Ramadan Nightlife options in Socal are on the rise. Here is what you can expect

Nightlife during a holy month? It will be more in Southern California.

During the holy month of Ramadan, the Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. But it is also a time when Muslims tend to be at night. A growing harvest of nightly community events in South California is now attracting thousands of people who get in contact and break the fasting until the early hours of the morning while packing Yemeni cafés, mosques and even binge -TV marathon’s Egyptian soap operas.

On a Friday evening, around 10,000 people arrived at the Socal Suhoor, which was called Muslim Coachella to recover food without meeting alcohol with friends and delivering plenty of cheesy halal pickup lines. This year’s edition took place in the parking lot of a shopping center in the Brookhurst Street in the heart of Anaheim’s small Arabia.

“To be honest, Ramadan’s night aspect brings together the community. That’s what Ramadan is about and sees family and friends who have not seen them for months, ”said Omar Oyoun, one of the organizers of the Socal Suhoor. “The beauty, just see everyone now awake, enjoy eating, enjoying a quick laugh. You can’t really get that anywhere else. You know it’s crazy; It’s only in Ramadan. “

These nightly festivals are widespread in the Middle East in the holy month, and now they are slowly gaining steam in South California. Last year it was the first time that the Suhoor was firmly held in Irvine – a concept that was born in Dearborn, Michigan, that was born The largest Arab population in America.

Sumaya Haq and her sisters drove from Santa Clarita to see “The Halal Food, The Vibes, who saw all my Muslim brothers and sisters here.”

The 25-year-old-born South California said that she had never previously seen common rooms like Suhoor and desired more.

“The support of your local company is so funny.

Kia Addish Parks grew up in Saudi Arabia, so the Suhoor is a well-known concept that changes the typical daily routine to the night.

“The night is like a festival: you go out, you eat, you buy,” she said. “So I wanted to make my daughter experience that, do you know? She was born and grew up here. “

Yemeni coffee houses such as Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. and Sana’a Cafe are other popular night slacks, especially among the recent crowds. In recent years, similar cafes in Lake Forest, Hollywood, Fullerton and even Riverside have been looking for rooms as young Muslims to make contacts at night without alcohol.

These rooms also serve as a potential reasons for the discussion for significant others – a trend that was well documented on social media. In fact, this reporter-The-Sogar was made very clearly on order with an offer “$ 50,000 Mahr and G-Wagon”. (Mahr is a gift that a husband gives a woman on her wedding day.)

In recent years, the Islamic Society of Orange County, known as the “Matern Mosque”, has seen a growing need for cultural spaces. During the Holy Month in the mosque in Garden Grove Ramadan Night Markets and the Café on the site, Barakah Cafe, is open until Friday at 2 a.m. and on Saturday at 3 a.m.

Muslims have the mosque for night prayers or Qiyam al Layl. Muslims believe that the Ramadan nights wear many blessings and pack mosques for prayers at night so that these common rooms are built around them.

Despite Islam Arrival to America with the slave trade 400 years agoMuslim American cultural and social experience is still being developed, said Amir Mertaban, Executive Director of Islamic Society of Orange County.

“The second and third generation of Muslims here, we love farmers’ markets, we love cafés, we love to hang out at night, we love games or board games,” he said. “The attempt to interweave this in a kind of Islamic culture and interweave Islam and bring together Muslims together in this environment is really important for us.”

One of the main reasons to create these spaces is that some Muslim Americans in the typical night life scene in Socal do not feel comfortable, which, as he said, focuses on music and alcohol.

“There are not many branches for Muslims, especially with nightlife, and so we are in the garage of a person, the garden of a person or the few cafés that are open late at night,” he said. “What we have seen specifically in Socal is this revival of this Muslim nightlife scene.”

This story was produced with the support of the Round Earth Media program of the International Women’s Media Foundation.