This year’s Eid Al-Fitr celebration, hosted by Texas A&M’s Muslim Student Association, or MSA, drew over 1,500 attendees on Wednesday, April 10 at the Brazos County Expo Center. Eid Al-Fitr signifies the conclusion of Ramadan, a sacred month during which Muslims observe a 30-day fast.
In collaboration with the Islamic Community of Bryan-College Station, or ICBCS, MSA orchestrated Eid prayers, refreshments and opportunities for communal fellowship at the venue.
Public health senior and president of MSA Kazim Gazi said he wanted to recreate the comforting atmosphere for individuals in the Bryan-College Station area who often miss during Eid celebrations.
“Most people actually had to move away from their home to be here,” Elko said. “Celebration of Eid with family, brothers and sisters is difficult [for them]. “We, MSA, wanted to provide the feeling of home away from home for all of them. As far as the prayer goes to the biggest area possible — we wanted everyone in the surrounding area to meet in one location just to show the unity.”
While MSA officially organized the Eid prayers, Gazi said the support of ICBCS was instrumental in promoting the venue and ensuring a successful turnout for the event. Chemical engineering senior and vice president education of MSA Busira Lassissi said the event aimed to engage not only the Muslim community on campus, but also families throughout Bryan-College Station.
“For celebrations like Eid, I don’t really think there needs to be an incentive to get people to show up because today is a celebration — they’re gonna be there regardless,” Lassissi said. “Just before Ramadan, we met up with International Student Services because they reached out to us on educating their faculty about Ramadan so that they can better cater to international students. ”
As one of the five pillars of Islam, Lassissi said Ramadan was acknowledged and explained to the faculty during their meetings. Electrical engineering senior and vice president social of MSA Hashim Amir said the community had a great time celebrating Eid, adhering to Islamic principles.
“Basically Eid is equivalent to Christmas for Muslims,” Amir said. “Being in college what most students miss for Eid is having that sense of belonging. We wanted the people to still feel that sense of community away from their families while staying close to their religion as well.”
Biological and agricultural engineering doctoral candidate Aadhil Haq and his wife Jiffriya Adnan attended the Eid celebrations this year. The couple said the day unfolded with a plethora of familiar activities, where they bonded with other attendees from over a hundred countries.
“Since we got here [College Station] in January 2023 we [have] had three Eid celebrations, but this is the biggest by far we’ve attended,” Haq said. “They had pizza, sweets, other snacks and coffee. And you could see everyone getting up from the prayers and calling their loved ones to show them around.”
“This time it was amazing. The last two times they had separate prayer sessions — fairly medium scale but this time it was massive! The entire community prayed together and sort of mingled and networked together,” Adnan said. “This time it was just [a] great job done.”
Gazi said MSA is holding many more events in the coming weeks such as a basketball tournament to help the refugees, a mental health awareness session with professionals and another Eid celebration on the weekend with a BBQ and a bouncy house.
“We are for everyone, we are not trying to just focus on the students,” Amir said. “Our biggest goal is to make everyone feel welcome within our community.”
