About 700 members of O'ahu's Muslim community are celebrating the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan with community prayer and celebration today at Manoa District Park.

Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims abstain from food, drinks and other sensual pleasures from break of dawn to sunset. Today's festival is called Eid-ul-Fitr, meaning the "Festival of the Breaking of the Fast."

Prayer services started at 8 a.m. followed by a sermon delivered by Dr. Mohamad Abdalla. By 10 a.m., the celebration had turned festive with breakfast, keiki playing in bouncing houses, slides and people of all ages testing their strength at a "high striker" carnival game. The festivities and prayers continue until 5 p.m.

"This festival seems to grow with more and more people every year," said Shaher Jubran, who brought his wife and five children from the North Shore. "This is a chance for us to celebrate with people who hold the same beliefs. It's like a big family gathering. We took our kids out of school today so they can take part. It's very important to us."

Jubran, 35, has been in Hawaii the past 19 years after and was born in Nicaragua and raised in Jerusalem. His family has owned and operated the "Seashell Man," which sells gift items on the North Shore, since the 1970s, he said.

"There is a good Muslim community here," Jubran said. "It's not quite the same as Jerusalem, but it has the same feel on a smaller scale."

Hakim Ouansafi, president and chairman of the Islamic Information Office that organized the event, said the Muslim community in Hawaii raised about $75,000 for the poor over its Zakat period. Zakat is an obligatory act to be performed by every adult and able-bodied Muslim in which they give 2 1/2 percent of their wealth to the poor.

"The money goes to the poor and not to a mosque or minister," Ouansafi said. "Some here give their Zakat to other areas, but it is mandatory charity to help the poor whether they are Muslim or not."

Ouansafi estimates the Muslim community in Hawaii is about 3,500. There about 10 million Muslims in America and more than 1.3 billion worldwide.