-Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, Islamic philosopher
Muslims in the U.S., and everywhere else in the world, begin a 30 day fast for their holy season of Ramadan. During the season, devout Muslims do not consume anything into the body including food and water during daylight hours. Many also abstain from sexual relations and make other life style changes during this time.
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| During Ramadan, you may see Muslim residents eating big meals like this around sundown. |
Muslims I spoke to in Turkey said they fasted in order to purify their soul.
The Rumi poem where today's SOT comes from says sacrifice and emptying the body refreshes the human spirit.
Lastly, July saw a lot of debate over the building of new mosques across the country, particularly over the mosque being planned two blocks from ground zero. Opponents say building the mosque is an affront to victims of the September 11 tragedies, and some say the mosque will be a source of fundamentalism, not tolerance.
"Those Islamists and their apologists who argue for "religious toleration" are arrogantly dishonest. They ignore the fact that more than 100 mosques already exist in New York City," Newt Gingrich wrote on his blog, "There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.
On the other side, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the Islamic center saying our first amendment freedom of religion makes the United States special.
"We would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan," Bloomberg said in a speech made in front of the Statue of Liberty.
In fact, when I lived in Turkey, a country of 99 percent Muslims, Turks who spent time in the US said they admired America "for its love of religion" and that Muslims could practice their religion more freely than Islamic countries.
For example, in Turkey, the government closely regulates Islam and has had a history of banning certain practices and sects including the followers of Rumi for a time.
Ramadan will end on September 10th in the United States with a holiday known as Eid-Al-Fitr.
1 comment:
Great post, Matt. I shared it on Facebook. Americans have so much to learn about Islam. They have no perception of moderate Muslims. In the past month, I've spoken to American liberals who express hostility toward Islam because they perceive that it universally oppresses women, and American conservatives who perceive that Muslims are very violent. I despair of the ignorance about Islam in America.
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