The end of Ramadan is in sight: on Sunday, May 24, the fast is broken with the Sugar Festival (Eid-al-Fitr). Normally, this is one of the biggest celebrations of the year for Muslims, but it will be sober in 2020.
The Moskeeplein in Utrecht is normally full of long covered tables during the Sugar Festival. About two thousand people gather in festive clothing to eat and celebrate the end of Ramadan. This year, the square will remain empty and the Ulu Mosque will be closed.
“You can still get together for thirty people for religious celebrations,” explains Vice President Alpay Demirci of the Ulu Mosque. “But of course we can’t pick thirty people out of the fifteen hundred to two thousand who would normally come.”
“Only the heavy things remain”
In any case, all mosques in the Netherlands will remain closed until 1 July. The Netherlands is no exception. Even the most important Islamic places, such as the Great Mosque in Mecca, the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem are now closed.
“We miss very much to come together in the evening for the iftar and the prayer. But your health is above any party. ”
Alplay Demirci, Vice President of Ulu Mosque
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“Everyone understands it,” says Demirci. “Of course we miss very much to come together in the evening for the iftar and for the evening prayer. All the nice things are now gone while all the heavy things are left over. But your health is simply above any party.”
Digital Sugar Feast
The Ulu Mosque is limiting the Sugar Festival this year to a digital greeting to the community via WhatsApp and Facebook. The Baitul Afiyat Mosque in Almere tackles it a bit more extensively with a digital party.
“The day before the celebration, we will be holding a digital service via Teams with a lecture and a silent prayer,” says Imam Safeer Siddiqui. An online quiz is held for primary school children with a closing prayer. The Muslim community is also watching a live sermon of Khalifa Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad from London. “That is the highlight of the celebration,” said the Imam.
So this year the Sugar Feast will only take place at home. The Islamic Association of the Netherlands urges people not to visit each other. “Celebrate it alone with your own family,” said a spokesman. It is possible to receive three visitors, as long as people keep 1.5 meters away indoors.
The fact that the festivities fall into the water is a damper for many people. But according to Siddiqui, the Sugar Feast is about more than just food and fun. “Eid means ‘a day of joy,'” he says. “We are happy and grateful that we have been able to use the month of fasting to draw close to God and hope that we will continue to keep up the good things that we have learned throughout the year.”
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