“It was an ingenious idea to bring the ADAMS community, especially the children, together to the masjid away from the insanity of Halloween night. It’s events like these that help foster an Islamic identity in children.” says Shazia Khan, a senior at GMU.
Muslims living in the West face the challenge of raising their children in a society where unIslamic holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas, and Halloween are publicized through television, radio, shopping malls, and neighborhoods! As part of the public schools’ curriculum, oftentimes children find themselves indulging in activities related to such unIslamic holidays. A typical case-scenario would be:
Mother: “What did you do at school today Ali?”
Child: “Our teacher asked us to draw a picture of what we wanted to be for Halloween. And I drew Spiderman!”
Mother: (perplexed)
What action do you think the mother should take? a) Compliment her son and justify her actions because he is too young to understand. b) Teach her son that Muslims do not celebrate Halloween.
Unfortunately, some parents do not understand the consequences of simply “letting go” of the matter, rather than teaching their children right from wrong at their earliest stage in life. The earlier you teach your children, the easier it is to control them when they get a little older.
If you let your children celebrate and take part in the unIslamic holidays during their elementary school years, then detaching them from continuing to do so during middle and high school will prove to be a stressful and aggravating process. Down the road, your children will appreciate your efforts in making them aware of what being a Muslim is all about.
One of the most common mistakes that some parents tend to make is to take their children out for trick-o-treat, yet at the same time, claim that they are not “celebrating” Halloween. Their belief is that candy collecting is a harmless act and children do not understand the root of the paganistic ritual, so what’s the big deal?
For some families, the ADAMS evening event was not about proving a point that Muslims celebrate something else on Halloween night. Some families showed up simply because it was an event catered towards children, not because they sympathized with their children who could not participate in Halloween.
ADAMS does not organize similar events on Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving. Then why organize an event on Halloween? Perhaps, it attracts many more Muslim children than any other unIslamic holidays do. For other families, participating in anything related to Halloween was a big no-no and therefore, Muslims made the effort to attend the Fall Festival that night.
The masjid was jam-packed. Many said that they did not expect such a turnout, and many more suggested extending such events outdoors because it was very crowded. As families entered through the double-glass doors, others struggled to exit for fresh air. People were moving in all directions--some thronged the food area, while others crowded the main auditorium.
The atmosphere was a colorful delight that smelled of buttery popcorn, cotton candy, and spicy chaat. Homemade brownies and chocolate chip cookies were being sold for $1/piece at a booth dedicated to raising money for a playground at ADAMS. An eye-catching picture of a little girl swinging on the the stair rails of the masjid hung on the wall behind the booth.
There were a number of booths set up according to station numbers for children of all ages: An ADAMS community tree made out of brown paper was plastered on the wall and names of the Muslim community members were written on fall-colored leaves and taped onto the tree. The face-painting, playdough and arts and crafts stations were favorites for the youngsters, while the stations for henna and ready-made oriental-style garb from Modern Mary attracted many of the sisters present. A variety of children’s’ toys--light balls, water guns, yo-yos, etc--were an added delight for a lot of the young ones.
Besides the food booth from Spice Town and the popcorn and cotton candy, one station proved to be the most successful by the end of the night: the Balloon Sculptor. Lines began to form at the start of the event. It took up to two hours for some of the children to receive their balloons. They weren’t your ordinary every-day balloon--these were balloons that could be shaped into anything you desired. Many children chose the animal-shaped balloon where the sculptor would twist and turn the balloon into an extraordinary figure. Little girls walked around with colorful balloon crowns on their heads, while the little boys played sword fight with their sword-shaped balloons.
Local author Hina Khan read aloud to a group of eager children from her recently published holiday book about Eid called “Night of the Moon.” At the end of the story, questions were asked and whoever answered correctly was given a prize at the end of the night.
One of the onlookers commented that the best thing was the martial arts performance. Towards the end of the night, families gathered in the auditorium to watch a martial arts act by young students. Some parents stood with their children on their shoulders, while other children stood on tables because it was too crowded to see. Nonetheless, it was an intense and exciting show led by the professional instructors of ADAMS.
The event brought out a sense of awareness amongst the Muslim community. It instilled a feeling of unity that we all are coming together to maintain our Muslim identity even through the pressures we face from the culture around us.
Halloween is one of them. To protect our children, the organizers felt a sense of responsibility to set up an event that would help divert the attention of the children from ghosts, goblins, witches, and wizards. The best part about the Fall festival was that there were no traces of Halloween--the different stations did their utmost to prevent any of their activities from relating to paganistic ritual. The face painting and the balloons were anything BUT ghosts, goblins, witches, and wizards!
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