Affect the lives of thousands of Muslim students in America .. Corona changes the flavor of Ramadan

Mohammed Al-Minshawi-Washington

Like any Islamic city, cities where Muslims gathered in the United States were known to have special rites during the holy month of Ramadan. However, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in various parts of the country, where the number of injuries exceeded one million and 300 thousand people and more than 78 thousand died until May 9, the Muslims adhered to the policies of social divergence, the mosques closed their doors, and the traditional Ramadan appearances disappeared.

It has been traditional and over the past years that mosques are crowded with worshipers, and food and meat shops slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law are crowded with shoppers, and Muslims frequently visit and gather in large Iftar tables, but the spread of Coffeid-19 has stopped all that.

At a time when America’s mosques were characterized by their small area during the sixties and seventies of the last century, Muslims began during the last twenty years building huge mosques to accommodate the growing numbers of them, especially with the emergence of the second generation of Muslim immigrants.

America's mosques are more than just a place of worship. Most of them contain large libraries, schools for teaching Arabic and for memorizing the Noble Qur’an, in addition to halls of religious, social and entertainment events.

The Al-Jazeera Net camera spotted the Washington Grand Mosque free of any movement, and its main entrance was closed with a clear lock. 

The call to prayer was stopped in most mosques, but Jacob Ferry, Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, allowed closed mosques to remove the call to prayer as moral and symbolic support to Muslims during the holy month, and the city’s initiative came after the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Minnesota branch, requested a permission to allow the call to prayer. 

Minnesota has hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants, especially from Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa.

Mosques were not the only arena for worship and prayer during the holy month across the United States. They used to perform other roles during the month of Ramadan, such as organizing Iftar and group suhour, and providing in-kind and material assistance to families in need of Muslims and others. 

A staff member of the Washington Mosque assured the island that it would continue to provide some benefits to the needy during the month of Ramadan, despite the conditions of closure and the restrictions of the spread of Corona. 

"Gathering in Ramadan is an important thing and Ramadan cannot be imagined from others." In this phrase, Abd al-Rahman Muhammad, an Arab immigrant living in Washington, described to Al-Jazeera Net his feeling towards Ramadan this year. He has lived there for more than five years, and he used to break the fast for most of the month with his friends. And his acquaintances, in search of him, to feel some of Ramadan's atmosphere, and to compensate for his distance from his family throughout this period, he said.

"Unfortunately, large gatherings are forbidden, and mosques are closed," Abd al-Rahman explains, explaining how even the religious atmosphere that the Islamic Center in Washington provided through Tarawih prayers or mass breakfast for the general public is no longer present, and thus, he says, "my feeling of alienation is increasing."

He hopes that the restrictions that have been announced to be eased by the mayor of Washington in the middle of next month will be a factor in easing the restrictions on tahajjud prayer and Laylat al-Qadr in the mosque whose start corresponds to the end of the declared closing period, as he mentioned to Al Jazeera Net. 

The impact of the policies related to the spread of Covid-10 virus during the month of Ramadan has become more visible on tens of thousands of Muslim students who are educated at universities there.

From Minnesota, the Egyptian student, Mohamed Abdel Mabdi, spoke to Al Jazeera Net. He said, "Here at the University of Minnesota there are hundreds of Muslim students, and the month of Ramadan was a gathering for us, whether in the mass breakfast or in prayer and in the sohour too."

Abdel-Mabdi also stated, "Now, because of the ban and the gathering of gatherings, I break my fast on my own and pray on my own and read the Qur’an alone. My colleagues in the house are not Muslims, so there is absolutely no sense of Ramadan except through a computer." 

The month of Ramadan was traditionally an opportunity to introduce Americans to some Islamic teachings, and many of them were invited to share their Muslim neighbors or colleagues in mass breakfast parties.

“We were taking advantage of Ramadan to invite our fellow American and non-Muslim foreign students to have a daily breakfast with us. It was an opportunity to build new relationships and introduce the university community of students and professors to an important social and religious aspect, including different foods and lessons about fasting and its benefits,” says Abdul-Mubadi.

After the Tarawih prayer, many young Muslims used to go out to sit at Arab cafes scattered in the no-north areas of Virginia, bordering Washington, where the Muslim community is concentrated in the greater Washington area, but all of these cafes have completely closed their doors in recent weeks.

And Al Jazeera Net monitored the absence of traditional crowding at the beginning of Ramadan in the "Halalco" store, which is the largest store that sells halal meat and Arabic food in the greater Washington area.

One of the shoppers justified the absence of crowding and attributed it to "storing a lot of food to many people early because of the fears associated with the spread of the Covid-19 virus, and preventing gatherings prevents the establishment of mass breakfast tables, whether in homes or mosques. From here we will not see crowds in Arab stores during Holy month. "

The shopper Heba Mahmoud also indicated to Al Jazeera Net that "this Ramadan will remain stuck in my mind, it is the first time that I will not hold any Ramadan Iftar parties, and this Ramadan will be the first time that I will not go to pray in the mosque, especially the last ten nights."

"We have seen during the past months how important the power of prayer is in difficult times, and with the start of the blessed month of Ramadan, I pray that those who celebrate this holy time find comfort and reassurance in their faith," Trump said.