Ramadan is unfolding for many U.S. Muslims under a “cloud of worrisome events,” with community leaders describing worries that span immigration enforcement, election-year anti-Muslim language, and fighting in the Middle East, including the Iran war. The Associated Press reporting focused on Muslims in several states, including New Jersey, Minnesota, California and elsewhere, where mosque officials and civil-rights advocates said families are balancing the holiday’s routines of prayer, charity and community meals with uncertainty and fear.
In Paterson, New Jersey, 18-year-old Haneen Alatiyat said fear and uncertainty are keeping some people from gathering to embrace Ramadan’s communal traditions. Speaking outside the Islamic Center of Passaic County, she described the “ICE raids that are happening” as a reason “people don’t want to do that,” and said it is the mosque where she worships each Ramadan with family.
Paterson’s Palestinian community, which AP said has been grieving loved ones and helping survivors of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza even before the latest developments, is now confronting new anxiety tied to immigration enforcement and regional conflict. Rania Mustafa, executive director of the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, said “many people here are experiencing another layer of fear and grief” as the war on Iran began, and tied the shift to the combination of immigration crackdowns and war-related stress.
AP also described how Ramadan’s communal aspects are being affected in Minnesota, where many residents are reeling from a large-scale immigration crackdown. Imam Yusuf Abdulle, executive director of the Islamic Association of North America, said some people feel “blessed that we are alive and well,” but also “bruised, affected, devastated economically, psychologically.” He said one effect in his network is that the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in Minneapolis canceled hosting communal iftar meals and served only dates and water, attributing the change to an economic hit to community businesses that typically sponsored the meals as people stayed away.
Abdulle said even after the withdrawal of most of the roughly 3,000 immigration officers, some community members—especially asylum-seekers and refugees—remain cautious about venturing out, including to the mosque. He also said, “The fear … is very much there and it will be there for a while.” At the same time, the AP report included a more optimistic note from Munira Maalimisaq, a family nurse practitioner and CEO of Inspire Change Clinic in Minnesota, who said stress has not erased what Ramadan can bring, describing a “strengthened sense of community, resilience, and hope” alongside prayer and charity.
Some Muslim groups said they are preparing for potential immigration enforcement encounters during Ramadan. Coinciding with the holiday, AP reported that groups issued “know your rights” guidance for navigating interactions with immigration enforcement, including guidance for mosques. Muslim Public Affairs Council official Dahlia M. Taha said the material for imams is meant to help address congregants’ fears without causing panic or spreading misinformation, and listed example questions she said imams raised, including whether houses of worship can be subject to enforcement operations and how to reassure people without providing legal advice.
Taha said, “There is a deep sense of community and peace that always comes with Ramadan,” adding that many mosques are well-attended and families are gathering. She also said, “people are carrying fear, anxiety, and uncertainty alongside our faith,” and described devotion and concern as coexisting, while noting that “everyone is just exhausted.”
AP further described stress tied not only to enforcement but also to anti-Muslim language in politics. Ibrahim Dyfan, executive director of Masjid Al Shareef, a 2,000-strong mosque in Long Beach, California, said his community is coping with stress related to rising Islamophobia, immigration enforcement and Middle East conflicts, and said the mosque boosted security for prayer services during Ramadan. “All we can do is continue praying and fasting,” Dyfan said, adding that precautions may be necessary and that “This, like everything else, will pass.”
The AP report said a wave of anti-Muslim language intensified in Republican campaigns early this election year, pointing to Texas where Gov. Greg Abbott helped lead efforts to stop a Muslim-centered planned community near Dallas, and to a separate congressional development involving a bill targeting Shariah. AP also said Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., compared Muslims unfavorably to dogs in a recent social media post, prompting CAIR and some Democratic members of Congress to call for his resignation.
CAIR’s national deputy director, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, said election-year scaremongering is driving the vitriol, and he characterized this Ramadan period as worse than usual. “Every election year, you see an increase in anti-Muslim bigotry in certain parts of the country, where politicians see Muslims Americans a useful political football,” Mitchell said. “We expect that — but it’s so much worse than usual this time.”
The AP report also connected Ramadan worries in Paterson to families affected by the Iran war, particularly relatives in conflict-wracked parts of North Africa and the Middle East. Mustafa said many families worry about relatives in Gaza as well as in other parts of the region, and said Ramadan is still a time when people gather and support one another, including by checking on families who are struggling.
In Paterson, AP reported that as the sun set on a portion of Main Street renamed “Palestine Way,” people arrived at homes and restaurants to break the fast, with some stopping at pastry shops and others going to the Palestine Hair Salon. Raed Odeh, the salon’s owner and Paterson’s deputy mayor, said the Middle East’s turmoil and the U.S. immigration crackdown are dampening what he described as the joyful month, and said the impact reaches beyond those without documentation to affect the wider community. Odeh also urged the release of Leqaa Kordia, whom he described as a Palestinian woman and Paterson resident held in an immigration jail for a year after attending a protest in New York, and AP reported that Kordia said she suffered a seizure that she linked to “inhumane” conditions inside the detention facility.
Odeh said he shared the hope many in his city express during Ramadan: “Of course, everybody is hoping for peace.”