Nimat Hafez Barazangi, Ph.D. '88, a visiting research fellow in Cornell's Women's Studies Program, with a focus on self-identity and Muslim women's Islamic higher learning, will be one of the guests at a special reception to be hosted by the first lady at the White House Jan. 29.

The reception, "a family celebration with Hillary Rodham Clinton," will take place on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr (the end of the fasting month of Ramadan). The invitation was extended mainly to Muslim women leaders in the United States and their families, and it is sponsored jointly with the Muslim Women's League and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

This reception marks the second year in which the first lady is hosting a special celebration of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The White House recognition of the Muslim holidays in the United States is one way of recognizing Islam in the mosaic of the religious plurality of America.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim lunar year calendar and is a month of individual, family and community reflection and rejoicing. Though American Muslims are of different U.S. ethnic and other national ancestry, they observe the fast and all other Islamic rituals in a similar manner to the 1 billion Muslims around the world.