Tulsa World: Religious fast turns to feast

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | WIRELESS

Home > News > Article

Newspaper View Print this story

RSS

Bookmark

Religious fast turns to feast
Local Muslims mark the end of Ramadan with worship, blessings counted and a meal.

A young boy watches as members of the congregation at the Islamic Center in Tulsa pray during a service Wednesday marking the end of Ramadan. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World

By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer
Published: 10/2/2008 2:06 AM
Last Modified: 2/3/2009 7:50 AM

Local Muslims mark the end of Ramadan with worship, blessings counted and a meal.

The imam at Tulsa's Al-Salam Mosque urged his fellow Muslims on Wednesday morning to continue in prayer and the worship of God after the Ramadan fast.

More than 1,000 men crowded into the mosque's main worship hall and overflow rooms to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the feast marking the end of the Ramadan fast. Women met in separate rooms.

"Show gratitude for all our blessings," Imam Mohamed ElGhobashy said.

"We live in a safe and secure environment, seeing our children grow up around us. We have pure, clean water and healthy food. All of this is not available in many parts of the world."

Speaking in both English and his native Arabic, the Egyptian native said husbands should respect and not beat their wives, who will continue to be their wives even after death, in paradise, and that wives should support and obey their husbands.

He said Muslims should find it encouraging that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world.

"We should show this beautiful religion of mercy and peace to others," he said.

After the service, worshippers gathered for breakfast at Peace Academy, the Muslim school adjoining the mosque, and then went their way for a day of food and fellowship with family and friends.

In a Tuesday interview, El- Ghobashy talked about his year as spiritual head of the Tulsa Muslim community.

Life for Muslims is much easier in America because of freedom of speech and religion, he said.

"Here, we can live without fear."

American Muslims tend to be sincere about their faith, while Egyptians sometimes are cultural rather than spiritual Muslims, he said.

Americans are more open-minded and more willing to listen to other opinions than people in Europe, where he has also lived, he said.

And life in general is much easier in America than in Egypt, he said. Cars and houses are less expensive, and everything is convenient.

On the down side, he said, in recent years, the American media has propagated misunderstandings about Muslims, labeling them as terrorists.

"It makes me sad that Islam is presented as a religion of terror," he said, citing a verse from the Quran that Islam is to be a religion of peace and mercy for all humanity, including non-Muslims.

Addressing two controversial subjects, ElGhobashy said that honor killings, in which a father or brother might kill a woman for bringing shame to the family by an improper relationship, are not a part of Islam, but are linked to the Middle East culture and mindset.

And he said that Egypt, like Saudi Arabia, has laws against a Muslim converting to another religion, but in practice, if someone leaves Islam without antagonizing others, then "there's no problem; that's his freedom."

He said the laws are in place to protect Islam.

ElGhobashy began memorizing the Quran when he was 3, and completed the project when he was 10.

He decided to become an imam when he was 18 after reading a passage from the Quran about calling people to worship and believe in God.

He holds a Ph.D. in comparative religions from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, a 1,000-year old institution with some 400,000 students.

He worked as an imam in Egypt, and then became a professor at Al-Azhar, a job he still holds as a researcher.

He first came to Tulsa in 2000 to recite the entire Quran from memory during Ramadan, and did the same thing in 2006.

He moved to Tulsa in September 2007 to be the imam at the mosque, and was joined here three months ago by his wife, Samira El-Ashmaway, and their three children, ages 6, 5, and seven months.

Bill Sherman 581-8398
bill.sherman@tulsaworld.com By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

RSS