Ramadan Begins

~ by journalist David Crumm

On Monday, on the first day of Ramadan, a new month-long Web page launched at www.SharingRamadan.info to share uplifting stories about everyday Muslim life during Ramadan. The site is part of the larger and extraordinary online magazine www.ReadTheSpirit.com co-founded by longtime journalist David Crumm. David writes:

    Can you feel it in the air?
    A major portion of the world -- a billion of our neighbors -- are spiritually on the move this month. Their faith calls on them to devote this entire month to prayer and fasting and kindness toward everyone they meet. And, in the end, the month is supposed to draw people closer to God and to compassionate concern for the world's neediest men, women and children.
    If you're not Muslim, this is a wonderful time to wish your Muslim friend, neighbor or co-worker well during the next four weeks. Keep an eye out for colleagues who may be trying to fast right through a challenging day at school or work. Lend a friendly word of encouragement -- and ask a question, if you're curious. I have spent more than two decades visiting Muslims around the world and I have yet to meet a Muslim who wasn't gracious in responding to sincere questions. 

David emailed us today at Faith House and welcomed our sharing a sample of this new series with you. The team behind SharingRamadan invites readers to visit the site and add their comments or contribute their own stories.

Faith is the strongest glue in our lives. It forms our values, connects us with other people and builds strong communities. I am not a Muslim, but I have devoted more than 30 years to reporting on the changing lives of Americans and occasionally on cultures in other parts of the globe as well. I know first hand that the world’s 2 billion Christians, who form the majority of the population in the U.S., and 1 billion Muslims, millions of whom are Americans as well, all play major roles in shaping our future.

In this rapidly changing era, we have the impression that we can connect with the latest news 24 hours a day. In fact, what we see is mostly American pop culture, sports and the latest violent news rocketing from some corner of our planet. In fact, with the crumbling of traditional news media, it is becoming harder and harder to see our world clearly – and it is often just as tough to see and hear our own neighbors much closer to home.

That is why I was thrilled to work with Raad Alawan in collecting stories for this first-of-its-kind Ramadan project, which we will be publishing online at www.SharingRamadan.info On that Web site, we welcome you to add your own stories and your own reflections about the series. As a longtime journalist himself, Raad immediately understood the need for all of us to explore this life-affirming month that is experienced each year by our Muslim neighbors here and in distant lands, as well.

Visiting mosques with Raad and other journalists, we were warmly greeted by men, women and young people wherever we traveled. These neighbors were proud to share their inspiring stories with us – and with you as well. They described their prayers in this holy month as focusing on patience, compassion, kindness and opportunities to serve others – values we all can celebrate, whatever our individual approach to faith.

So, enjoy these uplifting stories and think about all the ways that these men, women and young people are as eager as you are to strengthen our communities.

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A Sample from SharingRamadan.info:

Bruce Kadoura: "I guess you can call me a born-again Muslim ..."

RAMADAN begins September 1 for more than a billion of our Muslim neighbors around the world. Each day throughout the month-long fast, you'll find uplifting stories here from the lives of Muslim men, women and young people. Please, enjoy these voices -- and share your own comments and stories (we've got convenient links at the top of this page to help you). We begin, today, with a story from Bruce Kadoura, a business consultant living in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Here are Bruce's words ...

You’ve heard of born-again Christians? Well I guess you can call me a born-again Muslim. I’m 60 and like a lot of Muslim people my age in this country, I had the experience of growing up at a time in the 1950s and early 1960s when our Islamic education wasn’t the best.

I’m part of one of the older families that moved originally to Dearborn, Michigan. My father was involved in building one of the first mosques near the Rouge plant in the southeast end of Dearborn. Back then, everything had to be within walking distance of our homes because nobody owned cars. The mosque was a very small building. My family had a two-story flat and we lived in the lower floor, but rented out the upper floor, which was a prudent thing for families to do back then.

Growing up at that time, our religious teaching came partly from various people who would come from other countries and try to enforce their rules about our schools or how we should learn Arabic or how we should follow Islam. They would come and go and this system didn’t work very well. I remember fasting back then during Ramadan, but it was hit or miss. I really didn’t understand it completely.

But as I got older, I began to realize that I was not living as a Muslim the way I should. I began to realize that there was a downside to living the kind of lifestyle where, you know, you think everything is OK, unless you’re hurting someone. I began to see that wasn’t a good way to live. God does have rules. And God also gives us so many gifts –- the air we breathe, our eyesight and so many other things. In fact, God gives us so many gifts that we could never claim to be worthy of everything God is giving us. I began to realize that it’s only by God’s grace and forgiveness that we’re ever going to be successful in reaching the next life.

God really opened my eyes. I began to fast in the early 1980s, I would say it was. That’s when I became what you might call a born-again Muslim. And that first year as I fasted, it was more like: Oh, I need to do this thing just to be a good Muslim. It was like an obligation. Something I had to do.

But then you know what happened over that next year? You may not believe this, but it’s true. By the second year that I fasted, and every single year after that, I actually looked forward to the fast. This is such a great thing that God tells us to do each year. It’s a time of restraint, of learning, of forgiveness of our sins. It’s a powerful reaffirmation of our faith and it shows us, each year, that we’re part of a much bigger picture in life. I’m so glad I came to realize this truth.

For more about SharingRamadan click HERE.

Comments

[hotconflict]

Ramadan is an experience.

Each year it is a different experience. It changes depending on age or friends and surroundings.

In some cultures the experience is like a month of festivities. Ramadan is different for different cultures.

Ramadan is the same for all the people of faith. The essence of fasting, however the community experience changes with each unique culture.

Especially in the western countries that are not Muslim, the environment can be incredible if you have a strong community of practicing individuals.
Yet it can sometimes be depressing if you are not engulfed by the community. If you are isolated or uninvolved. For man it is just torture!

There is a lot to learn form looking at the cultural ramifications of religion practices.

Check out the HotConflict.com website. The use Western Pop-Culture to explain conflict issues in Islam to a western audience.

http://www.HotConflict.com