RIYADH: On the first day of Ramadan, Manal Alshakhs, a Saudi studying in Collierville, Tennessee, opened her door to find her neighbors singing “Happy Ramadan to you,” and offering flowers, fruit and gifts.
“I teared up, you know, how we are used to spending the first day of Ramadan at my parent’s house. I felt so happy, loved and between family. They made my year,” Alshakhs told Arab News.
Surprised and touched by the visit, Alshakhs’ daughter Hadeel recorded the occasion in a video that soon went viral, with over 4.9 million views in just two weeks.
In the viral TikTok video, Susan Mascari and her family are seen carrying gifts and singing ‘Happy Ramadan to you’ for Manal Alshaks.
(TikTok/susanka-sperbauerm)
“There are no words to express my gratitude to Susan Mascari, her mom Marge, her sister Jean, her niece Merit, and our neighbor Penny for their lovely surprise,” Alshakhs said.
Alshakhs, who is originally from the village of Al-Qara in Al-Ahsa, was raised in Alkhobar. She moved to Tennessee with her children in August 2017 to complete her Ph.D. studies after receiving a scholarship from Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University in Dammam, where she worked as a lecturer.
She lives in a small community filled with neighbors who celebrate and embrace each other’s beliefs.
Our religion has taught us that our neighbors always come first. I never knew how important that is until I had to live here away from family and friends.
Manal Alshaks, Saudi student in the US
Mascari, who helped plan the Ramadan celebration, said that as a Catholic she shared a lot of beliefs and moral values with Muslims.
“Being kind to our neighbors and having faith in something good is important to both of us,” she said.
The story behind the video began when Alshakhs’ daughter showed up at Mascari’s house with some food. The visit reminded Mascari that it was Ramadan and she had not seen Alshakhs since earlier that week and wanted to congratulate her on a dissertation.
“I texted a couple of the neighbor ladies — my sister and mother both live in our neighborhood — and asked if they wanted to go see Manal in 30 minutes,” Mascari said. “I told them to just bring whatever they wanted. My mom was at the store and said they had some pretty roses, sister Jean had a bunch of fruit, nurse Penny made a card and had some nuts.
“When we walked up, I said it would be funny if we started singing when they opened the door.”
When Mascari shared the video of the greeting to her TikTok account, it quickly gained wide support, especially from the Muslim community.
Alshakhs posted the video on Snapchat and Facebook to share with her friends and family, who were also forwarding her the viral video they saw on TikTok.
“After less than a day from posting it on my Snapchat, my friends and relatives in Saudi Arabia started to send me the TikTok link and how it became famous,” Alshakhs said.
“All the feedback I got was positive. People were saying how cute my neighbors are and that I live among good people. They also commented on how my neighbors respect and accept me as I am.”
She stressed the importance of building a sense of community and familiarity with those living nearby.
“Our religion has taught us that our neighbors always come first. I never knew how important that is until I had to live here away from family and friends,” she said.
“Having a community is like having a support system. A haven. Eventually, they become family. Our mental and emotional health thrive through having a community.
“I believe that we are ambassadors to our country and religion. Having an interfaith/inter-culture community, allows us to know the ‘real us.’ From my experience, we are pretty much the same.”
Alshakhs and Mascari have been neighbors for almost six years now, and their youngest children frquently play together.
“Manal and I had a casual friendship where we would wave and say hi,” Mascari said. “When the quarantine happened in March 2020, we were asked to stay home in our part of the state. The neighbors all started to get together and go for walks around the block every night. We just started to spend more time together.”
Alshakhs said: “When COVID struck, Susan suggested a neighborhood walk and she called it ‘Sip and stroll at six, six feet apart.’ That is when we started to get to know each other better. Then we became friends and life became much easier here.”
Mascari said it was important to her to celebrate with her neighbor, and make her feel as welcome as she could in her community and family.
“Manal is visiting our country and will eventually go back to Saudi Arabia. I want her to go home with happy memories from her time here,” she said.
“I think it was so brave of her to leave behind her family and friends to pursue her education. I think to have a friend you have to be a friend.”
Alshakhs told Arab News that she feels blessed to be a part of an accepting neighborhood.
She described Mascari’s family as the “neighborhood mayors” because of their efforts to unite everyone. “They love bringing people together in a creative, simple and fun way.”
This will be Alshakhs’ final year in Tennessee with their newly created family and community, and she is overwhelmed. “I am graduating in May and it breaks my heart to leave.”
