As Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, we revisit how some Americans in recent years marked the holy month.
Here we see U.S. Muslims from coast to coast sharing timeless rituals that are familiar to Muslims everywhere — from a prayer service in California to children in Maryland wearing new clothes at Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan.
Adorned for Eid
Muslim children wearing new clothes leave after taking part in a special Eid al-Fitr prayer at a mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland. (© AFP/Getty Images/Jewel Samad)
Giving thanks
Worshipers in New York’s East Harlem neighborhood take part in the traditional annual prayer commemorating the end of Ramadan in front of the Masjid Aqsa-Salam mosque. (© AP Images)
Youth on the rise
Sixteen-year-old Muneeb Baig stands outside the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque in Garden Grove, California. Baig is part of a new generation of young Muslim leaders stepping forward to lead congregations during Ramadan. (© LA Times/Getty Images/Don Bartletti)
Honoring the holy month
Thousands of Muslims gather to honor Ramadan in Charlotte, North Carolina. (© Getty Images/Jeff Siner)
A family iftar
Iraqi immigrants Saif Alnasseri (center); his daughter, Sarah Alnasseri; wife, Zeinab Alrubaye (left); and mother, Layla Alshawi, gather together to break their fast during Ramadan at their home in Plainfield, New Jersey. (© AP Images)
Sports after sundown
Fordson High School football players huddle at football practice after 11 p.m. in Dearborn, Michigan. For Muslim teammates, who make up a majority of the Fordson squad in the city’s large Arab-American community, practicing after sunset is a way to honor football commitments and religious fasting obligations. (© AP Images)
Team spirit
Cross-country runner Juashaunna Kelly is a Muslim who observes Ramadan even as she competes. The only difference between Kelly and her teammates at Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School in Washington is that Kelly must face the heat of the race covered in a hooded race top and spandex pants under her racing shorts. (© Washington Post/Getty Images/Preston Keres)
Visiting with friends
Muslims congregate along the waterfront during the traditional outdoor Eid al-Fitr celebrations in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (© Getty Images/Robert Nickelsberg)
Offering hospitality
Muzaffar Choudhry pours drinks for members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as they break their fast at sunset at the Bait ul Naseer Mosque in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Muslims and Jews broke the fast together at the mosque and prayed for peace in the Middle East. (© AP Images)
The nightly feast
A Muslim family breaks the Ramadan fast at a mosque in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (© AP Images)
Communal worship
Muslims pray at the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro on the first day of Ramadan in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. (© AP Images)
Family bonds
Ike Nuryani, left, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, shares a tender moment with a family member before prayers during Ramadan. (© LA Times/Getty Images/Don Tormey)
A time for joy
Friends Yasin Atoor, Hamza Haadoow and Abdikadir Noor and their families gather to observe Ramadan. (© Portland Press Herald/Getty Images/John Ewing)
Staff writer Lauren G. Monsen contributed to this story.
