INUVIK
Inuvik's Islamic community celebrated the end of Ramadan, the faith's holy month, at the Midnight Sun Mosque July 17.

Standing facing Mecca, Saudi Arabia - Islam's holy city - Inuvik's Muslim community begin the celebration of the end of Ramadan with prayer at the Midnight Sun Mosque. - Mark Rieder/NNSL photo

Abdul Aziz, the Imam for the mosque, said the meaning behind the practice is to understand the plight of those who are suffering.

"It gives you discipline and teaches you how to sacrifice. It helps you to remember most of all, the people who are starving," he said. "We starve ourselves voluntarily, but those people are caught in a situation - and it's easier to empathize with them."

Called Eid Al-fitr, meaning "festival of breaking the fast," the celebration marks the official end of their practice to abstain from food, water and sex between the hours of 4 a.m. and 7 p.m. for 30 days. The period of abstaining is traditionally from sunrise to sunset, but there are allowances made for those who live in the North because of the midnight sun.

Aziz said there are exemptions for people who are unable to fast.

"If for some reason you are travelling or if you are sick, situations like this, you don't fast. What we do for the day we cannot fast is look for a hungry person and we feed them. Or we can fast when we feel better."

But fasting is not only about observing a religious belief, said Aziz.

"It has a great deal of health benefits in that when you fast you will lose a little bit of weight, your cholesterol gets lower, it fixes your heartbeat. So a great deal of benefits can be derived, not only spiritual but also physical," he said.

Ramadan is not just about sacrifice. The faith also recognizes an appreciation and zeal for life. Aziz said temporarily abstaining helps one appreciate the simple things in life.

"At the end of the day, you will realize that water has a taste and you will taste all the succulent flavours that come from the food, which normally you will eat just as a mundane thing," he said.

The Muslim community in Inuvik is very diverse. There are people from Bangladesh, Guyana and other countries. Aziz said they have all been welcomed into Inuvik.

"This is a beautiful community and the people are very receptive of us. This is one of the reasons we have the food bank, so we can give back to the community," he said. "Most of of our brothers here are taxi drivers. We are also involved in the ambulance services and the security services. In this way we have benefited directly from the community."

The mosque started the food bank to help alleviate the strain on the Inuvik Food Bank. Aziz said that is also part of what Islam teaches.

"Another of the pillars of which the faith of Islam is based on is that one must be charitable," he said, "All that we have, almighty God has given it as a loan to see what type of conduct you will have."

Aziz said the end of Ramadan is also seen as a time to make amends with the people around you.

"Whoever you have had an issue with in the past, you greet each other, hug each other, forgive each other and put everything in the past."

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