Eid Mubarak in a world on fire, at war

Amidst the bombings, bombardments, fiery explosions, bomb sheltering and the daily dread that stalks civilians from Gaza to Tehran, from the Red Sea to the refugee camps of the Levant, one billion Muslims have spent this Ramadan fasting in the shadow of war. 

Multitudes of Muslims among the world’s one-billion community are keeping the faith, keeping hope alive and staying alive – a grim rhythm of a holy month [that] continues to unfold under existential threat.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has attended many Ramadan iftar (fast breaking) gatherings over the years, is expected to deliver his traditional Eid Mubarak message once the crescent moon is sighted and formally confirmed by the mullahs.

Muslims across South Africa, amid prayers and penitence, are fasting and waking up to the news of the horrendous wars.

South African Muslims with family, relatives and friends in bomb-ravaged Iran have been cut off completely in communication. One father in Johannesburg went on national TV to express his anxiety and fears for his daughter stranded in Tehran and his extended family members.

And yet, as the crescent moon prepares to rise, a different kind of light breaks through the smoke. Eid Mubarak arrives not as a festival untouched by suffering but as a global insistence that joy, dignity and belonging will not be extinguished — not by missiles, not by hatred, not by the politics of annihilation.

This year, that message has been carried most powerfully by two cities thousands of kilometres apart, each led by a Muslim mayor, each choosing illumination over fear: London and New York.

London: A city that lights the sky — and the soul: London has done something extraordinary. While much of the world sinks deeper into division, the British capital, renowned for its massive Christmas Day celebration and spirit, has turned its West End into a radiant Ramadan landmark — a canopy of more than 30 000 LED lights stretching from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square. 

London’s Ramadan lights have become one of the most striking annual expressions of multicultural pride – this is no longer a novelty. It is a civic ritual.

Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan — the son of a Pakistani bus driver, now in his historic third term — switched on the lights before crowds of families, tourists and community leaders.

He recalled childhood memories of visiting Christmas lights with his parents, marvelling that London now celebrates Ramadan with the same pride. 

The symbolism is unmistakable: British Muslims are no longer spectators beneath someone else’s festive glow. They walk beneath lights that reflect their own sacred calendar.

This year’s theme, Share the Light, draws on the celestial rhythm of fasting — sunrise to sunset — expressed through Islamic geometry, crescents and star lit motifs. 

The installation is accompanied by iftar food trails, lantern making workshops and an interfaith art exhibition titled Shared Light.

Even the monarchy has taken note. King Charles III and Queen Camilla helped pack Ramadan food boxes in Soho — a gesture small in action but immense in meaning.

London has not merely acknowledged Ramadan. It has woven it into the cultural fabric of the city.

New York: A city that lights the spirit: Across the Atlantic, New York is experiencing its own historic Ramadan — not yet defined by grand light displays but by something equally powerful: representation.

The ubiquitous Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Ugandan-born, Queens-raised, Cape Town-educated and the first Muslim mayor in the city’s history, has embraced Ramadan with a warmth and visibility that resonate deeply with New York’s more than one million Muslims. 

He described Ramadan as his “favourite month” because of the community it fosters.

He began his first Ramadan in office by attending a housing event after starting his fast, joking to reporters, “Right now, I feel parched.” It was a small moment but a humanising one — a mayor fasting alongside the people he serves.

New York may not yet have a Piccadilly-style Ramadan canopy but it has something London cannot replicate: the raw, grassroots energy of borough-wide iftars, Times Square gatherings, sidewalk prayers and food drives that predate Mamdani’s election. Under his leadership, these traditions feel newly affirmed, newly seen.

Where London lights the sky, New York lights the spirit.

A tale of two cities — and a world in turmoil: London and New York now offer a transatlantic narrative of rare clarity: Visibility as belonging

Ramadan is no longer a minority ritual observed quietly in private spaces. It has become a civic celebration — much like India’s global Hindu festival of Diwali, the Festival of Lights, which honours the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, rooted in ancient Sanskrit scriptures such as the Ramayana and other sacred texts. 

In the same way, Jewish celebrations like Hanukkah, with its radiant menorah symbolising resilience and the miracle of light and Passover, commemorating liberation and collective memory, have also moved from the margins into the shared civic calendar, enriching the public square with their universal messages of hope, freedom and renewal. 

Leadership as symbolism: Two Muslim mayors — one in Europe’s most influential capital, the other in America’s largest city — are reshaping how the West understands Muslim identity.

Soft power as solidarity.

Light installations, public prayers and interfaith programmes become diplomatic gestures in a world where Islamophobia remains a global concern.  

In a year when bombs fall faster than prayers rise, these gestures matter.

South Africa: A green minaret in the global mosaic: As Eid dawns, South Africa joins this global chorus of resilience.

From Africa’s largest mosque in Midrand to Durban’s historic Grey Street Mosque — the first major mosque in the southern hemisphere — communities will gather for iftar and Eid prayers. 

In true South African fashion, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Jews have broken bread together, sitting side by side at communal dinners, embodying a harmony the world desperately needs.

Even the Kramat on Robben Island — a symbol of resistance, faith and endurance — becomes part of this global constellation of Ramadan lights.

South Africa’s story is not separate from London or New York. It is part of the same diaspora arc: communities connected by faith, history, migration and the unbroken belief that light must be shared, especially in dark times.

Even the president and deputy president are invited to break bread and sip soup from the Cape Malay communities to Laudium’s mosques.

Eid in a time of war: A defiant celebration: This year’s Eid is not naïve. It does not pretend the world is at peace. It does not ignore the children buried under rubble, the families displaced, the cities reduced to ash.

But Eid has always been a declaration — not of victory but of humanity. It insists that joy is a right, not a luxury. It insists that community is a shield against despair. 

It insists that even in a world on fire, Muslims will gather, pray, embrace and celebrate.

As the crescent moon rises over our cities, Muslim nations will press pause and pray the madness of wars disappears. 

This is the heart of the story: London lights the sky, New York lights the spirit, South Africa lights the heart. 

And together, they illuminate a world that desperately needs reminding:

Eid-ul-Fitr celebration is hope – radiant, festive and indistinguishable.

Marlan Padayachee, formerly a political, foreign and diplomatic correspondent, is a freelance journalist, photographer and researcher.