Chaand Raat and Unification

By Sophia Qamar, TMO

What I find particularly beautiful about Eid is the unification it brings amongst us all. For one day—just one measly day—we can forgot our personal, political, material differences and embrace the togetherness of which Eid entails. Maybe it’s just the Ramadan air, but the days and moments approaching this blessed day, I find are ones filled most with the hustling and bustling of friends, family, relatives, close acquaintances, and new ones. If you don’t believe me, let me prove it…

The night before Eid, I had the pleasure of attending the Chaand Raat (aka “Night before Eid Partyyy”) and quite frankly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I felt that my years of swooning over Eid had fallen, just as it does when a little Christian boy finds out Santa doesn’t exist. Still I went because my sister wanted to have henna done on her hands. And thus began my change towards the Eid celebration.

I remember going to the Mosque, same as I always do, and noticing a faint buzz roaming around. Then I saw the racks of clothing and the colored lights and the Halal food and the little booths filled with jewelry and little knick-knacks. The ambiance felt like the bustle of streets. I ended up helping out at the Henna booth when people began flooding in, and though the job was rather stressful, I loved it—meeting the different people all there for the same reason as everybody else. I made new acquaintances, new friends, and most importantly, I made memories that allowed me to remember why Eid was so important to me in the past and why it still is.

I hope every Muslim, whether they are Sunni or Shia, Republican or Democrat, man or woman, that they had a satisfactory and rewarding Eid. I hope that we all notice the closeness that Ramadan brought to us all, and I especially hope we can keep it till the next one.

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