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PRESS
RELEASE
Chicago - Thursday, October 28, 2004
CHICAGO MUSLIM-AMERICANS HOST ANNUAL
RAMADAN INTER-FAITH IFTAR
The Council
of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIO), an
umbrella organization representing over 400,000 Muslims
throughout Chicagoland, will host its annual inter-faith
Iftar (breaking of fast) on Thursday, October 28, 2004 at
5:30 PM at the Islamic Cultural Center in Northbrook,
Illinois.
One of the featured speakers at this
event will be his Eminence Cardinal Francis George of the
Archdiocese of Chicago. Attendees will include leaders and
representatives of Chicago’s diverse religions including
the Muslim, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities.
The Iftar and associated Muslim Maghrib (sunset) prayer
will be followed by dinner and the main program, including
featured speeches.
Kareem Irfan, CIO Chairman
and a featured speaker at the event stated: “This
Ramadan Iftar has become the flagship Inter-Faith event of
the Council. It is fitting that during Ramadan, the
holiest of months for Muslims, we welcome our brothers and
sisters of faith into our house of worship and hopefully
into each other’s hearts. Our driving objective is to
forge strong ties with our fellow Americans of faith by
countering the ignorance, misperceptions and bigotry that
threaten improved understanding amongst us.”
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Background
on Ramadan:
Ramadan is the holiest month on the
Islamic calendar, during which Muslims abstain from food,
drink and other sensual pleasures and distractions, from
break of dawn to sunset. The fast is performed to obey
God’s commandments, while learning discipline,
self-restraint and generosity. Fasting, along with the
declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity, and
pilgrimage to Mecca are the five basic “pillars” of
Islam. The beginning and ending of the Islamic lunar
months depend on the actual sighting of the new moon.
The
start and end dates for Ramadan may vary as a result, and
the month begins about eleven days earlier each year. The
end of Ramadan is marked by the “Eid ul-Fitr,” or
Feast of the Fast-Breaking, and will be celebrated on
November 14, 2004 by communal prayers across Chicago’s
numerous Islamic centers and mosques.
The Quran,
Islam’s revealed text, states:
“O ye who
believe! Fasting is prescribed to you, as it was
prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) Piety,
Fear and Remembrance of God...Ramadan is the (month) in
which was sent down the Quran, as a guide to mankind, also
clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and
wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home)
during that month should spend it in fasting...”
(Chapter 2, verses 183 and 185).
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Event
Details:
Thursday, October 28, 2004
5:30
p.m.: Reception
5:50 p.m.: Iftar (breaking of fast)
& Maghrib (sunset) prayer. Dinner and program to
follow.
Islamic Cultural Center
1810
Pfingsten Road
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
(Directions
from Chicago: Tri-State, 294 North, exit at Willow Rd.
East; 1 mile down Willow Rd., Left of Pfingsten, go 1 mile
to Islamic Cultural Center on left)
NOTE:
ATTENDANCE BY THE PUBLIC IS BY INVITATION ONLY. MEMBERS OF
THE PRESS MAY ATTEND WITHOUT AN INVITATION IN THEIR
JOURNALISITC CAPACITY
PLEASE CONTACT: Farhan
Younus, fyounus@ciogc.org, Ph. 630-926-5566
-END-
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