The Eaton Fire destroyed Delores Abdus-Shakoor’s family home, real estate business, and Masjid Al-Taqwa, the mosque her family helped to found in the 1970s.
Now, two months after the devastating blaze, Abdus-Shakoor is focused on celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (Feb. 28 to Mar. 29, 2025) with no permanent gathering spot and many families displaced.
“It's almost like a film. It's almost unreal,” says Abdus-Shakoor. “Life goes on. It just continues to go on.”
Masjid Al-Taqwa was the first mosque in the Altadena-Pasadena area when it was founded by Black Muslims. Over the decades, it’s become known for a multicultural congregation that varies between 50 to 200 people.
This Ramadan, the community is using the facilities at New Horizon School in Pasadena for their daily iftar, the meal eaten at dusk to break fast. After their Eid al-Fitr celebration at the end of the month of Ramadan, they’ll be looking for their next temporary home to hold Jummah, a weekly Friday prayer. Then they’ll be focused on rebuilding a permanent home for their mosque.
The damage done by the fire extends beyond the mosque’s building. Four families can’t return home because it’s not safe, and another eight have no home to return to.
Abdus-Shakoor is one of the adults helping prepare the mosque’s children for Eid, which she calls a much-needed positive distraction. Abdus-Shakoor also takes donations from the congregation to buy every child a gift. Despite the heavy losses experienced by this community, people gave enough money to continue the tradition. “This has been a blessing,” says Abdus-Shakoor.
Maahum Chaudhry guides her son Abbas’ hand as he decorates his gift bag for Eid al-Fitr. This is an annual tradition at Masjid al-Taqwa. Photo by Megan Jamerson/KCRW.
At a recent iftar, the mosque planned another positive diversion. Children aged 2 to 14 gathered around tables full of art supplies in the outdoor cafeteria at New Horizon School. Every year, the kids paint a mural for the Eid party, and decorate paper bags for Eid gifts.
Daarina Abdus-Samad starts the activity by asking each child to share one kind thing they’ve done during Ramadan. Some of the youngest hands around the tables shoot up. One child helped their mom with chores, and another helped a friend get to the nurses’ station at school. “Yes, that's a good deed,” says Abdus-Samad with a gentle smile. “Because a lot of times we all need each other.”
Raniyah Copeland helps her son move his freshly painted Eid al-Fitr gift bag. Copeland says some of her closest friendships as an adult were formed as a child attending iftar. Photo by Megan Jamerson/KCRW.
The kids look forward to these iftar activities, but this year it feels even more important, says Raniyah Copeland, mom of three. She says it helps families cope with the traumatic experience of the fires. “My kids are very scarred by the experience. Whenever there's high winds or there's something about a fire, they're very scared.”
Her 11-year-old son was worried they couldn’t have Ramadan or Eid because the mosque was gone. Copeland says the tragic loss is an opportunity to teach her kids an important lesson about their spirituality.
“They're seeing that it's not just about the kind of physical location, but it really is about the community,” says Copeland. “It's about your spirit, and your heart, and that can go anywhere with you.”
