Interfaith Iftar Ramadan 2018

By the Grace of Allah, another blessed Ramadan has passed and it was a tremendous blessing for us all. Among the many good deeds that were conducted during the holy month of Ramadan, Allah SWT blessed ICO with the opportunity to do the essential work of sharing the light of Islam with our fellow Americans.

Only by the Grace of Allah, ICO was able to conduct five interfaith iftaars this year, more than ever before. Each of the iftaars was a great success, with strong attendance and more importantly, strong bridges built between our Muslim community and various communities and individuals of other faiths.

Conducting these iftaars, especially while fasting in Ramadan, is not an easy task. Furthermore, while the iftaars are conducted during Ramadan, the work and preparation that goes into these events takes place all year long. Planning, meeting, building bridges, reaching out to strangers who may be hesitant about us, and keeping Muslims involved and engaged in every good cause we can, is a continuous effort that requires consistent effort and dedication throughout the year. Simply put, these five interfaith iftaars would not be possible without the interfaith efforts over the entire year.

ICO would like to express sincere gratitude to those community members who have dedicated themselves, as much as they are able, to this noble cause of sharing Islam. May Allah reward all those who have provided their time, donations, resources, and prayers for this cause, and accept their efforts and increase them in their service to Islam.

The success of these events should provide even more motivation for our community to involve ourselves in this effort. ICO humbly requests all to serve Islam as much as they can in the coming year, through time, effort, dedication, donations, and duas. May Allah help us do even more work next year and reach even more people with the light and beauty of Islam.

Check out the highlights from each Iftaar!

1st Interfaith Iftaar

Conducted on May 19th, this iftaar featured over 130 guests from two different churches, Windermere Union Church and Mosaic Church. The event ran very smoothly and was a major success! The speeches by Imam Tariq and the other pastors were incredibly warm and constructive.

2nd Interfaith Iftaar

Conducted on May 26th, this Iftaar featured over 100 people in attendance with guests from all over Central Florida, Mashallah! The event ran very smoothly and turnout was great even considering the holiday weekend!

3rd Interfaith Iftaar

Conducted on June 2nd, this Iftaar was another wonderful success with many organizations and individuals, including Holy Family Church, St. Luke’s church, Salem Lutherans church, St. Mark Presbyterian church, the interfaith council of Central Florida, Rev Bryan G. Fulwider of the "Wise Guys", Quaker’s group, Morman church , Anglican mission society, and the Buddhist Group all coming to attend!

4th Interfaith Iftaar

Conducted on June 6th, this Iftaar featured key figures from our City, County, and State. This Iftaar was very important and influential and by the Grace of Allah, it was a massive success. A great list of influential individuals and organizations were represented, including :

- Partners for Peace
- Women league voters
- Faith in Florida
- Florida Refugee Task Force
- Central Florida Disaster Resilience
- Week of the family
- Orlando Police Department
- Orange County Sheriff Department
- DCF
- LGBT Caucus
- The Democratic Women's Club of Greater Orlando
- Florida Women's March
- Atlantic institute
- Congresswoman Val Deming office - Rep
- Congressman Darren Sotto - Rep
- Senator Marco Rubio office - Rep
- Mayor Dyer office - Rep
- City Chief John Mina
- Sheriff Demmings - Rep
- Deputy Chief Mark Canty
- Commissioner Betsy Vanderly
- Commissioner Pete Clarke
- Commissioner Tony Ortiz
- Commissioner Emily Bonilla
- Tax collector Scott Randolph
- Representative Bobby O
- Representative Carlos Smith
- Soil & water Vice Chair Daisy Morales
- ACLU
- Faith in public life
- Faith in Motion
- DCF, refugee services
- FBI
- And many more!

5th Interfaith Iftaar

Conducted on June 11th, the 5th and final Interfaith Iftaar of 2018 was held for the Jewish Community. ICO is proud to have a strong relationship of friendship with the Jewish Community of Central Florida, as seen by the many communities that attended, including the Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation, Congregation Beth Am, Temple Israel, and Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando!

Proclamations of Support

Alhamdulillah, not only did a great number of guests show their support by attending, many key figures in Florida showed extraordinary appreciation of ICO by sending proclamations! These letters are excellent proof that, by the Grace of Allah, the interfaith effort is working wonderfully and many influential men and women are now comfortable putting their names behind the support of Muslims!

Check out the letters from Senator Marco Rubio, Mayor Buddy Dyer, and Congressman Carlos Smith here!