Happy Iftar Day spotlights Muslim culture
Hanoi (VNA) – The Institute of South Asian,
West Asian and African Studies (ISAWAAS) under the Vietnam Academy of Social
Sciences (VASS) hosted a Happy Iftar Day in Hanoi on April 3, bringing together representatives of Muslim countries’ embassies in Vietnam.
The event aimed to promote mutual understanding between Vietnam and Muslim
countries.
Iftar is the fast-breaking evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan month – the
holiest time for Muslims, which falls on the 9th month of the Islamic lunar
calendar, or between March and June each year. During this month, Muslims
observe two main meals each day, including Suhoor and Iftar.
This is the third consecutive year ISAWAAS has organised the Iftar event, helping to popularise humanitarian values of Muslims, strengthen cultural
exchange and raise public awareness of Islamic culture, Iftar, and Halal
practices.
According to ISAWAAS Director Prof. Le Phuoc Minh, in the context of extensive
international economic integration and development, it is necessary to foster cultural
exchanges between countries to promote understanding and friendliness, towards
positive outcomes in multilateral cooperation.
The Islamic culture, with its distinctive features,
especially Iftar or Ramadan, is not only about the beauty of love, compassion,
sharing, forgiveness, and no distinction between the rich and the poor, but also
reflects the strong determination of Muslims, he stressed.
Minh underlined the need for Vietnamese people to understand
more about the Islamic culture in general, and Iftar and Ramadan practices in
particular, thus enhancing relations with Muslim countries and opening up a
promising Halal market.
Moroccan Ambassador to Vietnam Jamale Chouaibi highly valued the initiative to
organise the Iftar Day, saying that this demonstrates Vietnam's adherence to the
principles of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and mutual respect among
religious communities as well as the Southeast Asian country’s determination to
strengthen and preserve social cohesion./.