Ramadan a Time to Rejoice and Learn

October 27, 2006

Author: Jim Smith

Source: Daily Democrat

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_4535794

A hastily prepared Ramadan "Iftar dinner" became an occasion of cultural and religious diversity Saturday night with guests learning more about themselves as well as Islam.

Co-sponsored by Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada, the American Muslim Voice and the Council on American Islamic Relations, the dinner was held in the atrium of the county's Irwin Meier building and was attended by about nearly 100 Muslims, Christians and Jews.

The event, hosted by Woodland's Muslim Mosque Islamic Center, recognized the breaking of the roughly 30 days of fasting at the end of Ramadan, Khalid Saeed of the mosque said.

Beside the meal itself, the significance of the religious event was explained by Nosheen Khan of Sacramento, who spoke about the pillars of Islam and the meanings behind some of the words commonly used by Muslims.

While dressed in traditional colorful attire of blue and gold, Khan's speech was pure American, as she talked about the tenets of Islam and the meanings of some of the language.