City of Rochester
News Release
(Tuesday, May 15, 2018) – Mayor Lovely A. Warren and members of Rochester’s Muslim Community recognized the beginning of the month of Ramadan Tuesday in City Hall.
“Ramadan offers a priceless opportunity to become a better servant to humanity,” Mayor Warren said as she issued a Mayoral Proclamation declaring May 15 through June 14 as the Month of Ramadan in Rochester.
“The Muslim Community of Rochester hopes that people of all faiths will use this opportunity to reflect on the aims of Ramadan and remember that spiritual fasting is about more than abstaining from food and drink,” the proclamation continues. “It is also about abstaining from backbiting, gossip, malice, suspicion, miserliness, extravagance, vulgarity, immodesty, infidelity, arrogance, ignorance, cowardice, and thinking ill of others. Ramadan celebrates many virtues, including charity, devotion, self-sacrifice, and peace. These values can be guiding principles for all citizens to hold in their hearts, regardless of background, religion or circumstance.”
The City of Rochester has a long tradition of recognizing significant holidays in City Hall, including Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.
The idea to recognize Ramadan in City Hall was presented by Mawia Elawad, a member of the Muslim community who worked as an Urban Fellow in the Bureau of Communications during the summer of 2017. Ms. Elawad organized Tuesday’s Ramadan recognition event.
A table with information about Ramadan will be on display in the City Hall atrium during the month of Ramadan.
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News Media: For more information, contact Press Officer Jessica Alaimo at 428-7135.