Eid-Al-Fitr celebration returns to MSU after two years

“Dignity is diversity. We only have one world, and in this world everyone [else] lives too. We cannot push others away,” said professor of mechanical and industrial engineering Ruhul Amin during his April 12 presentation about Eid-Al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday that follows the end of Ramadan. 

Before his presentation began, murmurs filled the Strand Union Building (SUB) ballrooms as the smell of falafel and tzatziki sauce permeated. The second-ever Eid-Al-Fitr celebration — hosted by the Asian Student Interracial Association (ASIA) — had begun. 

The ASIA was founded in 2021. The organization first hosted an Eid-Al-Fitr event in 2022, after ASIA leadership was approached by several Muslim students who wanted to hold a celebration on campus. However, before this year, the celebration had not occurred since 2022. 

“During the last two years, ASIA hosted the Asian Multicultural Night in the month of April. Since the Multicultural Night requires a lot of planning and rehearsals, it was difficult to organize another event at the same time,” said current club mentor and former President of ASIA Aishik Biswas. “This year, we had to push the Multicultural Night to the fall due to the unavailability of the SUB Ballrooms in the spring. This gave us a perfect opportunity to bring back the Eid event.” 

To start the night, an Adhan — an Islamic call to prayer — was recited by Bozeman community member Faqeer ur Rehman. Afterwards, Amin gave a presentation on Islam and Islamic practices. 

“Fasting is supposed to bring us closer to God, because we are abstaining from food and drink throughout the day,” he said in an interview with the Exponent. “We are voluntarily avoiding it to fulfill the commandments of God. We celebrate this [at Eid-Al-Fitr] because we were successful in doing it. It's like, Ramadan is the month-long exams and other tests, and the day of Eid-Al-Fitr is the graduation day.”

Additionally, Ramadan and Eid-Al-Fitr are a time where many Muslims choose to partake in zakat — a form of almsgiving and one of the Five Pillars of Islam, according to the Pluralism Project. 

“Every Muslim who has the bare minimum threshold, they must pay — every year — minimum 2.5 percent of their yearly savings to the poor and the needy,” Amin said during the presentation. He also explained that while many Muslims pay at different times of the year, the month of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid-Al-Fitr are often when many pay their zakat.

Amin told the Exponent that he was happy to see students and community members of diverse identities attend the event. “If we do not know something or somebody, we try to avoid it,” he said. “But knowledge is a power. If we empower ourselves with knowledge, then we can live together in harmony.” 

“An event like this is important because, in that case, we get to know about others’ belief, faith, culture,” he said. “We educate ourselves. That helps us to sing along together, rather than pushing each other and trying to drown others and be only one in the game.” 

 Additionally, student speakers gave presentations on different Eid-Al-Fitr celebrations around the world, specifically in locations such as Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt. After all the presentations were complete, the ASIA hosted trivia focused on the different speakers' topics and then ended the night with henna painting. 

“[The ASIA] strives to provide a comprehensive understanding of Asian nations, languages, cultures and people among heritage and non-heritage students to enrich [MSU,]” Biswas said. He explained that this was a goal for MSU's Eid-Al-Fitr celebration, with much of the itinerary focused on education for attendees.

“[Hosting Eid-Al-Fitr] means a lot to us,” Biswas said. “It gives us immense joy to see the Muslim community at MSU and in Bozeman come together to celebrate a festival that is so dear to them, right here on the beautiful MSU campus.” 

To learn more about ASIA, visit its Instagram, @asia_montanastate.