The custom made, 8-foot crescent moon will be displayed through the month in front of the 7-Eleven store at Maple Avenue and Main Street.
Muslim families in Marlton and Evesham Township held their second annual Ramadan crescent moon celebration on Feb. 22.
“The crescent moon marks the beginning of each new month, and that includes Ramadan, which is one of our most sacred months in Islam,” said Tasama Soltan, a member of the Marlton Muslim Families organization. “The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycle and the sighting of the new crescent moon, and that varies in each location around the world.”
Visibility for the new crescent moon varies worldwide, just as sunrise and sunset times do, so not everyone will be able to see it at the same time or even on the same day. That can lead to some countries marking religious holidays on different dates, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich.
Evesham’s 8-foot crescent moon will be displayed through the month in front of the 7-Eleven in Marlton, at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Main Street. This year’s ceremony included not only the community but township Mayor Jaclyn Veasy, council members, Police Chief Thomas Reinholt and other local leaders.
“There was a lot of excitement in the crowd, and we were all cheering together,” recalled Behjath Jafry, another member of Marlton Muslims Families, of the crescent moon celebration. “Everybody was really enthusiastic to be there as a community, and to celebrate the start of the blessed month of Ramadan.
“Despite everything that’s going on in this world, we can all still come together as a community, learn from each other and really appreciate and embrace each other’s religious and cultural views.”
Marlton Muslim Families formed in 2023 to create a strong, more connected religious community. It has hosted a variety of events and collaborated with other townships in South Jersey to bring them to the community. The next gathering will be a Ramadan Iftar at the DeMasi Middle School cafeteria on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
An Iftar is a meal eaten after sunset to break the month-long Ramadan fast; Muslims fast every day from sunrise to sunset during that time.
“We sometimes realize that although we all live together, there are so many times where we don’t understand each other’s cultures, religions and different things like that,” noted Sabeehah Raynor, also a member of Marlton Muslim Families. “And we know that the United States is a melting pot, so when we have events like these – where we have Muslims and non-Muslims come together – it just provides an opportunity for us to open these discussions up, where we can then ask questions that we may not have other opportunities to do.
“It allows for us all to become a little bit more tolerant of other people’s cultures and religions, and that extends across the board.”
For more information on Marlton Muslim Families, visit the group’s Facebook and Instagram pages or email marltonmuslimfamilies@gmail.com.
