Eid and Ramadan 2025

It’s Eid. Or it’s not Eid.
God “gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night . . . ” Jeremiah 31:35 with such absolute, dependable certainty, as we can trust in Him for all time, that we know when Easter will be this year, next year, 200 years time. And our cousins the Jewish people will be equally certain about Passover. We might disagree how to conduct our man made calculation but about the spring equinox and the full moon after it we can be certain. But with Eid ul fitr about now and Eid ul adha in June and any other Islamic observance which depends on the phases of the moon Muslims follow Allah the Unknowable, who has the potential for fickleness and so they have to see the crescent moon before they can be sure that Ramadan has ended and Eid has begun.

Which is how the parents of Robert Clack School in Dagenham didn’t know until Friday (28th) that the school will be closed tomorrow (Monday 31st).  If Eid is today the staff are not at school anyway; if it is tomorrow enough staff will be absent that the school will not be safe for pupils.

There’s a wider issue here.  Should school staff just be allowed to take a day’s leave, en mass, at 24 hours notice, such as to damage the operation of the school? Why doesn’t the head use his powers to decline leave?

GB News has the story.

In a letter to parents, seen by GB News, the headteacher of Robert Clack School of Science in Dagenham wrote: “Eid is an important religious festival in the Islamic faith and supported by many of our staff, pupils and their families.”

They noted when the school had initially planned the calendar for this academic year, it was anticipated that Eid would fall on March 30th.

However, there is a “strong possibility” that it will now fall on Monday 31st.

“If this is the case, we expect that a significant portion of our staff will submit requests to leave, which will subsequently create a challenge in maintaining adequate staffing levels to ensure the health, safety and smooth operation of the school for our pupils,”

They note that the “decision will not be taken lightly” and that the school is “exploring all options” to stay open, adding that a final decision is expected to be made on Friday.

And on Friday morning, while I was reading the school’s website, this letter appeared. 

Further to my letter to you dated 21st March, I am writing to inform you that, having carried out a risk
assessment, regrettably the School will be closed to pupils on Monday 31st March.

This decision has not been taken lightly, and we understand the impact it may have on your family’s plans.

(You may have expected to go to work as usual while your child studies as usual; but no. Your child will lose a days proper schooling, you will have to make arrangements for child care, but remember, if you take your child out of school for a day for a purpose of your own WE will fine you. )

Remote learning will be set for your child on Google Classroom for all lessons timetabled for Monday 31st March.

Robert Clack had a good reputation as probably the best school in Dagenham. I was startled how big it now is. I was aware of it as a secondary school, from age 11. The education conglomerate now includes a Primary school (4-11) and either three secondary schools combined or one school on three sites, each with its own head Teacher under Mr Taylor. It is huge.

Paul Embery, who went to a different school in Dagenham in his youth (I didn’t move there until an adult, and I never had a child until I’d moved out) sets out why this is ludicrous here.

But I doubt many children and families will be dutifully at their remote learning tomorrow. Not with axe throwing and a petting zoo to tempt them less than a mile away, on Monday AND Tuesday.

Huge Eid ul-Fitr event coming to East London park with fireworks, petting zoo and axe-throwing

A huge family-friendly Eid ul-Fitr event is returning to East London next week. The 1Eid Festival will take over Ilford’s Goodmayes Park for two days between March 30 and April 1, depending on when Eid falls, to mark the end of Ramadan.

There will be a petting zoo, circus performers, fire jugglers, axe throwing, sumo competitions and over 30 funfair attractions for adults and children of all ages to enjoy.

A mass prayer is also planned for 10am on Eid, as well as a 30-minute fireworks show at around 9.30pm. The Eid festival will take from 11am to 10pm, with the second day scheduled for 1pm to 9.30pm.

Tickets start at £2 and can be purchased online, including family and parking bundles. They can also be bought in person at the gate but may be more expensive.

Of course all the Muslim staff (and pupils) wanted a day or two off. Why not hold this at the weekend? Why does it have to be mid-week? Or why not during the Easter break which starts soon?

I have been observing the growing creep of Ramadan and Eid into the fabric of English life every 11 months for a few years. I have not seen quite so much on London Transport as previous years, but Islamic charities advertise all year now and not just for Ramadan Zakat. Having said that I have heard that bus adverts for Islamic Relief are frequent on the routes up and down Whitechapel.

I took a trip to the Essex market town of Romford (which is just at the edge of the area which comes under the Greater London authority, and where opposition to Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ scheme is strongest)

The ticket barriers at Romford Station (trains into London and out into Essex and East Anglia) bore blue adverts for Islamic Relief for at least the last year. But when I decided to photograph them, strike me pink, the contract must have ended and adverts for a local college course were in place.

I was interested in what was happening in Romford as it seems to be the next stop on the expansion of Islamic dominance further east. The local Islamic association have to move from their converted fireplace factory as the council are developing the whole area around Waterloo Road. They have been offered a similar sized site on the new development, but like-for-like isn’t good enough. They have devised plans for a site on the main route into the town centre, in what is currently an attractive art deco building that was built in 1933 as the main depot of a builders merchants but later converted to a restaurant. There are seven business units on the site, 5 currently thriving, the biggest is the restaurant which is being refurbished and is at the stage of hiring. One small retail shop is empty.

But the grandious plans the Islamic society have for a new Mosque (If they can find the money, and then buy the site and then eject the other tenants and then get planning permission) would dwarf the parish church. Local people would prefer to keep the existing useful businesses in the attractive art deco building and they have a website here. It’s worth a look. But I am digressing from Eid and Ramadan.

Readers will remember that the night landmark buildings in many cities of Western Europe were lit up orange in memoriam of the murdered Bibas family, except London, where giggling Sadiq Khan turned on the Ramadan lights in London’s west end. These are they, bigger and more prominent this year along Coventry Street from Leicester Square to Piccadilly Circus.

and in Leicester Square was the Ramadan Arch erected by the Aziz Foundation.

Bradford was the placement for this Ramadan Pavilion this year

It is very pretty when lit up at night, and if I was not so aware of the long term intention behind the spread of Islam I would rather like it. It’s pretty, it’s pink, it sparkles…

Outside London there seem to be better deals on transport advertising.

The charity SKT Welfare seems to have cut a good deal on advertising with Bradford buses – their adverts are prominent this season, so my source in the north advises. SKT give aid to 6 Muslim countries including “Occupied Palestinian Territories”.

In Manchester

Just drove past a large electronic billboard on the way into Hyde from Denton with adverts promoting ‘modesty’ while sat behind a bus with a poster on the back telling me to ‘think and be considerate’ at ramadan’. Have i missed something?

— GiggedyGiggedyGoo (@Giggetyblue) March 16, 2025

I did a search and I think this might be the Modesty advert, it is in Denton.

and while I can’t find the specific ‘Be considerate at Ramadan’ this is the sort of thing that circulates around offices and colleges

How to support and respect your peers observing Ramadan

Be mindful of eating and drinking around those who are fasting
Be empathetic, understanding and respectful
#Be caring #Be collaborative #Be inspiring #Be a champion

The adverts have not met with universal approval. In Aberdeen, according to the Herald Scotland

An Islamic Relief billboard has been vandalised in Aberdeen in what has been labelled a ‘hate crime’.

The charity advert on the city’s Kittybrewster Roundabout reads “Trust in Allah. Give Zakat”, and appears to have been both torn and splashed with white paint.

In a separate incident on Saturday evening, white paint was splashed on the AMIC Spital Mosque and a rock was thrown through a window while congregants gathered inside.

Scottish Labour councillor Nurul Hoque Ali told The Herald he fears the vandalism is a symptom of a troubling trend.  . . I am concerned this is part of the rise of Islamophobia in society.”

A teenage boy has since been arrested and charged with a hate crime. 

But finally this cheered me up.

Marks and Spencers had a small display of Ramadan treats, dates, sweets, greetings cards. Absolutely overshadowed by two large stands of gorgeous Easter Eggs.

Not ‘holiday’ or ‘spring’. Happy Easter.

Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’ll be back.