Eid Mubarak!...now what?

For those enjoying the last hours of Ramadan, may Allah (swt) give you the strength and patience to make the best of every last minute. For others who are now enjoying their morning cup of coffee - Eid Mubarak! May Allah (swt) accept your fasting and worship and give you the chance to enjoy many more Ramadans.

To me, just as the beginning of Ramadan brings together the happiness of being given a chance to witness the blessed month and the fear of not being able to fulfill its rights and obligations; the end of Ramadan brings together the joy of breaking one's fast and the fear of slipping back into old sins even before the takbeerat are over.

Yes, Ramadan is different and it is probably impossible to continue the Ramadan worship routine (even without the fasting) every day of the coming year. Yet, one of the signs of an accepted Ramadan is that the believer continues some of the good habits and positive lifestyle changes she made during the holy month.

But, it's harder with shaytan around the rest of the year!! True, but remember what Allah (swt) mentions in the Holy Quran:

"...Indeed, the plot of Satan has ever been weak." [4:76]

To understand this better, let us take a quick look at what scholars describe as the source of negative thoughts. Every deed (whether good or bad) begins with a thought (khatir). There are three sources of negative thoughts (those leading to sins):

1) Shaytan
2) The nafs
3) Leading (istidraj) from Allah (swt)

Out of the three, shaytan's influence is the weakest (the second is the hardest and the third is the most dangerous). All it takes to get rid of him are a few words:" I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected Shaytan." Constant remeberance of Allah (swt) (thikr) and being in a state of purity (taharah) are also great weapons against shaytan.

As often mentioned, it is the first week after Ramadan that is critical. Shaytan and his team are furious about all their hard work gone down the drain during Ramadan and are determined to take us back to our pre-Ramadan ways.

By the way, there's an easy way of telling if a negative thought is coming from shaytan or from the nafs. Shaytan will do anything to get you away from doing good deeds. He will go from one temptation to the next, from one negative thought to the next until he finds something you are willing to agree to. As for the nafs, it desires specific things. If you find yourself getting a persistant negative thought which doesn't change or go away even with thikr then it's probably your nafs. What do you do in that case? Tame your nafs as you would a wild animal: by giving it less food and more work (sounds familiar?).

May Allah (swt) bless us with steadfastness after Ramadan and protect us from the whisphers of Shaytan, ameen.

PS: this post is a glimpse from an amazing lecture series (in Arabic) by Sheikh Ali al-Jafri, may Allah (swt) reward him.

`Eid Around the World

`Eid Mubarak!

Pictures from Around the World

Stories from Around the World

Bushism of the week!

“Our Nation is proud to be a land of many beliefs, and our society is enriched by our Muslim citizens. On the first day of Shawwal, the first month of the Islamic calendar, may people of all faiths reflect on the values we hold in common, including love of family, the importance of community, and gratitude to God,”

Click here for full statement.

Caught In a Fight

Every year, three times a year, I find myself caught in the midst of a bitter fit. I feel like I am caught between two parents fighting with one another. Passionate. Accusatory. Quite saddening all of it.

Every year the Muslim community is found struggling to define and defend their most basic right, to claim the beginning and end of religious observances based on the sighting of the moon. This is like the Jewish tradition, where the moon is used to set dates, the lunar calender is an integral part of Muslim observances.

However, for a Muslim caught between tradition (principles- sunnah) and "modern" life (using this loosely to mean coping with life outside Muslim majority countries and the implications of differences on demands of life) this turmoil is not just disappointing, but quite nerve wrecking.

I prepared myself for Eid to be on Saturday. Turns out the Middle East sighted the moon declared Eid tomorrow- making it a momentous day- and throwing my world in whack because my parents Masjid follows Saudi moon sighting and I have to take tomorrow off, pack up, shop for clothes to wear, gifts to give and all of the other 'work' things in a matter of hours, and then drive up two hours to get my brother and drive home. Only to wake up to a hectic morning for prayer service preparations and then, then well Eid is over until the house calls begin.

You see what I have learned is this-

1. People are so passionate about the issue- they fight over it and dig their heels in.
2. Religion is meant to be a good experience- the fighting makes the Ramadan season and Eid a bit rancorous and down right unpleasant bitter in the beginning and the end.
3. People will not change their minds. They just won't, they are stubborn.
4. A Muslim layman is going to loose their minds dealing with the chaotic nature of the discourse and decision making process. Often times getting caught in between legitimate debates, but illegitimate rivalries that become personal.
5. Shaitan (Egos) plays with our hearts.

Given these, I cope the following way:

1. Until I have my own family, I do what my parents do;
2. I stay quite and walk away from these "conversations"; often times I just allow myself to let it in through one ear and out the other;
3. I smile and nod, and look for the quickest way to exit the situation, if ever caught in the firing lines;
4. I stay away from the "you were wrong, I was right" conversations;
5. My future preference is set, I will use the Calculation method- no matter how much people put it down, I find it to be in line with my Islamic understanding and ability, you can only pray that I am endowed with enough wisdom to accept your way of thinking, and I will pray that you will be endowed with enough wisdom to respect me for my decision and we can let each other live on this issue.

I hope my thoughts help people survive the MoonFight-palooza we have once again found ourselves in.

Empire State Building to go green for `Eid

The Agence France-Presse reports:

NEW YORK - New York's iconic Empire State Building is to be lit up green from Friday in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.

"This is the first time that the Empire State Building will be illuminated for Eid, and the lighting will become an annual event in the same tradition of the yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah," according to a statement.

Read on: AFP

Buy Your Eid Stamps ASAP

The $0.41 "Eid Stamp" was just released nationwide on Friday, September 28, 2007. Please call your local post office and ask them to stock the "Eid Stamp." AND to ensure that the US Postal Service continues to issue and print them, USE Eid stamps for Ramadan/Eid mailings and all year round. You can insha'Allah stock up at your local post office or online!