7,000 Mark Ramadan’s End : Religion: Area Muslims make the Mile Square Park observance of the holy season’s conclusion the largest of its kind in Southern California.

The Muslim faithful began arriving before dawn, searching for spots to lay down ceremonial prayer rugs.

The men and boys sat in neat rows on a baseball field, facing Mecca. Behind them, separated by a dugout, the women gathered with the girls and prepared to chant the Eid, Islam’s centuries-old prayer. There were those dressed in the traditional robes of India, Pakistan or the Middle East, but also others wearing three-piece suits or blue jeans.

By 8 a.m. Thursday, about 7,000 Muslims had converged on Mile Square Regional Park to celebrate the end of Ramadan, Islam’s holiest season.

This is the fourth year Mile Square Regional Park has served as the Orange County prayer site. And according to Nazeer Ahmed, president of the Islamic Society of Orange County, the event is the largest of its kind in Southern California.

“In Los Angeles, the prayer is being said in mosques, where there’s not nearly enough room to accommodate this many people,” Ahmed said.

Ramadan, the high holy month of Islam that began March 27, marks the period in the year 611 when the prophet Muhammad is said to have received the revelations of the Koran, Islam’s holy scriptures, from the angel Gabriel.

During Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to fast from dawn to sunset, observing one of the faith’s five pillars each day: abstention from food, drink, tobacco or sex.

The end of Ramadan is marked by the sighting of the new moon. Because the sighting of the new moon is crucial, Muhammad had instructed everyone to participate in the lunar search, Ahmed said.

In the Muslim tradition, Ahmed said, he and his son went out Wednesday evening to search the skies for the crescent moon, spotting it about 8 p.m. And they arose at dawn to prepare for the prayer.

The Eid, a three-minute prayer that praises God and his greatness, was led by Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the society and the county’s imam, or spiritual leader.

After the prayer and a 15-minute sermon, the crowd was ready to begin the traditional three days of celebration, including lots of feasting.

“It’s our Thanksgiving,” said Muhammed Ovase, 23, of Garden Grove.

Huddled behind the baseball diamond’s backstop with their friends, Rebecca Mahmood, 20, of Cerritos, and Tasnim Rafique, 14, of Diamond Bar, didn’t mince words in describing what they plan to do in the next few days.

“We’ll be partying!” they said, as two women with shawls draped over their heads walked by.

“When you grow up as a Muslim, you learn to live the religion. You learn to accept it for what it is,” Mahmood said.

Ten minutes before the prayer was to begin, Carol Salem was busy herding her three kids to the back of the baseball field. A former Catholic, Salem, 40, of Laguna Beach, has been a Muslim for 10 years.

“My husband is Muslim, but he never tried to push his religion on me,” she said. “After visiting the Vatican one year, I came away with a different perception of Catholicism. When I returned, I converted to Islam.”

Salem’s 4-year-old daughter wanted to know why women had to be separated from men during the prayer. The separation is to eliminate distractions, Salem explained, adding that she is not offended by the tradition.

“When in prayer, men and women should only be thinking about the faith, not the opposite sex,” she said.

While most of her fellow Muslims will celebrate the end to Ramadan with traditional feasts, Salem and her husband have opted for a more modern celebration.

“We’re taking the kids to Disneyland,” she said. “It’s a perfect time and we all love to go there.”

Worldwide, there are an estimated 1 billion followers of Islam, the world’s second largest religion after Christianity. In Orange County, the Muslim population is about 30,000 and growing, said Javed Chak, secretary general of the Islamic Society.

Chak, 48, a Fullerton resident, said Orange County has four mosques and the largest membership of the 28 other Islamic chapters in Southern California.