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New York police explain they put up Ramadan lights to «educate» non-Muslims

A commander says that the Ramadan lights are not a tradition but that they are put up at the entrance to the headquarters to serve an educational purpose.

The Ramadan crescent at the NYPD headquarters

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The headquarters of the New York Police Department (NYPD) has held a half-moon lighting ceremony for the second consecutive year to mark Ramadan. The event, organised by the Muslim Officers Society (MOS), included Qur'anic recitations, a collective prayer and an iftar attended by department commanders.

During the event, a lieutenant and vice-president of the MOS He explained on camera what the aim of the initiative is. “The awareness campaign is primarily for non-Muslims. We know it's not part of Islam, but what we're doing is raising awareness to show that this is a sacred month for us, that we fast, that we pray and that we are in a spiritual month."”, he stated literally.

The statements underline that The lighting of Ramadan does not stem from any established tradition or religious obligation., Rather, it is presented as a gesture of public visibility. According to the organisers, the illuminated figure will remain on for the thirty days of Ramadan so that anyone entering or leaving the building is aware that there are people who do not eat or drink water during daylight hours out of submission to God.

The dawah enters the scene at the NYPD headquarters.

The lighting of the Ramadan crescent at the NYPD headquarters is an example of the external projection of Islam into public institutions. Initiatives such as the illumination of the crescent, Qur'anic recitations or Public events associated with Ramadan help to normalise the presence of religious elements in secular institutional settings. In the Islamic sphere there is a term that describes the normalisation of religion in the public sphere: dawah. This word refers to the invitation or dissemination of the faith, that is, the explanation and propagation of its principles among non-Muslims.

Although the commandment did not explicitly use this word, the stated purpose—to make Ramadan visible and explain its meaning to non-Muslims—fits with this notion of outreach.

The installation will remain lit throughout the month of Ramadan at the department's headquarters, with the stated aim of publicly projecting the spiritual significance of this period within an institutional space.

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