Texas Suhoor Fest and D-FW Suhoor Fest will offer food options for those whose Ramadan fasts begin at dawn. Both festivals are expecting thousands of...
began in most countriesFor husband-and-wife duo Faraz and Ambreen Ahmed, who grew up in Houston, eating suhoor with friends is an important part of their Ramadan routines. As a kid, Faraz remembered going to IHOP at 5 or 6 a.m. and sitting at tables where 20 to 30 friends squeezed together. As they got older, the Ahmeds said, they noticed more restaurants in Houston staying open into the early morning and bringing food trucks to their parking lots during Ramadan.
Though these festivals are not prescribed in the Quran, Issa said, they are a special way to bring the Muslim, or community, together. In Muslim-majority countries, he said, everyone is festive during Ramadan, and all the stores are closed during the day and open at night. “Here in the States, we don’t have that same sort of ambience. You can’t necessarily go to the mall at 2 o’clock in the morning.
For Ambreen Ahmed, a suhoor festival can help strengthen the local Muslim community. “Just because we’re not related to these people by blood, doesn’t mean that we’re not brothers and sisters in our religion,” she said. “Wherever any Muslim person lives, they should feel that warmth, and they should feel that connection with the community that they live in.”Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, both Texas Suhoor Fest and DFW Suhoor Fest will be raising money for the people of Gaza.
These fundraising efforts are part of taking care of the larger Muslim ummah, Faraz Ahmed said. “Our ummah as a whole is hurting. When one part of the body hurts, the whole part of the body hurts. In light of what’s happening in Gaza, in light of our brothers and sisters there day in, day out, struggling for just basic human needs, it was really important for us to put together this event to get people together, allocate some resources and put our money where our mouth is.
“I knew that Ramadan this year is going to be different,” Issa said of the impact of the situation in Gaza. “We didn’t even decorate our house this year because we couldn’t feel like it was appropriate.”“Instead of just canceling our event, we said why don’t we make it focused on Gaza,” he explained. “We’re trying our best to make a difference.”Joy Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America..
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