Ashfaq Parkar of Franklin, Somerset, has been taking his 11-year-old daughter, Zahraa, to Muslim Youth Day at Six Flags Great Adventure since its inception eight years ago.
This year, the Parkars, including 4-year-old Hadiya, will have even more to celebrate. For the first time, Muslim Youth Day on Wednesday, Oct. 1 and Thursday, Oct. 2 coincide with Eid-ul-Fitr, the festival that ends the daytime fast throughout the Islamic month of Ramadan.
“It makes it even more special,” Parkar said. “The kids are very excited and very much looking forward to the event.”
More than 15,000 are expected at Muslim Youth Day, which expanded to two days because it coincides with Eid, said Parkar, spokesman for the event’s organizer, the New Jersey chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America in the Somerset section of Franklin.
Each year, Muslim Youth Day includes a variety of halal food from throughout the Muslim world, including the Middle East and South Asia. There also is a bazaar with clothing and other Islamic fare. And, of course, there are the amusement park’s rides.
This year, there also will be a special congregational Eid prayer around 10 a.m. at Great Adventure’s fountain.
“Usually for Eid, families and friends go and visit each other,” Parkar said. “But this year, we all can get together at the park. It will be a day of families reuniting and interacting with one another, beginning with the Eid prayer.”
Hassan Haq, 14, of North Brunswick is happy that the food is halal, which is the Muslim equivalent of kosher. Many times Muslim youth have to bring their own food to an event in order for it to be permissible to eat in accordance with Islamic law, Haq said.
“The food also has so much variety,” he said. “That really draws me in.”
Hassan wasn’t tall enough to go on most of the rides in 2007, but hopes that will change this year. His favorite ride is Skull Mountain.
The best part of Muslim Youth Day is the sense of community it instills in a peer group that typically feels like a minority, said Hassan, a freshman at North Brunswick High School.
“There’s so many Muslims over there,” he said. “I feel like I’m part of the community. And I found out how many people are in that community. That feels good.”
According to mosque population reports conducted by the South Plainfield-based New Jersey chapter of the Council on Council on American-Islamic Relations, Muslims make up 6 percent of the New Jersey’s population.
Because they often are the minority, Muslim youth need a strong sense of indentity, Parkar said, especially in regards to traditions of faith and heritage. Muslim Youth Day provides an opportunity to instill that, he said, while also offering a fun family day filled with mainstream pop culture.
“It’s important that children realize their identity but at the same time, integrate into society with people of all faiths,” Parkar said. “The Islamic Circle of North America encourages youth to develop in both areas. We need the future of Muslim youth to be a part of society, but at the same time to know and appreciate their identity.”
After Labor Day, Great Adventure is closed on weekdays. The Islamic Circle rented the park, which will be open to all, with tickets available at full price at the gate, said Angel Aristone, a spokeswoman for Great Adventure.
Discount tickets are available through the Islamic Circle at the event’s Web site: http://6flags.icnanj.org. Non-Muslim families are encouraged to attend the event to foster friendships and fun, Parkar said.
“This adds richness to the diversity of people we see and interact with,” he said. “Since Eid is a family centered event, we especially encourage Muslims to invite and bring their non-Muslim relatives and friends with them.”
Each year, Eid is 11 days earlier because it falls on the shorter lunar calendar, Parkar said.
When the holiday eventually is celebrated during the summer, the Islamic Circle will have to decide whether to move Muslim Youth Day to continue to coincide with Eid, he said.