presenters of Assembly Concurrent Resolution 233 (Ramadan Resolution ACR-233) in the California State Assembly. The resolution acknowledges the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and expresses the Legislature’s respect towards Muslims across California and throughout the world on this occasion. A copy of that resolution was presented to CAIR officials by the two who were accompanied by Assemblymembers Ash Kalra and David Chiu.
Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes representing San Bernardino County next said that she was honored to be here for this 15th Annual Iftar at the Capitol and thanked members of the Muslim community who had traveled here from distant parts of the state. She added some details behind her taking up ACR-233 in the Assembly which for the first time recognizes the month of Ramadan. She said that it passed unanimously with over 60 co-authors and it now moves to the Senate for a vote. She thanked her staff for educating her on this month and wished everyone “Ramadan Mubarak.”
The event was also enriched by speeches from Assemblymembers David Chiu and Ash Kalra representing districts in the San Francisco bay area as well as Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones (who is running for the California Attorney General’s Office), Sacramento City Council Member Eric Guerra and Sacramento County Supervisor Sue Frost. All of them have been very supportive of not just the Muslim community but the diversity which our Golden State has now come to represent. And speaking of diversity, CAIR Sacramento Valley Executive Director Basim Elkarra took the closing opportunity to thank numerous people ranging from representatives of the Christian, Jewish and other faiths plus leaders of many ethnicities who have made not only this particular event possible but have supported it for the past 15 years, like US Congresswoman Judy Chu (who helped to start it all) and former Assemblymember Mariko Yamada.
The Adhan or Muslim call to prayer was recited by Khalid Sayedi signaling the breaking of the Ramadan fast. Muslims quickly drank some water and consumed a date or two before proceeding to perform their prayers while their guests were served a fine Mediterranean dinner. It was as usual a meeting of good friends, fellow Californians and Americans.
In closing, one has to give credit to the event organizers and sponsors for continuing this annual CAIR Capitol Iftar tradition for the past 15 years. It was great to observe that some segment of our next generation is also taking interest in California politics. It may not be highlighted often but California has a significant number of Muslim voters now. And this being election year, let us see if we can make our votes count.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
