With the start of Ramadan this week, 2 billion Muslims across the globe kick off a month of fasting, devout worship, and creating safe spaces for worship and gathering, including faith leaders surrounding the DMV area.
From providing places for rows of worshipers to pray into the night to feeding thousands of fasters, mosques in D.C. and Baltimore are working to serve local Muslims by fostering unity in a divided time for the nation and world.
“The entire community is excited about the arrival of such a blessed time of the year,” said Yaseen Shaikh, the lead resident scholar at The Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB), the largest mosque in the Baltimore area. “It’s a time for families to come together, to break bread together after fasting the entire day, to worship together, to nurture their faith together and to build bonds of community.”
Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims, during which they abstain from food and drink from just before sunrise until sunset. It’s also a time of increased reflection and worship, where Muslims gather in mosques to perform a prayer special to the month known as taraweeh.
“Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and holds profound spiritual significance for Muslims,” said Imam Talib Shareef, president of Masjid Muhammad, also known as The Nation’s Mosque, in a statement submitted to The Informer. “The month commemorates the period in which the Qur’an was first revealed and is widely regarded as a season of mercy, forgiveness, and spiritual elevation.”
For Shareef, the season is all about “charitable giving, and renewed commitment to faith, family, and service to humanity.”
Throughout Ramadan, Muslims around the globe are called to increase their worship through individual action, particularly community engagement and service.
“As communities prepare,” Shareef continued, “Muslims are encouraged to approach Ramadan with intentionality — strengthening moral consciousness (taqwa), fostering compassion for those in need, and deepening bonds across families and neighborhoods.”
Mosques Offer Spaces to Worship, Gather During Ramadan
Across the area, local mosques are opening their doors and offering spaces for increased community gatherings and worship. Through hosting community iftars, Taraweeh prayers, and educational and spiritual programs throughout the month, these mosques help foster community and unity during Ramadan.
“Mosques, community centers, and service organizations will mark the month with special prayers, educational programs, and charitable initiatives aimed at uplifting both the spiritual and social well-being of the broader community,” Shareef said.
Just outside of Washington, D.C., stands the Diyanet Center of America (DCA), an intricately designed mosque with tall white minarets and Turkish-style domes that serves as a popular hub for Muslims in the DMV and welcomes up to 30,000 worshipers during the month.
Since 2016, the mosque has been offering thousands of people free iftars — the meal where Muslims break their fast — each night of Ramadan. Run by a group of volunteers, all meals are prepared fresh in the mosque’s kitchen and sponsored by the local community. Tents are set up outside in the mosque’s courtyard for people to eat in, and the annual banner is lit in between the two minarets.
“The DCA community, like mosques around the nation and world, welcome Ramadan with a full heart. It’s a spiritual season for Muslims,” said Ahmet Salih, the executive director of DCA. “It’s a full month with people and families gathering together.”
At the Islamic Society of the Washington Area (ISWA), the mosque’s spiritual leader, Faizul Khan, said his mosque’s community is excited to welcome Ramadan, noting that the month is a time for the community to come together and be thankful.
ISWA also holds free catered iftars for the local community and often feeds up to 300 people each night.
“This is a month of opportunity,” said Faizul Khan, the mosque’s spiritual leader. “Our community comes together every day to break our fasts.”
In Baltimore, ISB features a 68-foot-tall minaret and has become increasingly popular, boasting a large social media presence of more than 200,000 Instagram followers. With its rising popularity, the mosque has hosted several open houses for the entire local community to visit the mosque and learn about Islam.
During the first week of Ramadan, on Feb. 22, ISB will host an open house for community members interested in touring the mosque and speaking with Muslim scholars. Further, people are invited to learn more about Ramadan and attend an iftar dinner at the mosque.
Shaikh, who also serves as the mosque’s head of community affairs, emphasized that while Ramadan is a time for internal spiritual reflection, it’s also a time for community action and service, particularly amidst tensions across the country.
“There’s so much noise going on in the world right now that Ramadan is a bit of a nice escape from all the noise of injustices that we’re seeing in our country and injustices that we’re seeing worldwide,” Shaikh told The Informer. “Ramadan is an opportunity for us to donate, stand up and support whatever causes there are to help.”