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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Raya here and there

Ramadhan will be leaving us again this year, tomorrow, as it did all those previous years, taking away all that extra offerings and barakah from The All Mighty with it. We never know if we'll breathe another day to meet with this holy month again next year. With that, what a shame it would be to those who didn't gain anything, whether it be Allah's mercy, barakah, or forgiveness, in this holy month. How sad it would be to be getting nothing other than hunger and thirst during such a blessed month.

But heads up people, we still have one more day of Ramadhan! So, insyaAllah, let's make the most of the final moments we have with Ramadhan. Tomorrow signals the last day of fasting for the majority of Muslims world wide, in Nashville included. 1 Syawal will fall on Wednesday, October the 1st.

It did struck me however, the fact that Muslims don't celebrate this glorious day together. My sister in UK for instance, is celebrating Eid tomorrow, on Tuesday, a day earlier than the most of us. Same is said of Saudi Arabia. Heck, I even heard the Kurdish community in Nashville is having theirs tomorrow.

Why is this so? I mean, Eid-ul Fitri besides Eid-ul Adha is two of the greatest, most glorious celebrations we have in the Muslim calender. The least that could've been done is assign the same date for the celebrations. Why differ from one place to another, from one organization to the other? The dating of 1 Syawal is year in and year out, the hottest discussion most of have towards the end of Ramadhan.

The two methods applied to determine the day is first, by lunar sighting. If that is impossible, then the calculation method is used. Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world celebrating tomorrow used the former method while the rest agreed to use the latter. Why is that we can't agree on one specific date? If someone claims to have witnessed the moon, why can't we all follow suite?

Is it a case of ignorance and ego? With one claiming to be the better than the rest? Are we to stubborn to agree with each other? What message are we sending out to the non-Muslims when we can't even have a consensus on one of our holiest day? Christians are able to celebrate Christmas on Dec 25 with no fuss. Why can't we? Where is the unity that we talk about?

One Eid throughout the world. Read what AMJA online had to say.

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