Ramadan began yesterday at sundown, and the Washington Post reports that “U.S. Muslims are stepping up holiday charity toward non-Muslims to counter anti-Islamic sentiment since the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Key edicts of Ramadan, which began yesterday at sunset, are to fast and promote good conduct. The devil is said to be shackled, making it easier than during the rest of the year to perform good deeds and give charity.
Although some Muslims have always had a broad interpretation of these tenets, there has been a shift in recent years to look beyond the Muslim community for where one gives. This is the result both of a more mature Muslim American social service infrastructure and of a drive to counter anti-Muslim rhetoric since 2001, experts say.
“For decades, Muslims were internally focused, and I think September 11th accelerated the natural process of becoming more externally focused,” said Ihsan Bagby, author of several studies of Muslim worship trends in the United States. “It’s not like the impulse to do good is some new idea in Islam; concern for the poor, the weak is throughout the Koran. It’s just that Muslims in this country hadn’t implemented it very well. Now a wave is starting to form.”
Community service events planned in the region during Ramadan include feeding day laborers, fundraising for city shelters and helping to organize nonviolence and interfaith projects.
Discussion about the shift also reflects the enduring question at the heart of Ramadan: How can one best do good? The impact of good deeds is said to be multiplied during Ramadan, which marks the period when the Koran began to be revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
Read the whole thing here.
Other items of note in the media about Ramadan:
It is a particular quirk of Ramadan that while the Muslim holiday revolves around fasting, it is also a celebration of food — Bosnian cevapi, Indonesian babi guling, Bangladeshi boti kababs, Malaysian kuih, Tunisian chakchouka.
For the next month, Muslims will fast from dawn to sunset each day. Fasting, or sawm, is one of the five pillars of Islam. Each evening during Ramadan Muslims, will break their 13- to 14-hour fast with a frequently festive communal meal called the iftar. The end of Ramadan is celebrated with a feast called Eid ul-Fitr.
That story is in St. Louis Today, here.( John Chilton who sent along this story, and who lives in the United Arab Emirates observes that Ramadan “is like Lent all day and Easter all night.”)
And from the “Let Freedom Ring” department, various media outlets are reporting that the U.S. government is releasing between 50 and 80 Iraqi detainees during the holy month. Found here.
About.com has information about the nightly Taraweeh Prayers, including a link to the broadcast of the nightly prayers at Mecca (coverage begins at 5 pm GMT), here.
Finally, check out Hungry for Ramadan – My American Ramadan Blog by Shahed Amanullah, a frequent Beliefnet contributor. It is at once touching and informative. Don’t miss it if you are at all curious about the significance of Ramadan, or the lives of American Muslims.