Posts Tagged ramzan

A Lahori returns to his city

27 September 2009
Comments (1)
A friend who just returned to Lahore after spending years in Europe wrote this letter. I quite liked this piece of writing: therefore, with his permission I am posting it here with suitable edits. I think sometimes stuff out of heart leads to great writing. RR
Hey there,
Have been back in the mothersisterland for a week now and the heat has finally started to make its way up to my head. I wish this could have been an ideal rant but sorry to disappoint you ol’ chap it will have to be a slackjawed late night verbal discharge of reflections that one occasionally likes to share on muggy late September night following a dreadfully monotonous day that the whole nation celebrates as eid. The culture shock that I was promised I will get on my return to Pakistan has finally started to manifest itself in loud, vulgar ufone promos on the phone, evolution gone bad displays of road manners and absolutely mind numbing, finer sensibilities gone apeshit offences on TV (more…)

Virginia synagogue doubles as mosque for Ramadan

18 September 2009
Comments (5)
This news item courtesy The Associated Press made a lovely reading…
On Friday afternoons, the people coming to pray at this building take off their shoes, unfurl rugs to kneel on and pray in Arabic. The ones that come Friday evenings put on yarmulkes, light candles and pray in Hebrew.
The building is a synagogue on a tree-lined street in suburban Virginia, but for the past few weeks – during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – it has also been doubling daily as a mosque. Synagogue members suggested their building after hearing the Muslim congregation was looking to rent a place for overflow crowds.
“People look to the Jewish-Muslim relationship as conflict,” said All Dulles Area Muslim Society Imam Mohamed Magid, saying it’s usually disputes between the two groups in the Middle East that make news. “Here is a story that shatters the stereotype.” (more…)

No One Is Left Hungry at Ajmer

22 September 2008
Comments (2)

No One Is Left Hungry

By Rajan Mahan, “No one goes hungry in Ajmer during Ramadan” – NDTV – New Delhi, India
For Muslims of south Asia, the Sufi Dargah at Ajmer stands second only to the sacred one in Mecca.

And in the holy month of Ramadan people from all corners of the subcontinent seek the blessings of the Dargah’s immortal 13th century saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

Popularly called Gareeb Nawaaz, the Protector of the Poor, the Khwaja is still revered for his compassion and empathy for those desperate and needy. (more…)

Two pictures- Breaking the Fast and Desecration

16 September 2008
Comments (3)

Two pictures with captions tell many stories

I Breaking the Fast

A lone man eats in a soup kitchen set up for Ramadan outside a public housing project in Paris. Source

II Desecration
A damaged portrait of Jesus Christ hangs on the wall of a demolished home after an anti- Christian mob attacked it in Barakhama village in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. (more…)

“Better than Cabbage Soup”

1 September 2008
Comments (1)

Rumi on the deeper meanings of fasting in Ramzan

What sweetness lies in an empty stomach!
Man is like a lute: no more, no less.
If the lute is full
it cannot sing a high or low note.

If your mind and stomach
burn with the fire of hunger
it will be like a heavenly song for your heart.
In each moment that fire rages
It will burn away a hundred veils
And carry you a thousand steps
toward your goal. (more…)