Muslim org. asks Dutch gov't to stop using "sugar feast" for Eid Al Fitr

The Contact Body for Muslims and Government (CMO) will ask the Ministry of Justice and Security to stop using the incorrect term "Sugar Feast" for Eid Al Fitr, or at least use it less often. The partnership of over 380 mosques and ten Islamic umbrella organizations will raise the issue in their next regular consultation with the Ministry on June 15, CMO said to NU.nl.

According to the CMO, "Sugar Feast" does not do justice to Eid Al Fitr, the celebration at the end of Ramadan. Eid Al Fitr literally means the "feast of breaking the fast." The CMO notices that the community is increasingly uncomfortable with the festive end of the Ramadan fasting period only being associated with eating sweets in the Netherlands.

"The term 'Sugar Feast' has nothing to do with the feeling of Ramadan," CMO chairman Mushin Koktas said to the newspaper.

At the end of April, Minister Karien van Gennip of Social Affairs already used the term Eid Al Fitr during a speech about iftar, the meal with which the daily fast is broken during Ramadan after sunset. "That was not because of government policy or the law," a Ministry spokesperson said. "In this case, it was a choice to connect with the group where we were guests." But Eid Al Fitr may eventually become the primary term used, the spokesperson added. "Language is a living thing and adapts to the needs of a group."