Shakeel Ahmed tells us how the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community will be celebrating Eid Al-Fitr in Tooting.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the holy Islamic calendar, is the time of the year when Muslims around the world observe fast from dawn to dusk. A single sip of water is enough to invalidate the fast. Ramadan, is considered as a period of fasting, prayer, charity and self-accountability. Along with serving as a means for deeper self- scrutiny, fasting represents one of the five pillars of Islam, a set of practices every Muslim must follow.

Fasting in Islam does not just merely consist of refraining from eating and drinking, but from every kind of selfish desire. The fast is not merely of the body, but essentially that of the spirit as well as it involves perseverance, patience and willful surrender to the Almighty. The physical fast is merely a symbol of the real, inner fast, intended to bring the faithful closer to God. Ramadan is a time to detach from worldly pleasures and focus on one’s inner self.

Eid Al-Fitr is a joyful celebration of the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory and peace, of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity. Muslims are not only celebrating the end of fasting, but thanking God for the help and strength that he gave them throughout the previous month to help them practice self-control.

Eid is a time to come together as a community and to renew friendship and family ties. This is a time for peace for all Muslims in the world to devote to prayers and mutual well-being.

It is a festival of love and goodwill. It reinforces our message of “Love For All, Hatred For None.” It exhorts us to bid goodbye to hatred, jealousy and enmity and bring in an era of love, sympathy and brotherhood.

Please join us at our Eid Al-Fitr celebrations in Tooting, Friday 22 June, 7pm to 8.15pm. All are welcome.