Prayers of 10,000 Celebrate End of Ramadan
An estimated 10,000 Los Angeles-area Muslims celebrated the end of Islam’s holiest month, Ramadan, with prayers at three services Monday morning at the Islamic Center of Southern California. The Eid rites mark the end of 29 days of daytime fasting and are keyed to the phases of the moon.
Many other Muslims kept their fast one day longer and will say their Eid prayers today. That is because their mosques reported that a network of observers Sunday evening did not see the thin line of the new crescent moon--the traditional Muslim way of declaring the end of a month. “We go by calculations, not by visualization,” said Dr. Maher Hathout, spiritual leader of the Los Angeles center. Hathout said mosques in New York City and some other cities also celebrated the end of Ramadan on Monday.
Among Eid services today , about 8,000 Orange County Muslims are expected to assemble in Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Park and about 2,500 will gather at the Pomona fairgrounds.
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