Unity Eid-al-Fitr Planned in Sacramento, California on April 10 th
By Ras H. Siddiqui
The Muslim community population in the Greater Sacramento Area (GSA) can now be counted in tens of thousands. Just over 30 years ago there was only one Mosque in California’s Capital City (The Downtown Muslim Mosque established in 1947) and now there must be over 20. And that number is growing every year because the area with a population of close to 2.25 million has attracted Muslims from all over the United States and the world. The latest large influx here has been from the Afghan community. The major attraction here for immigrants is its moderate climate, strong economy, relative affordability, and the acceptance of diversity.
A meeting was held recently via Zoom to discuss a joint Eid event in which Br Tamer Ahmed, Br Asif Sheikh, Sister Lina Mokeddem, and Br Omar Altamimi along with this writer participated. This small group represented themselves as members of the area Muslim community and happened to be members of a variety of other groups including Good Effort and CAIR. The idea was to discuss the possibility of getting as many of the Mosques or Islamic Centers in the area to join in a Unity Eid celebration at Cal Expo on April 10, 2024. A media outreach effort before and during Ramadan is planned and has already begun which includes this writing. Imam Suhaib Webb is slated to lead the prayers.
Brother Tamer kicked things off at the meeting by providing a background of this effort. Brother Asif Sheikh of the new (to us) organization called Good Effort was credited with starting this Unity Eid concept and approached Dr Metwalli Amer of SALAM for his thoughts. Dr Metwalli then reached out to several area community leaders including Br Tamer and sought their opinion on this proposal. An advisory and event management committee was subsequently formed. Good Effort and CAIR have now taken a leading role in making this Unity Eid happen starting with the help of eight area Mosques and Islamic Organizations to carry this forward. Br Tamer has been appointed by the event committee in a project management role.
One point made here was that this kind of effort was made once before during the mid-1990s but has not been repeated since. At that time there were only a handful of Mosques in the area and challenges remained. One challenge was that these Mosques collect most of their own operational funding during Ramadan and during the Eid-al-Fitr prayer congregation which is in all probability their largest annual gathering. So, there was a negative financial impact.
Br Tamer provided some additional information on meetings that had previously taken place which addressed this issue. The decision made was that no money would be collected for or by Masjids at this event. Any money collected would be 1) to pay for this event and possibly such future events, and 2) Fitrana, etc. from people who had not already paid it in their Mosques before, will be collected by Islamic Relief, a premier charitable organization to be used by for them to provide relief. SALAM, Tarbiya Institute , MCYC, Masjid As-Sabur, Masjid Al-Rahman, Masjid As-Saba (Rancho Cordova), MCF (Folsom), Al Misbaah and Fulton Masjid are already on board, said Br Tamer.
The other challenge always faced is that the day of Eid is decided/determined by two different methods since the Islamic calendar is lunar. There is the more scientific Shura Council method ( https://pakistanlink.org/Community/2024/Feb24/16/01.HTM ) which is much more predictable to identify the beginning of Ramadan and its end with Eid. The other, more traditional method is based on the local new moon sighting which is used in the countries of origin where many Muslim immigrants come from. We will not get into that debate on which method should be used here, but this event on April 10 th is based on the more scientific approach.
Brother Asif of the Good Effort organization had this to say about the planning of this event: “To address the upcoming challenges facing our Muslim community, we Muslims must unite the voice within the community, therefore ‘Good Effort’ stepped in and is leading and sponsoring ‘The Unity Eid’ event for the greater and diverse Sacramento Muslim community as a first step to pursue the dreams for the next generation by Allah's blessing.”
Adding some input to the challenges faced on the moon sighting issue and the April 10, 2024, date chosen, there remains a possibility that all Muslims in the area will celebrate Eid on that day (via either method), or it may possibly be the second day of Eid for some. For those Muslims celebrating Eid as a second day on April 10 th, this grand event should still be a prime opportunity for a family and friends to get-together and they should welcome this opportunity to join in.
The event committee is currently looking for volunteers, sponsors, and vendors because this high-profile Unity Eid-al-Fitr may have thousands of attendees and may be something that all area Islamic Centers and our community businesses could benefit from. Also, it will have high visibility as well, so one cannot ignore some political significance, especially during an election year in our state and country.
This Unity Eid could also become a great opportunity for the thousands of Muslims in the GSA to show their unified strength not just in their faith but their strength in numbers as well. And that strength should not go unnoticed by elected officials and candidates either. Sister Lina Mokeddem said that she looked forward to having a unified Eid in our community. With everything happening in Palestine, it would be good to show a united front within the Muslim community, she said. It will be a good opportunity to show the power that the Muslim community holds in our city and nationally as well. Br Omar Altamimi concurred. He also added that we may need to wait for the start of Ramadan to get a clearer picture of when Eid will be celebrated, and he hoped that this event will serve as a model for the Muslim community in the future.
To conclude, we may become busy with planning the logistics of such a large event in Sacramento but something that we can agree on is that this is an idea whose time has come. And we need to invite our non-Muslim Sacramentans, the political leadership, and leaders of the local police and fire departments to witness the local Muslim community in prayer and indulging in some family fun.
(The community is invited to visit https://sacunityeid.com/ to participate in this Unity Eid celebration. Volunteers, Vendors and Supporters can also register here).
