Muslims celebrate Ramadan fast

While her friends chowed down on honey barbecue wings and hamburgers at Wendy's a couple days ago for lunch, Palvashay Khan sat with them, talking and joking, but refrained from eating the food.

And for the rest of the day until sunset, the 16-year-old Bingham High School student fasted from food or drink along with millions of Muslims worldwide for the monthlong Ramadan fast.

In following the lunar calendar that placed Ramadan from Aug. 22-Sept. 19 this year, Muslim members fasted from dawn till sunset, avoiding all food, drink, alcohol or tobacco in an attempt to increase their faith and bring them closer to God.

"The month of Ramadan you feel so religious and clean," Khan said while holding a plate of dates, strawberries and other food, waiting until 7:53 Saturday evening to break her fast.

The men and women, who were separated into different rooms at the Utah Islamic Center in Sandy, went barefoot and munched on food until time arrived for the fourth prayer of the day — Maghrib.

Shuaib Din, the imam, or religious leader of the mosque, kneeled down with a hundred men following suit, raising their hands and touching their heads to the carpet in prayer.

"Most people do come closer to God," Din said. "Some people who are alcoholics and drug addicts, or jack Muslims you might say, you see them much more during Ramadan. It's a month of coming together, of brotherhood and sisterhood."

And in an attempt to reach out to the non-Muslim community, the local Islamic Center invited Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and other community members to attend the religious ceremony so close to Sept. 11.

Nadeem Ahmed, chairman of the center's board of trustees, said he remembers the tension that heightened when word spread about the four planes that crashed into the twin Trade Center towers and Pentagon in 2001 by Islamic terrorists. Nearly eight years later, Ahmed said the tension is mostly gone, but it's still good to outstretch a welcoming hand, which is also part of a continuing effort to learn from and educate community members about different cultures and religions.

"Things are better here in Utah," Ahmed said.

Shurtleff and other non-Muslim members did not make it to the ceremony, but many Muslims greatly enjoyed the prayer and food celebrating the fast since 5:43 a.m.

For Sofia Ahmed, Nadeem's daughter, who recently graduated from the University of Utah, the fast held a chance to reflect and appreciate everything she has.

"Personally, I think it makes you a better Muslim — stronger and closer to God," she said.

The women prayed from an adjacent room with a television projecting the men's prayer as they kneeled multiple times and quietly prayed and gave thanks to God.

The religious leader, Din, said the Muslim community in the Salt Valley has raised about $166,000 to build a new mosque in Sandy and is hoping to raise an additional $44,000 by the end of Ramadan.

"We want to use it to buy land, hopefully for our own mosque," Nadeem Ahmed said. "My wish is in prayer."

e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com