Eid al-Fitr in Sacramento California at the Historic
V Street Mosque
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, was observed on Friday, April 21, 2023, at all mosques in the Sacramento, California region that we are aware of. And since there are many mosques to choose from now in and around California’s Capital City it is always difficult to choose one congregation to report on for Eid day. But we know one fact, which is, that whenever we want a traditional Pakistani experience, especially on the colorful occasion of Eid, we do not even need to go very far. The Sacramento Downtown V Street Mosque, the oldest continuous Muslim place of worship west of the Mississippi river in the United States is the place to be to experience such nostalgia. It was established in 1947 and is often locally called “The Pakistani Mosque.”
To start Eid off, there were two Chand Raat (night of the moon sighting) events in Sacramento this time. On Wednesday, April 19 th there was an event at The Grand Ballroom on J Street in the downtown area arranged by Town & Country Event Center (Waqar Khan). The second one was at the Hilton Arden West arranged by Catering & Events held on Thursday, April 20th. We were only able to attend the one at the Hilton where we found Br Farrukh Hashmi busy as usual at the food stall outside the main hall. Dinner boxes and samosas were being sold at a brisk pace here. This is Farrukh Bhai’s 15 th Chand Raat event in the area, and we hope that it will continue. Inside the main hall the vendors had some incredibly colorful Desi Eid fashions for sale and the Mehndi (Henna) booths were actively performing their art and remained popular across generations of female attendees.
On Eid day itself this writer was able to attend the second shift at the historic Mosque started by UP immigrants, and from the Punjab and Attock areas of British India which became Pakistan in 1947. To this day on large occasions such as this, one still gets the feel of attending Eid prayers in either Lahore or Delhi’s largest mosques albeit on a much smaller scale. Many of the old timers that I first met here around 30 years ago are gone, and the younger set is slowly taking charge. Imam Mumtaz Qasmi (who is from India) has been leading this congregation for over 30 years now and is a very popular community figure in the Pakistani and Muslim community.
During his Khutbah (Sermon) at the Eid prayers this year, Imam Qasmi reiterated that a Muslim should not delegate only the month of Ramadan to practice his or her faith and should continue to be similarly inspired during the rest of the year too. He also stressed the point that the Mosque needs resources to expand its activities and that we need to maybe set aside a percentage of our earnings to donate, like some other religious groups. This facility is one of the few places of Muslim worship in America to also have a medical and dental clinic (Shifa Community Clinic) attached to it.
The Muslim Mosque Association (MMA) is asking its congregation to donate generously to meet its goal of raising money for new building purchase across the street from the Mosque. That message was relayed to us by Sarfraz Anwar on behalf of the MMA Board. Online donations are accepted at https://mmasacramento.com/donate.php .
The Mosque compound was very lively after Eid prayers. There was Halal Mexican food, pizza, and fresh jalebis along with some great Kashmiri chai for sale. There was a great deal of socializing going on as one would expect at any traditional Eid gathering in Pakistan. So once again, Eid Mubarak from the Muslim Mosque Association, the oldest Mosque in the West!
