TRANSCRIPT: A sense of home: Syracuse community gathers to celebrate Eid al-Adha
Marisa Nuñez: The Islamic Society of Central New York once served about 70 to 80 people. That number has grown to more than 200.
Mohamed Khater: “There was one mosque, now we have six mosques around the city here. So the Muslim community grew a lot in the past 40 years or so.”
Nuñez: As the community has grown, Eid has become a holiday celebrated in homes and community spaces across Syracuse.
Ashraf Khater: “Eid is a time for me to see family, to spend some time in community, and then also being able to just remember the reasons for celebrating as well.”
Nuñez: In Ashraf’s childhood home, Eid looks like a house that keeps expanding.
Magda Bayoumi: “I made it a tradition in our house here to have all our friends and family come together and celebrate in the evening. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun. Every Eid we are exhausted, but we see the happiness in everybody’s face and say, hey, it’s worth every penny of it.”
Nuñez: And for those whose families are thousands of miles away, local businesses are stepping in to make Syracuse feel a little more like home.
Maria Rodriguez: “This event is important to bring people together, to remind them that even though they’re far from home, there’s still a place where people understand each other.”
Nuñez: In Syracuse, Eid is as much about community as it is about faith. Marisa Nunez, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — On the night before Eid al-Adha, one household in Syracuse doesn’t just set the table, it adds more. Extra chairs, extra plates and extra people for those who may spend the holiday alone.
“I made it a tradition in our house to have all our friends and family come together and celebrate in the evening,” said Magda Bayoumi, a host of Eid al-Adha. “I always encourage everyone, if you know someone who’s alone at home, bring them in…We don’t want to leave anyone alone, and we want to make sure that everybody is included with us as a family.”
Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Festival of Sacrifice,” is one of the most important holidays in Islam, commemorating Prophet Abraham. All over the world, Muslims celebrate the holiday with special prayers, charitable giving and shared meals.
For many families and friends in Syracuse, strengthening community bonds is just as important as faith.
“Eid is a time for me to see family, to spend some time in community, and then also remember the reasons for celebrating as well,” said Ashraf Khater, who grew up celebrating in his family home. “There’s a sense of gratitude for having done some hard work spiritually.”
For the Khater-Bayoumi family, their home will be filled with over 50 people, welcoming friends, family and strangers to celebrate Eid al-Adha. For Mohamed Khater, Magda’s husband and the vice president of the Islamic Society of Central New York (ISCNY), that open-door approach is one way of living out a core religious principle.
“God ordered us to treat everybody as we like to be treated, which is the same golden rule everywhere,” Mohamed Khater said. “If we really apply it, whichever religion we’re in, we’ll be in a much better shape in this world than we are right now.”
Mohamed Khater began attending ISCNY nearly 40 years ago. At the time, it was the only mosque in Syracuse. Then, Friday prayers at the mosque drew about 70 to 80 people. Now, he said, more than 200 worshippers gather at the Islamic Society, and six total mosques across the city.
That growth is prevalent in local businesses that are stepping up to create their own versions of home for those who don’t have a house full of relatives to return to. At Haraz, a Yemeni coffee shop, staff are preparing to host an Eid event aimed at people who might otherwise celebrate alone.
“We are hosting an Eid event on Wednesday because it’s a celebration for the Islamic community, and it’s very important for them,” Maria Rodriguez, who works there part-time, said. “It’s like a big thing, and they just want to bring people together.”
The event will feature a henna artist and a free Adeni booth, which is a traditional Yemeni spiced milk tea.
“There’s many people that come from other countries,” Rodriguez said. “When you’re away from home, you’re not able to celebrate the stuff from your culture, and this event is important to bring people together, to remind them that even though they’re far from home, there’s still a place where people understand each other.”
At both Haraz and the Khater-Bayoumi home, the impulse plays out in a different setting: another chair squeezed in, another plate on the table, another person who doesn’t have to spend Eid alone.