Muslims Celebrate After A Trying Ramadan

Ali McMillan saw the headlines and watched the fall-out on television. But he refused to let the news of worldwide terrorist attacks committed under the banner of radical Islam affect his spiritual concentration during the holy month of Ramadan.

An observant Muslim and New Haven native, McMillan managed to keep his focus throughout the month of fasting — and it paid off. He joined hundreds of fellow Muslims Wednesday evening at a parking lot carnival held at 254 Bull Hill Ln. in honor of Eid al-Fitr, a holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims around the world to mark the end of Ramadan.

“I’ve heard about [the attacks], and I’ve thought about them,” said McMillan, an energetic father of eight. ​“But I focus on my family. If you think about it too much, it would sadden you and destroy the mood.”

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of a month of daily fasting, the end of abstaining from food or drink from sunrise to sunset for about 30 days. The day is usually a time of uninterrupted celebration. And on Wednesday, Muslims gathered in the parking lot for games and ice cream, with bemused parents watching their children chase each other with water balloons between rounds on the bouncy castle.

This month’s event, hosted by the New Haven Islamic Center, was also held against the backdrop of terrorist attacks in Orlando, Florida and Dhaka, Bangladesh, among other places, that have rekindled anti-Muslim sentiment across the world.

Mohammed Abdelati, the imam at the New Haven Islamic Center, said the carnival — which featured foosball tables, a pick-up basketball game, and food trucks selling cheap pizza and falafel — was designed partly to give his community a positive face.

“We are trying to invite everyone around us to come and experience Islam,” he said. ​“We need to do this. The media is corrupting our image.”

Over the last month, Abdelati said, he has had numerous conversations with Muslims and non-Muslims alike about true Islamic values in an age of terror.

“We have to explain to them what is the reality of Islam,” he said. ​“Some of them get confused.” 

Maher and Sal Hussein, brothers who live in Wooster Square, said they feel obligated to explain the peace-loving nature of Islam to skeptics they encounter at work and in everyday life.

“We engage people, when something like this happens,” Sal Hussein said. ​“The imam engages people that this is not the right way.”

Maher Hussein said the attacks — the most recent of which was an Islamic State bombing that killed 250 people in Baghdad—cast a shadow over the holiday.

“This is the holiest month,” he said. ​“Everyone is supposed to be at their best, at their most peaceful.”

“It does weigh on you,” he added, as a stray water balloon landed on his foot. ​“You feel like you have to explain yourself. You shouldn’t. It sucks that you have to.”

McMillan — his eyes fixed on the bouncy castle, where his son was jumping excitedly — said he tried not to let the wave of radical terrorism take away from the month-long holiday. 

“I don’t discuss it too much,” he said. ​“You make prayer for the people going through it, and you keep moving.”

He was in the right city for that kind of spiritual focus — a city with a growing Muslim population surrounded by mostly sympathetic outsiders. 

The New Haven Islamic Center — which opened in the late 1970s when a group of students at the University of New Haven bought a house to use for prayer — has expanded rapidly since it opened a second site two years ago.

Yassine Boualem, a volunteer who sits on the board of the Islamic Center, said this year’s carnival was far more elaborate than past Eid al-Fitr celebrations in New Haven’s Muslim community.

“It’s important the kids here have a holiday like the other kids in the US,” he said. ​“If you want to see the true Islam, come here and witness it yourself.”

“We’re people just like everyone else,” Boualem added, gesturing in the direction of the food trucks. ​“We like to celebrate.”