By Justin Flynn
Muslims all over the world celebrated the end of Ramadan on 24 June, and one local couple made certain that Ocean Grove didn’t miss out.
Lynne Wilson and Muhammad Ahmad, from Lime Leaf Asian Grocery, invited Ocean Grovers to their store for a free day of food to celebrate the end of the fasting month.
Muslims observe Ramadan each year and one of the requirements is that people are not permitted to eat between dawn and dusk during the month, which commemorates the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.
The holiday of Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and Lynne and Muhammad thought it would be a good idea to extend the hand of friendship to Ocean Grovers once Ramadan had finished.
On 28 June, they threw the Lime Leaf doors open and invited everyone to come and enjoy a free feast. A steady stream of locals were flowing in to enjoy Muhammad’s superb cooking.
Lynne met Muhammad in Malaysia and they married. Lynne converted to Islam around 10 years ago.
“They have this sense of open house and everyone just has food on the table,” Lynne said while recalling her time in Malaysia.
“You go visiting everyone you know and you eat and socialise.”
Lynne said they wanted to invite locals to their shop without any strings attached or obligation to pay for their meal.
“We wanted to extend the hand of friendship between us Muslims and the wider community,” she said.
“This is our way of bridging the gap. If you want to do something together, you share food. A lot of people don’t understand Islam. We just wanted to say ‘don’t be afraid’. We have our festivals and this is the biggest one for us so come and help us celebrate it.”
