My familiarity with Islamic calligraphy is so pathetic that this may be the Islamic world's equivalent of the $2 Hallmark card, but it's the image we filched last Ramadan, and we still think it's pretty, so it's the one we're running today. Ramadan begins Sunday. Kareem means Happy, Mubarak means Blessed, like Hebrew Baruch (which happens to be my Hebrew name, so there).
As they usually do, the beginning of Ramadan collides on the calendar with Rosh Hashona, the Jewish New Year, and I have every reason to believe that the new Hebrew year commencing Saturday (1st day of the month Tishrei) is 5767. If you have a problem with this, please Leave A Comment.
Last year I briefly filched a gorgeous Ramadan image from an art professor in Pittsburgh, but she got annoyed and requested that I remove it, which I dutifully and promptly did. I ask you all to sit in judgment and determine which was the worse sin: Mine for filching, or hers for suspiciously denying the world the chance to see her artistic beauty.
Ramadan is the name of this month in the Islamic calendar, and it was during Ramadan that the Prophet Muhammed first began receiving the text which would be recorded as the Holy Quran from Heaven. He preached that during this month the gates of Heaven would be open, and the gates of Hell would be closed.
I will not use this post to comment on the state of relations between the Great Faiths of Earth, particularly those three which all sprang from the same spiritual well and the same Patriarchs and Prophets in the Middle East.
But I would like to say that on Planet Vleeptron at this moment, Christian, Muslim and Jew are all living in respect, brotherhood and sisterhood, community, cooperation, and scrupulous non-violence. I can look out my window at the main intersection in Poortown Parva and see the Synagogue, the Mosque, the Cathedral and the Church, I can see the Imam nodding and smiling at the Rabbi, I can see the Minister chatting on the sidewalk with the Priest.
What a whack planet that is.
6 comments:
hear hear mate.
a khair mubarak to you.
and kareem i believe means "honourable" and "generous".
it's always a joy to come here and read your attempts at knocking sense into people. keep it up.
doh, the "generous" thing -- I knew that. Sharpening up my Ramadan lessons once each year -- it's a way to learn, but not a great way.
A few weeks ago I think you were trying to suggest that Pakistani politics couldn't possibly interest anyone back here in North Am.
Wow, Mushareff is certainly putting on a highly entertaining show this weekend. Not that what he says is much of a surprise. American foreign policy regularly boils down to: Do What We Want, Or Prepare To Suffer.
But I told you: I don't think there's a more complex, more complicated, more interesting set of national pressures and tense politics anywhere on earth.
My attempts at sense-knocking are somewhat ignorant and naive, and I suspect they're not likely to catch fire and become the next Huge Wave ... but we're living through a moment where most of the world thinks hate and violence is some sort of Plan leading Someone to Somewhere.
I know where that Plan is leading, and I just don't want to be part of going there.
Ramadan Kareem! l'Shana Tova! Watch Vleeptron, and I'll catch you at Eid!
musharraf will be on the daily show with jon stewart on the 26th i believe. try and catch him then.
One of the greatest blessings the world has for curious people is The Book Promotion Tour. If Musharraf hadn't published a book ("In the Line of Fire" -- I'm pretty sure that's its title) right now, while he's still Pakistan's chief of state, and while Pakistan's still in the center of the cyclone of the biggest on-going event in the world, we wouldn't be enjoying the delicious treat of seeing him on 60 Minutes and -- thanks! -- on The Daily Show.
Typically, The Great Man (Nixon, Clinton) waits until retirement to publish the Tell All book. Waits until nobody really cares about The Big Events anymore; the cyclone has moved on. Watergate is yesteryear's news and Monica -- where the hell is Monica these days? The poor dear who nearly toppled the government is quietly sliding into middle age.
But Musharref -- how much does the book cost? Where can I buy a copy?
I suspect the answers to half the questions I constantly pester you about are in this book. All those boring matters about Pakistani domestic and foreign politics.
Ramadan is the Holly month For Muslims. As Per Quran "Fasting is for all believers". In our language we call it Ramzan. I was in Malaysia where they call it as Hari Raya.
Ramadan Mubarak for each and every Readers of this Blog.
I came here while looking for exact meaning of Ramadan Kareem for my section Ramadan Messages. Thanks I Got it from here
Prasad
Ramadan Messages
still a bit early -- in the Anno Domini calendar, Ramadan begins on Friday 20 July --, but Ramadan Kareem to you, Ramadan Messages!
(I know your parents did not name you "Ramadan Messages," so like what's really your real name? I'm Bob.)
AND Ramadan Mubarak! May your Ramadan be both Generous and Blessed!
Come back here to VleeptronZ on Friday, I'll try to crank up an original Ramadan image, and I have determined to write something important and original about Ramadan and other associated subjects. (Like my brothers and sisters of all Ibrahimic Faiths living in peace on our troubled, exhausted, worried Planet Earth.)
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