A Subdued End to Ramadan

Dec. 27, 2000 -- Muslims around the world, from Detroit to Damascus, Bangladesh to Burundi, gathered at sunrise this morning to break a month-long religious fast, Ramadan.

Mecca teemed with tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers in the day’s first light, praying and giving thanks as the rising of the sun announced the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid-al-Fitr, a three day period of celebration and feasting.

Ramadan is the holiest month in Islam as it tests a Muslim’s spiritual devotion to God, through inner-reflection and self-sacrifice.

Practicing Muslims must abstain from bodily appetites and desires throughout the day as a gesture of reaching beyond one’s immediate need.

Depriving themselves of food is intended to remind the faithful of what the less fortunate experience.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are also reminded of the importance of charity and caring for others.

Misery From the MideastHowever, the turmoil of the last three months in the Palestinian territories cast a shadow over the festivities.

As Muslims worldwide celebrated this morning, Palestinian families mourned the nearly 350 people who died in clashes in the West Bank and the Gaza strip in the past few months.

Clerics in less troubled areas urged worshippers to divert zakat, or alms, to the Palestinians.

In Cairo, imams who led millions of worshippers in mosques and city squares urged followers to give the traditional Eid alms to Palestinians who have lost relatives in the uprising. After prayers, some activists sold pictures of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem to raise funds for the Palestinians.

In Saudi Arabia, the religious leader of Islam’s holiest site said “the tragic events” in Palestinian territories are a “source of sorrow to every Arab, Muslim, and fair-minded person in the world”.

“The Jewish invaders have violated the forbidden, desecrated the sacred and usurped our land in Palestine while the whole world has stood idle,” continued Sheik Mohammed Bin Abdellah Al-Sabeel, the imam of Masjid Al Haram, in a sermon following the Eid prayers.

In Iran, the nation’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered support to the Palestinian cause.

“It is a human, religious, wise and historical duty for all the Muslim nations to support the oppressed Palestinian nation,” he said.

A Modest CelebrationThe somber tones extended to other places as well.

The sanctions on Iraq dampened most citizens’ prospects of a holiday feast. “To hell with sanctions! People do not give money to beggars anymore because they do not have it to start with,” a beggar who refused to give his name said as he tried unsuccessfully to collect alms in Baghdad.

In Ann Arbor, Mich., a celebration drew more than 1,900 area Muslims who listened to a prayer devoted to Muslim communities in Palestine, Chechnya and other “hot spots in the world where Muslims are facing particular problems,” said Nazih Hassan, vice president of the Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor.

“It is a celebratory mood, but it is kind of tempered,” Hassan said.

And in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, celebrations went ahead amid tight security despite fears that Indonesia’s Christians would seek revenge for a series of deadly church bombings.

On Christmas Eve, explosions at Christian churches in nine Indonesian cities killed 15 people. Officials here had worried that mosques might be targeted in revenge attacks, but no religious violence was reported.

A Careful ArafatAhead of peace talks with Israel scheduled for Thursday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat struck a softer tone for the holiday.

After prayers this morning, Yasser Arafat said the Eid el Fitr holiday was an important time for his people in their peacemaking with Israel: “This Eid is a decisive Eid. God willing, it will represent a strong start in which a Palestinian boy or girl will raise the flag of Palestine in Jerusalem.”

Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak are to travel to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik Thursday at the invitation of Egyptian president Honsi Mubarak, who has been a frequent mediator in Mideast peace efforts.

ABCNEWS’ Irena Prentice in London, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.