Muslim Holy Month Closes : Religion: About 6,000 worshipers mark end of Ramadan with prayer and festival of fast breaking at Mile Square Park. But their joy is offset by agony of Muslims in Bosnia.

More than 6,000 Muslims celebrated the conclusion of the holy month of Ramadan at Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Park on Sunday by giving thanks and condemning aggression and violence.

The scene was repeated throughout Southern California at mosques and in other places where the region’s 1 million Muslims gathered to mark Eid ul-Fitr, the festival of fast breaking. “It’s important because after 30 days of fasting, all the Muslims are together and everyone’s excited and we exchange gifts and we wear new clothes,” said Aamir Farukhi, 10, of Riverside.

“I think this is one of the best days,” Aamir said. “Out of all the Islamic holidays, I like this one best. I wish it was a national holiday.”

Although it is not a national holiday, it was clearly an international celebration as Muslims of all races and countless nationalities were represented at the prayer service on a beautiful, warm Sunday morning.

For 30 days during the holy month, Muslims fasted from dawn to dusk, striving “to achieve a higher degree of self-discipline, piety and inner peace,” said Shabbir Mansuri, director of the Council on Islamic Education.

“The basic message is that the community should be together (observing) the values that Islam teaches, family values,” said Muzammil Siddiqi, religious director of the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove, who led the throng in prayer.

“This is our biggest holiday in the religion of Islam,” he said, while people were still arriving for the second of two services.

Many of the thousands who filed into Mile Square Park were still lined up along Euclid Avenue in their cars when the first prayer service began at 8:30 a.m. Siddiqi led the gathering in the second prayer about half an hour later, to accommodate the latecomers.

Many men wore caps to cover their heads and kurtas (knee-length, collarless shirts), while many women were attired in ornate head scarves and flowing traditional dresses. Still others came in slacks and business suits.

At the conclusion of the prayers, the thousands rose from their prayer rugs and embraced one another.

“We are a very physical people,” Mansuri said. “We hug each other all the time.

“This is one of the largest gatherings I’ve seen,” Mansuri said. “It’s a family gathering; especially for the children, it’s very, very important.”

Children are trained beginning at age 6 or 7 by fasting for half a day. But by puberty, fasting from dawn to dusk during Ramadan is mandatory.

Siddiqi was pleased with the number of young people at the gathering.

“We are living in the land of freedom,” Siddiqi said. “But that should not make us free from the values of our religion. During the month, we have had a lot of young people (participating in services). They are coming in very large numbers.”

But Siddiqi said the joy of the occasion was offset by the deaths and agony among Muslims from the ongoing violence in Bosnia.

“I cannot imagine a crime greater than this kind of crime,” Siddiqi said, as event organizers collected donations for Bosnian relief missions. “We have prayed for the people who suffered.”

Mufid Sokolovich, president of the American Bosnia Herzegovina Assn., Bosnia Relief Fund Inc., was among Sunday’s worshipers.

“Although we are experiencing the unbelievable aggression in Bosnia, it is great to celebrate this day,” said Sokolovich, who added that he is optimistic for peace in his homeland.

“Life in Sarajevo is easier,” he said. “They can go to the mosques to celebrate the Eid, not like last year or the year before.”