Local Eid Holiday TV Broadcast Offers Way for Michiganders to Come Together

Since late April, Muslims have been fasting from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from food and drink as a sacrifice and as an act of devotion to God. This weekend, the fasting ends with the holiday Eid Al-Fitr.

Usually Eid includes visiting a mosque for a sermon and congregational prayers followed by feasting with family, friends and sometimes even strangers. Just like with Ramadan and holidays of other faiths like Easter and Passover, the pandemic is going to impact how people can observe the holiday.

“We’re trying to create a positive message and a positive experience for Muslims all over the state.” — Razi Jafri, filmmaker

So this year, the Michigan Muslim Community Council and various groups across the state have come together to organize an interfaith television program that will feature a sermon, Eid greetings, musical performances and more.

Click on the player to hear how filmmaker Razi Jafri says this Eid will be different, and more details on the broadcast.

“We’re trying to create a positive message and a positive experience for Muslims all over the state, and perhaps all over the country, that are not able to experience Eid and Ramadan in a way that that we’ve enjoyed it in the past,” says Razi Jafri, a Detroit-based documentary photographer and filmmaker who’s been involved with putting the broadcast together.

The program will air 10 a.m. Sunday May 24 on WMYD TV 20 Detroit, found on all local cable networks. It will also be live-streamed on multiple social media platforms.

Jafri says the program is not just by and for Muslims. It will feature greetings from other faiths and state lawmakers.

“It’s important for all of us, as we go along this multicultural journey, this experiment that’s America, that we need to recognize each other,” says Jafri. “We may not agree with each other. We may not, accept each other’s ideas, but we do have to understand that there’s lots of diversity in the country and that’s actually something that makes us all stronger together as a nation.”