Muslims celebrate month of Ramadan

At 7 p.m., women started pouring cold milk and steaming Moroccan soup in foam cups at a corner table in the large room, which is the women’s section of the Al Imam mosque on Steinway Street, at 25th Avenue, in Astoria.
The women were getting ready to break their fast on the first day of this year’s Ramadan, Monday, September 1. The ninth month in the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is the time when the Koran is believed to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. During Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to fast from dawn to sunset and pray five times a day, asking for Allah’s forgiveness.
After the food was served, the women, veiled from head to toe in flowing colorful fabrics shimmering with beads, sat in a circle on the green-carpeted floor and started eating dates and drinking milk. Then, while engaged in small talk in Arabic, they began sipping their brown Moroccan soup, made of beans, lentils, chick peas and meat.
A few minutes later, they rose to their feet, arranged in two rows, turned to the east to face Mecca - the holiest city in Islam. Then, they bowed their heads and began reciting to themselves their prayer, which was led by the imam, the head of the mosque, who was upstairs in the male section. The women could see and hear him from a TV screen attached to the wall.
“As soon as I put my forehead on the rug…I feel thankful,” said R. Hanif, who refused to give her first name, after her prayer at Al Imam. “I know this is a big favor from God, just to allow me to have another chance to beg for forgiveness.”
One of the things Hanif, 57, said she prayed for is a husband because she’s divorced. She said Ramadan is a bitter-sweet month for her because it is a great opportunity to do things in the name of God, but she feels sad when sees most people go to the mosque with their families. “I have to do more worship, to be more patient, because I shouldn’t feel sad,” said Hanif.
Meanwhile, 30-year-old Ali Ibork, who that same evening also broke his fast at Al Imam, feels mostly joyous during Ramadan. He’s taken the month off from his job as a street vendor in Flushing. “I want to have time for praying, for reading the Koran,” he said, explaining that this Ramadan his goal is to read the holy book four times, although the requirement is to read it once.
“I don’t care for the money [from my job.] I have enough money for the rent,” he said. Ibork explained he wants to take full advantage of the month when God is even more forgiving.
After breaking his fast, Ibork joined his male friends on Steinway Street, who had lined the sidewalks, sitting in plastic chairs in front of the cafes, many of them smoking hookah and drinking tea.