BOB ABERNETHY: And now our calendar this week, the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the month-long observance of Ramadan. It's a joyous time, and a release from a long period of self-denial -- fasting during Ramadan. Every day, Muslims were obliged to have nothing to eat or drink, no cigarettes, no sex, no bad thoughts or deeds from sunrise to sunset. On Thursday in the Washington, DC, suburbs, Muslims from this area gathered for the first day of Eid al-Fitr. We asked Dr. Abdalla Idris Ali of the Islamic Society of North America to tell us about the observance and its meaning.

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Unidentified Woman: All sisters this way.

Man: All the men this way.

Dr. ABDALLA IDRIS ALI (Islamic Society of North America): So the eighth day is actually a celebration that people have come out of the fasting month. From the morning, people usually take a bath, they eat something light to break their fast, and then they start chanting until they come to the prayer place. And they keep chanting. It's a day also where people wear new clothes, they have to mend their relationships, they have to remember God. They are charged spiritually and they have some relaxation so they can go back and reflect on what they have been doing and they carry that charge with them so that they can be more kind, more tender, and more understanding to our people. Immediately after the month of fasting, there is some charity that is to be paid. It's called Zakat al-Fitr. This is a time that we don't want to feel joyous by ourselves, but we want also for people who are deprived, wherever they are, that they enjoy the day and actually the eighth day brings people together.

ABERNETHY: Along with prayer and other obligations, observing Ramadan is one of the five essential pillars of Muslim practice. So what's it like to practice self-denial for a month?

Last week in northern New Jersey, Dr. Mona Tantawi and her extended family and friends shared their Ramadan experience with us. Dr. Tantawi, speaking of the spiritual high that fasting gives her of depriving the body to enrich the soul. Anisa Mehdi is our correspondent.

ANISA MEHDI: Sundown on Super Bowl Sunday, Muslims across America are eating dates, as they have done every evening during Ramadan. The daily fast was over.

Dr. MONA TANTAWI: For the Muslim, it's mind and soul and your body, and one goes with the other. So you're depriving of the body but enriching the soul.