New York:
Eidul Fitr is being celebrated across the United States and Canada tomorrow, Friday, April 21. Traditionally Muslims in North America follow three sources for a decision on celebrating Eid. These include local and global moonsighting besides scientific projections about the Shawal moon. The majority of Muslims follow Saudi Arabia in moonsighting and scientific projections.
Shawwal is the tenth month of the lunar-based Islamic calendar, marking the end of Ramadan.
The Fiqh Council of North America announced the Eid Al Fitr date earlier this year, stressing that the Astronomical New Moon is on Thursday, April 20. “On April 20, the elongation is more than 8 degrees and the moon is more than 5 degrees above the sun everywhere in North America. Hence the first day of Shawaal is on Friday, April 21, 2023,” the council said. Manny mosques across the US announced Eid prayers timing a week earlier on Friday, April 14.
Saudi Arabia’s April 20th announcement of the moon sighting will make Eid more widely celebrated tomorrow, Friday, April 21.
Muslims in the US and Canada make special preparations for the Eid festival. Mosques and community organizations organize special Chand Raat melas. Girls getting their hands decorated by henna artists on sidewalks in Muslim-dominant neighborhoods have become common sights. Mosques and Islamic centers organize special events for children and offer free food and snacks to worshippers.
In New Jersey and across the US, dozens of public schools have recognized Eid as an official holiday in recent years. Among them is New York City, where the Department of Education has included April 21 as a holiday on its calendar since last year. Houston has become the latest city that has also recognized Eid as a school holiday. According to Houston Independent School District (HISD), Eid will join Good Friday and Yom Kippur as the only religious holidays recognized by the district aside from those that fall during winter break.
In Dearborn, Michigan, the city’s Lebanese origin Mayor Abdullah Hammoud declared April 21 as a paid public holiday, the first by any city across the US.
“I think it’s time we modeled that, in the city of Dearborn where we are trying to hire an inclusive and diverse workforce, we should be recognizing their holidays and their faith traditions as well,” Hammoud said while announcing the holiday.
Dearborn is known as the Arab capital of North America due to its high density of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Iraqi and Yemeni communities. Most of the city’s residents and employees are Muslims.
America is home to millions of Muslims. Muslim community organizations put their population number at six million. However, a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center estimates that there are 3.45 million Muslims living in the U.S., or roughly 1.1% of the population. By 2050, that figure is expected to more than double to 8 million.
