AMHERST — During a gathering to celebrate the end of Ramadan on the Amherst Town Common Thursday evening, participants said anyone who strives for personal and communal health is a Muslim.
Health is central to Ramadan, and is therefore central to Islam, they said.
“Ramadan is Islam but more focused,” said minister Mohammad Babaee, an organizer of the event, through a translator.
The pursuit of overall health is not just for those born into Islam, he said.
“If he is trying to make himself and others healthy, he is a Muslim,” said Babaee.
About 150 people came to the event organized by the Muslims of the United States. The event marked Eid al-Fitr, the first day following Ramadan — the Islamic holy month. During Ramadan, Muslims practice fasting from dawn to dusk if they are healthy enough to do so.
Fasting and focusing on mental, bodily health, said attendees, is revitalizing.
“When you’re fasting you realize your body is very strong and you can live without,” said Maryam Kashefi, 30, of Amherst, while sitting at a table in the shade during the celebration.
Though rain earlier in the day threatened proceedings, sun peaked through, dissipating clouds by the time people started gathering on the common around 6 p.m. Attendees milled around, eating kebabs, talking and drinking coffee. An interwoven mix of music and prayer played through speakers. Songs sung in Arabic, Hindu and Turkish were interspersed with interludes of prayer spoken in English.
Last year’s Fitr on the common was the first of its kind. The event is put on largely through donations. The biggest expenses are the rentals and the food, organizers said.
But this year, soon-to-open Amherst restaurant Top Kabab donated enough food for all to eat heartily.
Aside from breaking the fast as a community, one organizer said, the event is geared at “making people aware of what the real Islam is about.”
“The true Islam is something else,” said Ramin Soltani, referencing those who commit violence in the name of Islam. “It’s opposite.”
Originally from Iran, Soltani, 29, is a University of Massachusetts graduate student studying electrical engineering. Soltani said he and the other organizers hope that events like this will convey the meaning of Islam, and not the one purveyed by “abusers” who are “perverting and distorting” the religion.
The holy month, said Soltani, is about “returning to human’s nice nature.” Muslims believe all people were born in their best possible state, he said, but the stress of life can separate a person from that elevated place.
Ramadan, Soltani said, is a monthlong practice that returns mind, body and spirit to that state of well-being.
“It’s harder to be kind when you’re thirsty and hungry,” he said. “You have to practice to be strong. After that, you celebrate this kind of improved level of health.”
School Committee member and candidate for state representative Vira Douangmany Cage attended the event with her family in support of local Muslims.
“It’s an important opportunity for the community to come together, especially with so much sadness,” she said, referencing shootings this week in Minnesota and Louisiana. “It’s important to get out of our beds, out of our homes and hold each other.”
Plus, she said, it’s good for the whole family.
“It’s good exposure for my kids,” she said.
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.