Celebrating the Close of Ramadan

This past Saturday morning, Jim and I went to witness the "Feast of the Breaking of the Fast" prayer commemorating the end of Ramadan. It was held in the recently finished parade grounds in town and attended by literally thousands of Muslims. People streamed in from all sides, and with the women sitting separately from the men, the Imam led them all in prayer. For 30 days, they had been fasting - no food, drink, including water, and no sexual relations- from about 4 or 5 AM to 6 PM. Now was the time to celebrate and since the feast fell on the weekend, Monday was declared a holiday as well.
Sr. Marie-Renee, a Sister of Our Lady o f Africa, who taught the short course on Islam which I attended during the summer, invited us to greet some of her Muslim colleagues later in the day. Because Marie is very active in promoting inter-religious dialogue, she is well acquainted with various community leaders. We first visited the Imam of Tamale's central mosque who had led the morning prayer at the parade grounds. We met in very humble surroundings and chatted for a few minutes while seated on a bench outside his home.
The second visit was to the Imam of a smaller mosque and here we were invited inside the home. Taking off our shoes, we entered a rather large room which had a few chairs, sofas, a bed, and on the walls large posters of prominent Muslim clerics and decorative excerpts of the Koran. The Imam sat facing us on his prayer rug and we conversed for quite a while, - laughing, sharing stories, and speaking about the similarities of the Bible and the importance of recognizing and respedrcting each other's faiths. His English was fairly good but occasionally he used a translator to get his meaning across. Although many Muslims are indeed highly educated, the Imams - those who rise to the high position of the "caller to prayer" - are often purposely not exposed to the education, languages, and culture of the western world. The Imam, however, did take great pride in telling us that not only he, but his four wives and his mother haave all made the special pilrimmage to Mecca.
There was a very wise and peaceful demeanor exhibited by these two religious leaders and they certainly provided one with a more realistic and balanced perception of Islam.