Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), Hundreds of Philadelphia Muslims celebrated their Islamic heritage Saturday with a parade down Chestnut Street and a festival at Penn's Landing.
The afternoon parade, which began on Market Street at Independence Mall, then proceeded down to Chestnut Street and past Independence Hall, was led by a group from Montreal that sang and chanted in Arabic.
The multiethnic crowd featured immigrants from the Middle East, African American Muslims, and others, some carrying banners in Arabic that read, "No one is God except God."
Not everyone called Philadelphia home, though.
Khayriyyah Munir, 20, of Deerfield, Mass., a small town in the Berkshires where there are few Muslims, said she had traveled with her two younger brothers, Manny and Muhammad, to participate in the parade and festival, in part, so her siblings could see people in flowing robes, head coverings, and other traditional Islamic garb.
"I want them to be comfortable with their Muslim identity," said Munir, a junior at the University of Connecticut, where she is studying biomedical engineering.
source : http://abna.ir
