See how one Kansas City mosque performs a night prayer during Ramadan
Ramadan, the Islamic holy month is celebrated by 2 billion Muslim people worldwide, 3.4 million Americans and 35,000 Kansas Citians. It began at sundown March 22 and will be celebrated through April 20 with fasting and prayer.
To mark this Muslim celebration the Kansas City Star visited the Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City, 8501 E 99th Street, for the night prayer, or Isha prayer, and Taraweeh prayer. Hundreds of men gathered behind Imam Abdallah Rushdy, a guest preacher from Egypt, as his melodic voice filled the mosque with readings from the Quran. In Islamic tradition, women prayed in a separate room.
“For me Ramadan is really the month that I get my recharge for the entire year,” Fadi Banyalmarjeh, general manager of the Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City, said. “To rethink the purpose of their life, to do better, to control their emotions, their impulses. It’s a self-control tool along with being a recharge tool.”
Ramadan, one of the seven pillars of Islam, is the ninth month in the Muslim lunar calendar. This sacred month is observed to mark when Allah sent an angel to Prophet Muhammad to reveal the Quran, the Islamic holy book in 610 AD. A moment known as the “night of power.”
