It was 8:38 on July 13, and it was Laylat al Qadr, or the Night of Destiny, at the Dar al Hijrah in Falls Church. So many local Muslims were there to break the fast that prayer space overflowed and the women had to kneel in the stairwells. As the Mosque-goers arrived, they separated into groups of men and groups of women and children. The men lined up for a bottle of water and a date to break the fast before evening prayers. The women were less systematic. One shy Indonesian woman offered dates to individuals who looked hungry. Others broke open their own bananas and water. Each had fasted since sunrise, each recognized in the other the relief of Iftar, or the fast breaking meal.
Jainab, an economics student from Senegal, led a friend and her daughter, who was young enough not to know all the prayer rituals, into the stairwell where, instead of the carpeted prayer room, she and the other women prayed with bent heads onto the linoleum floor. Each stood in the “ruku” position — hands on knees — at the same time, and knelt down at the same time, in the “sajda” position, providing a unity and harmony of prayer that physically reminds the Muslim of his common humanity before Allah. And then, after three rounds, it was time to eat and relax. Jainab teased the young girl about her fussing with her veil which kept slipping off during prayers.
In a nearby hall the women sat down at 20 tables of 12 and within minutes volunteers brought in steaming platters of lamb stew, saffron rice, and salad. A Somali woman offered her homemade hot sauce to the women on her right and left. It was so good the whole table asked for a taste. Her small sample was soon gone, but she was not deterred. She spooned out her homemade lentil dish to her neighbor - “take, take” and was happy to see it eaten with relish. “My sister’s recipe” she said in broken English. She came to the U.S. in 1994 and “thanks God”, she was able to get an education herself and educate her children in what she called the “Land of Opportunity.” She misses Somalia but she loves the U.S. She works as a nurse in Washington, D.C. and takes her vacation during Ramadan because it is too hard to fast and pray during the day in her job.
Dalal Rehayem, from Lebanon originally, has been in the U.S. for more than 30 years. She wears the Hijab during Ramadan and other religious periods, but generally she does not. Her view is that any religion is more about what is in your heart than what you are wearing. She found it hard to fast in the U.S. when she first came here as a student, especially in 1978 when Islam was not well known here. The U.S. has a culture of eating and drinking all the time. She made herself fast with great effort, reminding herself that the mind is stronger than the body. Now, she maintains her routine, working, going to the gym, and when she has time, breaking the fast at Dar al Hijrah. Her favorite thing about Ramadan is the fasting itself, because of its health benefits, but even more so, the way the food tastes when you finally eat. “It is so much better tasting when you eat after being hungry all day,” she said. She felt very fortunate to be celebrating Ramadan in a country which has so much tolerance and security, having come from a less settled place in southern Lebanon.