Muslim celebration swells

Local leaders eyeing convention center as next venue for Eid

Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 11, 2006 at midnight

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Local Muslim leaders are mulling a move to the Colorado Convention Center for the next celebration of Eid, a twice-a-year festival that drew thousands Tuesday.

"It's getting to the point where it's out of control - there's no way we can accommodate everybody," said Dilsher Nawaz, a cardiologist who hosted an Eid party for about 75 people in his Highlands Ranch home Tuesday.

Nawaz is a board member of the Colorado Muslim Society, which will make a decision soon on whether to rent the convention center.

Eid, which means celebration, marks the conclusion of the strict fasting month of Ramadan, which ended Nov. 3, and the end of Hajj, which is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. To make the pilgrimage at least once is considered the sacred duty of every able Muslim.

Muslim leaders estimated that Tuesday's Eid drew 5,000 to the main mosque at 2071 S. Parker Road and to the Marriott Denver Tech Center. After morning prayers, Eid revelers scatter to private homes to continue a daylong celebration marked by family visits and holiday foods.

The number of participants reflects a growing Muslim presence in the U.S. The population is estimated from 2 million to 7 million, with 109 percent growth between 1990 and 2004, according to one research Web site, adherents.com.

A longstanding goal is to bring together virtually all of Colorado's 10,000 to 20,000 Muslims - exact numbers are impossible to verify, even for Muslim leaders - for a communal worship of Eid. When the Prophet Muhammad established Islam in the 7th century, he decreed that Muslims living in a region should always try to celebrate Eid together, in one place.

The convention center holds up to 70,000 people, and the next Eid celebration, which shifts dates with the lunar calendar, will be in late October or early November.

"We're going to start planning right now," Nawaz said.

At the Nawaz home, many gathered around a special guest, Sheik Ishaq Taha, director of the Fatwa Council in Jerusalem and one of 30 muftis affiliated with Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, considered the most sacred place in Islam after Mecca.

Taha's invitation to Colorado is part of a new effort to make Denver an important destination for noted Islamic leaders from around the world, said Rima Sinclair, a community activist who organized Taha's visit.

A "fatwa" is a religious declaration that's intended to provide guidance or direction for Muslims. The Fatwa Council considers hundreds, if not thousands, of such requests annually, some from American Muslims who face difficult cultural decisions.

Marriage is one issue that American Muslims seek guidance on, said Taha, whose words were translated by Sinclair. For example, someone may seek a ruling on whether their American marriages can be recognized by Islam and what the status is of children born to Muslims living in common-law unions.

Another issue often debated in Muslim circles is whether Muslims may celebrate cultural holidays such as Thanksgiving, because the Prophet Muhammad decreed that Muslims cannot participate in the celebrations of other religions.

However, Taha said Thanksgiving is fine - Muhammad's decree never meant "we cannot congratulate and celebrate (with others.)"

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