Ramadan is coming closer to finishing, with Eid Al-Fitr just around the corner on May 2, according to the Australian National Imams Council.
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Eid Al-Fitr is Arabic for ‘The Festival of Breaking Fast’, where Muslims celebrate the holy month of Ramadan in which they have been fasting from dawn to dusk.
During this month Muslims of the Afghan Mosque (Masjid Nabi Akram (SW)), have been connecting with each other and their faith.
Everyone shares as they gather on the floor and pass each other plates.
They eat food cooked in giant pots and pour each other traditional tea during iftar (breaking fast/dinner).
Adela Gulzari, 23, said she had always spent Ramadan in Shepparton even though her parents were from Afghanistan.
She said the month was a chance for her to understand more about Islam, growing up in a non-Muslim country.
“I didn't understand it (Ramadan) that much when I was little; it meant like, fasting, and keeping away from food and drinks and stuff,” she said.
“But as I grew up, the meaning for me was basically taking a break from life and resetting myself spiritually and getting connected back to what Islam is about.”
Ms Gulzari said Ramadan was a time to set spiritual goals, stop habits and reflect on life.
“How I can be a better person in the community, or how I can be a better person in society, and what I can do to help,” she said.
Ms Gulzari migrated to Australia when she was three, after her dad came by boat as a refugee fleeing the Taliban.
She “knows it’s very hard” for her family in Afghanistan because of the Taliban taking control again, and she feels disconnected from them during Ramadan.
“They’re struggling, they’re suffering, but because I haven’t lived there and I haven’t met them, it’s hard for me to relate to them,” she said.
“Before there was hope for a better future when they were working and studying, now hope is being taken away from them and they’re kind of in survival mode.”
When community members arrive at the Afghan Mosque, the Athan (call to prayer) is called, where Muslims pray together.
Ms Gulzari said the Imam continued to share messages every night praying for loved ones in Afghanistan.
Since the mosque was built when Ms Gulzar was a teenager, she “feels more connected to the community”, and said Ramadan feels “more holy”.
“There’s people who are doing it with you in here, when you’re hungry, you’re hungry together,” she said.
Ethnic Council community development officer Abdullah Naveed, who works with new Afghan arrivals in Shepparton, said Ramadan meant a chance to “feel for other human beings who are unable to feed themselves”.
“We can feel how those who are hungry and thirsty, they are not able to feed themselves or their family or their children,” he said.
Moving from Afghanistan in 2014, Mr Naveed said Ramadan was “much different” when practising it in Shepparton.
“In Afghanistan, you have to work hard physically, and you are more tired and more sick mentally,” he said.
“Here, at least you are more mentally calm and relaxed,” he said.
With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan, Mr Naveed said the Goulburn Valley community was in “much better” conditions.
“We have the issues of our families, our friends, our ethnic groups, even our religions, because they are absolutely under fire (in Afghanistan),” he said.
“Every day, people are being killed, families lose their children, their parents, their sisters and brothers.”
Mr Naveed said the Afghan Mosque was a “beautiful place” that allowed the large Afghan Muslim community to unite.
“We meet each other, we pray together, and we pray for our self, for our people who are under oppression,” he said.
This is the third in the series of Youssef Saudie exploring mosques in the Goulburn Valley during Ramadan. You can contact him at youssef.saudie@mmg.com.au