"O moon-faced Beloved,
the month of Ramadan has arrived.
Cover the table
and open the path of praise."
The great Muslim poet Jalal al-Din Rumi sang about Ramadan in the 13th century AD (translation by A.J. Arberry):
"The month of fasting has come, the emperor's banner has arrived; withhold your hand from food, the spirit's table has arrived.
The soul has escaped from separation and bound nature's hands; the heart of error is defeated, the army of faith has arrived.
Fasting is our sacrifice, it is the life of our soul; let us sacrifice all our body, since the soul has arrived as guest.
Fortitude is as a sweet cloud, wisdom rains from it, because it was in such a month of fortitude that the Koran arrived.
...Wash your hands and your mouth, neither eat nor speak; seek that speech and that morsel which has come to the silent ones."
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim lunar year. It has double significance as this is the month that the Holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad and that night has been called the Night of Power - Layla-tul Qadr, the night where a single moment of enlightenment of the Noor of Allah converts the night into a period of Spiritual glory and majesty that touches eternity. Pious Muslims strive to make themselves pure, especially during this month, by ritual and spiritual observances to make ready for Companionship on High. This month has been declared sacred in the Holy Quran wherein Allah says:
2-183 - O you who believe, fasting is prescribed on you as it was prescribed to those before you so that you may become self-restrained.'
2:185 - The prescribed fasting is for a fixed number of days, but whoso among you is sick or on a journey, shall fast the same number of other days; and for those who are able to fast only with great difficulty, is an expiation - the feeding of a poor man. And whoso does good of his own accord it is better for him. And fasting is good for you, if you only knew.
For the last 1400 years, over one billion Muslims throughout the world, believers pay special attention to the esoteric (batin) matters by practising the exoteric (zaher) fasting by refraining from dishonesty, stealing, unethical actions, and other activities that would lead one astray. A Momin's (believer's) life is a journey to become one with the Essence and her daily life is a mirror of her spiritual beauty.
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sun-up to sun-down daily, not having anything to eat, drink, smoke or indulging in sexual relations. A special feast is prepared for the breaking of the fast, where everyone present is invited to partake of the dinner after the all-day fast.
The month ends with special festivities on the Eid al-Fitr (Day of Feasting) celebration when families and friends truly rejoice for having completed the commandment of Allah by successful abstinence and by zikr (remembrance of Allah) at all times.
Here is 48th Imam, Mowlana Sultan Mahomed Shah's view:
"The healthy human body is the temple in which the flame of the Holy Spirit burns, and thus it deserves the respect of scrupulous cleanliness and personal hygiene. Prayer is a daily necessity, a direct communication of the spark with the Universal flame. Reasonable fasting for a month in every year, provided a man's health is not impaired thereby, is an essential part of the body's discipline -through which the body learns to renounce all impure desires. Adultery, alcoholism, slander and thinking evil of one's neighbour are specifically and severely condemned. All men, rich and poor, must aid one another materially and personally. The rules vary in detail, but they all maintain the principle of universal mutual aid in the Muslim fraternity. This fraternity is absolute, and it comprises men of all colours and all races: black, white, yellow, tawny; all are the sons of Adam in the flesh and all carry in them spark of the Divine Light. Everyone should strive his best to see that this spark be not extinguished but rather developed to that full "Companionship-on-High" which was the vision expressed in the last words of the Prophet on his deathbed, the vision of that blessed state which he saw clearly awaiting him. In Islam the Faithful believe in Divine justice and are convinced that the solution of the great problem of predestination and free will is to be found in the compromise that God knows what man is going to do, but that man is free to do it or not."
Full text at: Memoirs - Religion of my Ancestors
World Leaders Issue Eid al-Fitr Greetings
President Bush's Eid al-Fitr Greeting
President George W. Bush hosts an Iftaar dinner celebrating Ramadan
More Ramadan News at Whitehouse Website
Putin congratulates Muslims on Eid-ul-Fitr
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Eid Al-fitr Message
Remarks by the President At Iftaar Dinner
The State Dining Room
5:50 P.M. EST - November 19, 2001
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening, and welcome to the White House. I'm so honored to welcome such distinguished guests and ambassadors during the holy month of Ramadan.
America is made better by millions of Muslim citizens. America has close and important relations with many Islamic nations. So it is fitting for America to honor your friendship and the traditions of a great faith by hosting this Iftaar at the White House.
I want to thank our Secretary of State for being here, as well as members of my administration. I want to thank the ambassadors for taking time in this holy month to come to join us in this feast.
Ramadan is a time of fasting and prayer for the Muslim faithful. So tonight we are reminded of God's greatness and His commandments to live in peace and to help neighbors in need. According to Muslim teachings, God first revealed His word in the holy Qur'an to the prophet, Muhammad, during the month of Ramadan. That word has guided billions of believers across the centuries, and those believers built a culture of learning and literature and science.
All the world continues to benefit from this faith and its achievements. Ramadan and the upcoming holiday season are a good time for people of different faiths to learn more about each other. And the more we learn, the more we find that many commitments are broadly shared. We share a commitment to family, to protect and love our children. We share a belief in God's justice, and man's moral responsibility. And we share the same hope for a future of peace. We have much in common and much to learn from one another.
This evening, we gather in a spirit of peace and cooperation. I appreciate your support of our objectives in the campaign against terrorism. Tonight that campaign continues in Afghanistan, so that the people of Afghanistan will soon know peace. The terrorists have no home in any faith. Evil has no holy days.
This evening we also gather in the spirit of generosity and charity. As this feast breaks the Ramadan fast, America is also sharing our table with the people of Afghanistan. We are proud to play a leading role in humanitarian relief efforts, with air drops and truck convoys of food and medicine. America's children are donating their dollars to the Afghan children. And my administration is committed to help reconstruct that country, and to support a stable government that represents all of the people of Afghanistan.
We are working for more opportunity and a better life for the people of Afghanistan, and all the people of the Islamic world. America respects people of all faiths, and America seeks peace with people of all faiths.
I thank you for your friendship, and I wish you a blessed Ramadan.
END 5:54
P.M. EST View this article at the White House Website
Remarks by President William Clinton at event commemorating end of Ramadan
11:30 A.M. EST January 10, 2000 Presidential Hall - The Whitehouse
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much, Eid Mubarak, and welcome to the White House. N'Imah Saleem, you did a fine job for a 14-year-old, or a 24-year-old, or a 44-year-old. I thought she was terrific. Thank you very much, thank you. (Applause.)
And, Imam Hendi, thank you so much for your words, your prayer, and for serving as the first Muslim chaplain of my alma mater, Georgetown University. Congratulations. We're glad to have you here. Thank you, sir. (Applause.)
I'd like to welcome others from the administration who very joined us -- our National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger; Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh. We also have a White House fellow here, Khalid Azim; and Dr. Islam Siddiqui, the senior advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture and the highest ranking Muslim in the Clinton administration. We thank him for being here. We have a Muslim Army chaplain, Captain Muhammad. We thank him for being here, and the other Muslims who work here in the White House -- they are all particularly welcome -- and all the rest of you who have come here. Let me say welcome to you. (Applause.)
My friend, Rasheed, thank you for leading the applause there. I always try to have someone in the audience there who is pumping the crowd at the right time. (Laughter.)
Let me also say a special word of welcome to you from the First Lady. Hillary has done this celebration for the past several years; many of you have been here with her. And she had to be out of the city today, and that's the only reason she's not here, because this means so very much to her. And I want to welcome you here on her behalf, as well.
Over the weekend, along with Muslims all over the world, you celebrated the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The month of daily fasting is not only a sacred duty, it is also a powerful teaching, and in many ways a gift of Islam to the entire rest of the world -- reminding not simply Muslims, but all people, of our shared obligation to aid those who live with poverty and suffering. It reminds us that we must work together to build a more humane world.
I must say, it was, I thought, especially fitting that we celebrated the Eid at the end of the first round of the talks between the Syrians and the Israelis. And I thought it was particularly moving that Imam read the passage from the Koran that said that Allah created nations and tribes that we might know one another, not that we might despise one another.
There's a wonderful passage in the Hebrew Torah, which warns people never to turn aside the stranger, for it is like turning aside the most high God. And the Christian Bible says that people should love their neighbor as themselves. But it's quite wonderful to say that Allah created the nations and tribes that they might know one another better, recognizing people have to organize their thoughts and categorize their ideas, but that does not mean we should be divided one from another.
It has been a great blessing for me, being involved in these talks these last few days, to see the impact of the month of Ramadan and the Eid on the believers in the Syrian delegation who are here. It was quite a moving thing. And I hope that your prayers will stay with them.
Let me say, also, that there is much that the world can learn from Islam. It is now practiced by one of every four people on Earth. Americans are learning more in our schools and universities. Indeed, I remember that our daughter took a course on Islamic history in high school and read large portions of the Koran, and came home at night and educated her parents about it, and later asked us questions about it. (Applause.) And, of course, there are now 6 million Muslims in our nation today. The number of mosques and Islamic centers, now at 1,200, continues to grow very rapidly.
Today, Muslim Americans are a cornerstone of our American community. They enrich our political and cultural life, they provide leadership in every field of human endeavor, from business to medicine, to scholarship. And I think it is important that the American people are beginning to learn that Muslims trace their roots to all parts of the globe -- not just to the Middle East, but also to Africa, and to Asia, and to the Balkans and other parts of Europe. You share with all Americans common aspirations for a better future, for greater opportunities for children, for the importance of work and family and freedom to worship.
But like other groups past and present in America, Muslim Americans also have faced from time to time -- and continue to face, sadly, from time to time -- discrimination, intolerance and, on occasion, even violence. There are still too many Americans who know too little about Islam. Too often stereotypes fill the vacuum ignorance creates. That kind of bigotry is wrong, has no place in American society. There is no place for intolerance against people of any faith -- against Muslims or Jews or Christians, or Buddhists or Ba'Hai -- or any other religious group, or ethnic or racial group.
If America wishes to be a force for peace and reconciliation across religious and ethnic divides from the Middle East to Northern Ireland to the Balkans, to Africa, to Asia -- if that is what we wish -- if we wish to do good around the world, we must first be good here at home on these issues. (Applause.)
I ask all of you to help with that, to share the wellsprings of your faith with those who are different, to help people understand the values and the humanity that we share in common, and the texture and fabric and fiber and core of the beliefs and practices of Islam.
Children do not come into the world hating people of different tribes and faiths. That is something they learn to do. They either are explicitly taught to do it, or they learn to do it by following the example of others, or they learn to do it in reaction to oppression that they, themselves, experience. And those of us who are adults have a responsibility to change those childhoods, to give this generation of children around the world a different future than so many have played out tragically in the last few years.
I think it is quite ironic that at the end of the Cold War, when a system of atheistic, controlling communism has failed and been rejected, our latest demon seems to be the old-fashioned one of people fighting each other because they are of different religious faiths, or racial or ethnic heritages. We know that is not at the core of any religious teaching. We know it is not at the core of Islam.
So I ask you again to rededicate yourselves in this coming year to making sure that others in this country truly understand and appreciate the faith you embrace, its practices, its beliefs, its precepts and its inclusive humanity. Thank you. (Applause.)
The Koran also teaches, in addition, to the fact that we should do unto others as we wish to have done to us, and reject for others what we would reject for ourselves, but we should also make a commitment to live in peace. There is a new moon that has risen at the end of Ramadan and a new millennium marked in many nations. And again, I say to you as we leave, in addition to your prayers and work for peace and understanding and reconciliation within the United States, I ask especially for your prayers for the current mission of peace in the Middle East.
We are on a track in which the Israelis, the Syrians, I hope soon the Lebanese, and already the Palestinians, have committed themselves to work through these very difficult, longstanding issues over the course of the next two months -- the longstanding commitment between the Palestinians and the Israelis to resolve their business by next month. So this will be a time of great tension, where all people will have to search for wisdom and understanding, where there will be great reluctance to open the closed fist and walk out into a new era.
And I think that the prayers of Muslims, Jews, Christians and people of goodwill all over the world will be needed for us to get through these next several weeks. But for you, I hope it is an immense source of pride that you live in a country that is trying to make peace in the land where your faith was born. Thank you. (Applause.)
Eid Al-Fitr Celebration Remarks by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
The White House - January 21, 1999
Eid Mubarak! And welcome to the White House. This is the third time I have had the pleasure and honor of hosting this Eid celebration, and I’m pleased to see so many families and children from around our country who have joined us here today.
We have also been joined by a number of distinguished and honorable visitors. There are just a few that I’d like to acknowledge: Ambassador Ronald Newman, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Middle East; Hassan Nemazee, U.S. Ambassador Designate to Argentina; and Robert Seiple, nominated as Ambassador At-Large for International Religious Freedom [at the State Department].
It is indeed an honor for us to welcome you back. I know that over the past two days you have been congregating at each other’s homes, at mosques, and at community centers celebrating the month of abstinence and fasting and prayer and rejoicing together. So it is a special treat for me to have you here and to know that this is an extraordinary time of gathering and recollection and rejoicing.
I want to thank everyone who has worked on bringing this event together. We have had a wonderful turnout in the past. We had more people this time, so we are actually occupying two rooms here in the Old Executive Office Building. Sharifa Alkhateeb of the North American Council for Muslim Women has been largely responsible for working with the White House staff in bringing us here. As many of you may know, Sharifa was the chair of the Muslim Caucus in Beijing in 1995. And she is also a great friend to me and to my staff for many, many occasions when we call upon her for advice and counsel. And I am pleased that once again she could be so helpful, both on her own behalf and on behalf of the Council in helping us out here.
I know we are also looking forward to hearing from a young man who will share his perspective and experiences as a young American Muslim. And Omar will have more to say about that in a minute. I also want to welcome Professor Sayyid Hossein Nasr, who will speak to us as well. Now there are many people who have made today happen, but special thanks are due to Maureen Shea, Mona Mohib and Huma Abedin for putting together this event.
I must say that I have seen very personally the impact of Ramadan because of having Huma on my staff, and have had many occasions to talk with her about the particular meaning of Ramadan. But I also feel so grateful that I am able to travel both on my own and with my husband on behalf of the United States to many parts of the world and speak with many different Muslims and learn more about Islam.
It was just a few short weeks ago, as many of you know, that the President and I traveled to Gaza. I was very pleased to be part of that historic visit, the first by an American president to the Palestinian Authority.
We happened to be there only a few days before Ramadan began, and there was a lot of anticipation and excitement in preparation. I had the opportunity to visit one of the refugee camps -- the Beach Camp -- and I was able to see firsthand many of the difficulties that the Palestinian people are encountering in everyday life.
But I also -- through my conversations, particularly with the women there -- I saw something else as well. I saw women working very hard to build their own lives, to start businesses, to learn about their legal rights, to look for better ways to educate their children, and to participate fully in the life of their communities.
With Suma Arafat (phonetic), I also visited a facility that she has started for children with various kinds of disabilities. And again I could see firsthand work that was taking place to give every child an opportunity to live up to the fullest of his or her God-given potential. Although the people that I saw know that they have quite a road to walk together to build a very strong future for themselves, I did feel -- and I believe that we could see in their faces -- the courage and determination to do just that. And there is something very special about the time that Ramadan provides to contemplate and meditate and pray and think about what we could all do better on our own behalf, on behalf of our families and our communities to build that better future.
From Turkey to Bosnia to Uzbekistan to Africa, I’ve met with families, women and children, and talked about lives and futures. And I know how important it is that we do more here in the United States to highlight the contributions of Muslim Americans to our great efforts here in this country to prepare ourselves for a future that is truly the best that we could offer to our children and our grandchildren.
I was struck when I visited outside of Jerusalem a village that was started by Arab Muslims, Jews and Christians. A village some of you have heard of, maybe even visited -- Neve Shalom -- founded by people who wanted to do the hardest work there is. Not making speeches about tolerance and diversity, but working and living together, understanding and discovering what unites us as human beings across all of what I would argue are often arbitrary lines that divide us.
I watched as three young children -- in a kindergarten class of that village -- came forward together to celebrate their individual religious traditions. One lighted a menorah, one a Christmas tree; one a Ramadan lantern. None felt that they had to make any argument or case for following their own religious traditions and beliefs. But each felt respected and validated for what they believed and what their families taught them. I used to feel so strongly as a young girl, and now I feel even more strongly that religion should not serve as a weapon of war and division but as a bridge to peace. That children should learn to respect their own traditions, but also understand the traditions of others.
Today, we celebrate Eid with special foods and exchanging of gifts, and by honoring the remarkable contributions of Islam that have enabled millions and millions of Muslims around the world to endure and thrive through the ages and enrich us all.
We also honor the universal values that are embodied in Islam -- love of family and community; mutual respect; the power of education; and the deepest yearning of all: to live in peace. Values that can bring people of every faith and culture together, strengthen us as people, and, I would argue, strengthen the United States as a nation.
I have been told that a common Muslim prayer tells us: No struggle is easy unless you make it easy for us. And only you, my Lord, can make a hardship easy to overcome. With God’s help, and with the kind of determination, courage, and hope that is lived out in the lives of all of you and millions of others around our country and throughout the world, I believe that we can do more together to help build a more peaceful, prosperous, and hopeful future in which all of God’s children can live in peace and fulfill their God-given promise.
May peace be with you, and may God grant you health and prosperity now and in the years ahead.
Certainly one of the great reasons for any religious tradition is to bring up our children in the way that we would want them to follow, to give them both roots and wings, to enable them to understand where they came from but to equip them to know and see where they are going. We have with us a young man, a senior at Woodson High School, Omar Farou (phonetic), who will be able to talk with us about a young person’s experience of Ramadan. And I invite him now to the podium. Come and join us please, Omar.
The above speech is at the Whitehouse website
I know that over the next few days Ramadan will begin for most of you, and with it will come a time for self-reflection and reaffirmation of dedication, family, community, history and faith. This is the holiday season for the three great religions that call the Middle East home. Whether we celebrate Ramadan or Christmas or Hanukkah, we share common values, common experiences and, above all, a common future. If we honor one another's traditions, if we respect each other as human beings, if we make sure that women can be full participants in their societies, then we have the chance to pass down to our children a world of peace. And I can think of no better promise this holiday season.
In a few minutes, Mrs. Arafat and I will join our husbands where our husbands will address the Palestinian National Council. This is part of the agreement reached at Wye. It is a continuation of the hard work to achieve peace. I have been told that a common Muslim prayer tells us, "No struggle is easy unless you make it easy for us, and only you, my Lord, can make a hardship easy to overcome." With God's help and with your determination, courage and hope, I believe you will build a better future for yourselves and your children.
God bless you all.
December 14, 1999
REMARKS OF FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON AT WOMEN'S PROGRAM CENTER
Speech on Women’s Economic Security (Microcredit) Beach Camp, Gaza
I have seen the commitment in the Middle East where so much blood had been shed and so much distrust still lingers there. I have listened to how Christians, Jews and Muslims have struggled to find some agreement with one another, yet have been willing to lay down the burdens of the past if they can be promised a hopeful future. I visited a small community in Israel, during the last visit that my husband and I made, where Christians, Jews and Muslims had made a conscious effort to live together side by side, to respect each other’s traditions, to try to serve as an example for their fellow men and women. I watched three small children celebrate their own traditions. One lit a Christmas tree, one a menorah, the third a Ramadan lamp. Each was celebrating his or her own faith and learning how religion can be a source of strength and hope, not divisiveness.
Millennium Lecture Series at the University of Ireland Our Obligations to Each Other: Continuing the Quest for Peace
Lecture by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Galway, Ireland May 12, 1999
Now is the time to know that all that you do is sacred.
Now, why not consider a lasting truce with yourself and God.
Now is the time to understand that all your ideas of right and wrong
were just a child’s training wheels to be laid aside
when you can finally live with [truth] and love. …
My dear, please tell me, why do you still throw sticks at your heart and God?
What is it in that sweet voice inside that incites you to fear?
Now is the time for the world to know
that every thought and action is sacred.
… there is [nothing] but Grace.
Source: [The Gift, Poems by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master, translated by Daniel Ladinsky 160-1]
Muslim Celebrations and Dates
Muslim Holidays and Festivals
Ramadan and Eid ul Fitr 1st Shawwal
Islamic Calendar Converter Gregorian/Hijri Converter
Layl tul Qadr - The Night of Power 23rd of Ramadan
U. S. Postal Service releases Eid Stamp
Reincarnation or Companionship on High? by Imam Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mahomed Shah
Prophet Muhammad by Non-Muslim Author
More Muslim Celebrations
Eid ul Adha - Prophet Ibrahim's Offering
Eid-e Gadhir
Maulid - Prophet Muhammad's Birthday
Yaum-e Ali - Hazrat Ali's Birthday
Layl tul Qadr - The Night of Power 23rd of Ramadan
Navroz - New Year
Ramadan and Eid ul Fitr
Ramadhan
related resources on the Net
Ummah.net!
The CAIR Ramadhan Publicity Kit - a resource kit developed to assist
your community in publicizing Ramadhan events and activities.
