 |
Instead of school uniforms, children happily wore brand new clothes as they went out for picnics with their parents. |
PARIS —`Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, comes this year in France at a special time for the sizable Muslim minority as it coincides with the weekend, which means all play and no work.
"It is a very rare coincidence that the `Eid comes along with the two-day weekend holiday," Haydar Demiryurek, deputy president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), told IslamOnline.net.
"This will give Muslim families an exceptional opportunity to enjoy family gatherings in `Eid and celebrations instead of being knee-deep in work and studies."
The CFCM, the de facto representative French Muslim group before the government, has announced Saturday, October 13, the first of Shawwal and the start of `Eid.
Last year, many French Muslims missed the jovial time as the `Eid came on weekdays.
But today they feel the festive mood with family visits and social activities, which usually mark the event.
In the high-immigrants suburbs, people were zealously exchanging `Eid greetings.
Algerian "Sah `Eidek", Moroccan "Sah Awashrak" and Tunisian "`Eidek Mubarak" resonated across through the streets.
Instead of school uniforms, children happily wore brand new clothes as they went out for picnics with their parents.
Many Muslim students are used to absenting themselves from school to mark `Eid as the secular country does not consider religious holidays official.
School administrators tolerate this and delay exams until after the Muslim feast and change daily agenda so that absent Muslim students would not miss important classes.
Issa Nahari, a Muslim activist, says that the conjunction of `Eid and the weekend enabled French Muslims to perform the `Eid prayers.
"Many of them cannot get leave on `Eid," he said. "Now they are celebrating with their loved one."
`Eid Al-Fitr is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations, together with `Eid Al-Adha.
After special prayers to mark the first day of `Eid, festivities and merriment start with visits to the homes of friends and relatives.
Traditionally, everyone wears new clothes, and the children look forward to gifts.
No Priority
However, Muslim leaders believe that pressing to make `Eid an official holiday is not a top priority.
"We have more important things for the time being," Demiryurek said.
"We pay due attention now to fighting rising Islamophobia and establishing stately mosques to meet the religious needs of the sizable minority," the Muslim leader explained.
According to the 1905 law, which separated church from the state and entrenched secularism in the country, there is no official religious holiday in France except for Catholic Christianity, the official religion of the state.
In December 2003, a government ad hoc committee chaired by former minister Bernard Stasi and which proposed banning all religious symbols and hijab in state schools, called for giving a two-day holiday for Muslims to celebrate `Eid Al-Adha and for Jews to mark Yom Kippur.
But the French National Assembly did not adopt the holiday recommendation, arguing it contradicted the secular nature of the state.
France has an estimated Muslim minority of six million, the largest in Europe.
The sizable minority mostly hails from North African countries, Turkey, Pakistan, India and South East Asia.
|
