Eid Mubarak | Exodus Story Significance

Eid Mubarak to those celebrating!
Wednesday, April 10, 2024

On this occasion of Eid ul-Fitr (Festival of breaking the fast of Ramadan), the celebration marking the end of the month of Ramadan, ING wishes all who observe a happy and blessed Eid celebration. We hope and pray that this occasion brings a renewed commitment to serving others and building a more peaceful world.

Reminder to educators and managers: Muslim students and employees may ask for the entire first day of Eid off or at least the morning of Eid to join their family in congregational prayers and community celebrations.

Extending greetings to a Muslim during Eid ul-Fitr

To extend greetings to a Muslim on Eid ul-Fitr, you can use common phrases such as Eid Mubarak, which means “blessed holiday,” or simply “Happy Eid,” since it is a happy occasion.

Parents and educators of kindergartners and preschoolers

As Muslim parents are often asked to share about Eid in their children’s classrooms, here are suggested activities and resources, which include books, songs and creative art projects.

The next Abrahamic Holiday this Year is Passover

This time of year is a season of Abrahamic holidays. It began with Christianity’s Lent and Easter, which was followed by Islam’s Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr and then by Judaism’s Passover (April 22-30), when the Exodus story is commemorated. The convergence of these three holiday seasons is a potent reminder that the Exodus story is one of the most profound commonalities connecting Jews, Christians, and Muslims, found in the key sacred texts of each of our faiths–in the Quran of Islam and in the Torah of Judaism that is also a part of Christian scripture.

This narrative is foundational to Jewish existence and also of great importance to Muslims—Moses’ struggles are mentioned more frequently in the Quran than those of any other prophet. At ING, this is a major reason we’ve held interfaith Seders with our Jewish neighbors in a program we called the Halaqa-Seder. (In the future we hope to include Christians, for whom the Exodus story is also of key importance.) Halaqa is an Arabic term meaning a gathering to study a religious text. The Jewish Seder is a ceremonial meal celebrated at Passover which includes as one of its primary components the recitation and study of the Exodus narrative. Both events have in common the conjunction of study and a convivial meal, expressing the spirit in which we want to meet.

Here’s a promotional video of a Halaqa-Seder event. To learn more about the Halaqa-Seder and to receive a toolkit that includes a presentation of parallel Exodus passages in the Quran and Torah that will help you hold a similar event in your local area, register here.

Our ability to come together as Abrahamic peoples based on our shared interests and concerns despite all that divides us is the difference between choosing light over darkness, life over death. This effort begins by building bridges on common ground as we learn more about each other, seeking and finding our shared humanity and nurturing friendships until we begin to see one another as extensions of ourselves and members of one family working together for peace and justice in our local communities and around the world.

Thank you for your support of ING

Since October 7th, 2023, ING has held an average of five seminars a week on Islamophobia or on Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, conducted jointly by our Muslim and Jewish speakers. We’ve held these events at every type of workplace (both corporate and governmental) and in academic institutions. Each seminar is tailored to the audience and closes with strategies for countering both forms of bigotry based on current experiences of workers and students. The feedback from these events has been exceptionally positive, and the fees for our efforts have helped sustain us. Because of greater demands for these and other ING services, we plan on adding to our team. We will soon post about this. If you wish to support us by your donations, please visit this page. Finally, thank you to all who have supported us so far this year. Your donations are doing much good in the world.

Here is a listing of links to our most requested seminars, in the order of their priority to clients:

-Request understanding Islamophobia training here.

-Request understanding Islamophobia and antisemitism training here.

-Request an interracial speakers panel on countering racism here.

-For all other presentations and trainings, visit this page.