Spain's 1.95m Muslims celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, final Ramadan festival

Today marks the festival of Eid Al-Fitr, which starts with a mass prayer and continues with a family party and feast, gifts given to the children and everyone dressing up in their best clothes, often bought new for the occasion.

“It's a bit like your Christmas,” a local Muslim explained to www.thinkspain.com.

But the main difference is that Eid Al-Fitr involves a huge collection of funds and food for the poor, meaning local food banks, the Red Cross and Cáritas will be overwhelmed with generous donations over this weekend – Muslims are encouraged to donate at least 2% of their salary every month to the poor, but Ramadan multiplies the amount they spend.

The fasting between sun-up and sundown is designed to teach followers self-discipline and resistance in the face of difficulty, and also give them an idea of how the poor feel when they do not have enough to eat.

Self-discipline has been particularly tested in recent years, with Ramadan falling over some of the longest days of the year.

“It's hard,” laughs a young shopkeeper in Oliva, Valencia.

“Each year, it moves back 10 days – Ramadan follows the moon cycle.

“I'm going to be 22 in a few months' time, and I can only remember one Ramadan in my lifetime that fell in the winter over the shortest days.”

The abstinence is rewarded nightly at sundown when families join together for a slap-up meal and daily celebration, playing music and chatting.

Often, while the mother cooks the meal, the father will entertain the children with stories, frequently legends or personal anecdotes from the family's youth, and friends and relatives join together in each others' houses.

In the past year, the number of Muslims in Spain has increased by 1.4%, although around half of them are Spanish nationals – largely because many of today's Islamic followers are the grandchildren or even great-grandchildren of those who originally moved to the country.

Historical ties, Spain's own Muslim past – Islam was the dominant religion for over 700 years until the end of the 15^th century – and a general feeling of being accepted and able to enjoy their own culture, a sense shared by foreigners in Spain from all over Europe and the rest of the world, means the country has long been a preferred choice for migrating Muslims, even though none of its former colonies, except for the ex-protectorate in Morocco and Western Sahara, are traditionally Islamic nations.

Of the total of 1.95 million Muslims in Spain, the vast majority – 67.3%, or 747,872 – are either Moroccan or are descendants of Moroccan settlers, followed by Pakistanis who number 80,009, Senegaleses, of whom 63,613 live in Spain, the 60,282 Algerians on the padrón or census, and 39,724 Nigerians.

A high number of residents and natives in the Spanish-owned city-provinces of Ceuta and Melilla on the northern Moroccan coast are Muslim – between 70% and 85% of their populations – and, in Melilla, Eid Al-Fitr is a public holiday.

In Ceuta, it is not, although schools shut for the day and the dominant Muslim population means few adults have trouble getting the day off work.

A high number of Muslim adults in Spain are self-employed and own businesses, the running of which they typically share between family members over Ramadan and which will normally be shut from sundown.

This year in Ceuta, as usual, the mass group prayer or Musal-la is celebrated on the Loma Margarita seafront esplanade and free buses have been running since dawn to take residents there and to the Sidi Embarek mosque.

In Melilla, the Musal-la took place this morning at 09.00 on the La Legión esplanade.

Madrid, home to another huge Muslim community, is famous nationwide for its 'M-30 Mosque', named after the city ringroad nearby.

Once again this year, the M-30 Mosque opened its doors to non-Muslims over Ramadan who wanted to pop in and learn more about the festival.

Muslims in Spain are always delighted to talk about their holiday season with the non-Islamic public and answer their questions.