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Bay Area Muslims Asked to Observe Ramadan at Home

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The Northern Californian Islamic Council (NCIC) is calling on Bay Area Muslims to continue sheltering in place during Ramadan, a month-long observance which begins Thursday night. That means no gatherings at mosques or to break the daily dawn-to-dusk fast.

"This is a matter of life and death," said council chair Dr. Hatem Bazian about the COVID-19 health crisis, in a video conference on Thursday. "We call on our community and the broader society to … put the best interest of our society ahead of any other consideration."

Instead, NCIC, a non-profit that aims to promote coordination among Islamic centers, said it is organizing virtual programs, including virtual iftars — a meal taken after sundown to end the daily fast, and an online interfaith gathering for Shia and Sunni Muslims.

NCIC is also working to address food insecurity in the Muslim community, especially for those who might have relied on getting a daily meal from a mosque, by partnering with food banks and organizing personal deliveries of food.

Bazian said he wants "to make sure that as we attend to social distancing, that we don't actually distance ourselves from the needs of people."

-- Monica Lam (@monicazlam)

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