Newspapers always want something that fits a small word limit and is ready within twenty minutes! Sub-editors remove paragraphs or words at random before typrsetters adjust spelling and grammar. Published articles are then sometimes placed on the page near to advertisments for strange amusements. Simple messages become quite arcane but someone has to do it.
We All Need Eid! -Birmingham Evening Mail for West Midlands Faiths Forum
For many people it might seem that Eid is just about taking the family to see a movie or letting-off some fireworks but there is far more to it than that. Eid is a time of celebration and sharing the good things that we have earned.
We all spend most of our lives earning a living and are often too busy to appreciate how fortunate we are; how much we really have. So, twice a year Muslim’s take time to reflect on what they have during the fast in the month of Ramadhan and the Hajj rituals. These are times when they deny themselves luxuries and comfort and dedicate themselves to prayer. After that come the celebrations when everyone gets new clothes, gives in charity and eats their fill.
I want to invite anyone reading this to join us in the Eid party. Put on some new clothes and greet your friends, family and neighbours. Give a little of what you have to your favourite charity and have a good time. Repair the relationships that the year has strained in a festival of grateful sharing.
Well now you know what Eid is about, what are you waiting for? Greet the world with “Eid Mubarak”.
Sharing Eid! -Sikh Times for Birmingham Council of Faiths
Muslims do not have a formal arrangement for communal eating, although it is considered to be an important aspect of religious practice, like the admirable institution of the langar but during the month of Ramadhan there is an emphasis on inviting people to share the daily breaking of the fast in homes, Mosques and restaurants. These gatherings are often inappropriately described as feasts which obscures both their simplicity and their purpose of ensuring that no one remains hungry or lonely after fasting all day. The austerities of fasting and the pleasure of sharing meals culminate with the day of Eid which is a time for celebration and distributing a portion the good things that we have earned. The head of each household must provide the means to feed one poor person for each family member or guest under his roof on the night before Eid.
We all spend most of our lives earning a living and are often too busy to appreciate how fortunate we are; how much we really have. Twice a year Muslims take time to reflect on this: during the fast in the month of Ramadan, and then two months later in the pilgrimage season. These are times when they deny themselves luxuries and comfort, dedicating themselves to prayer.
People around us will always do something that we disagree with or find strange but there are special times when differences are a lot less important than what we can share. Times to put on new clothes, greet friends, family and neighbours. Times to give a little of what has been saved to a favourite charity and have a good time. These are celebrations of repairing relationships that the year has strained and building new links in festivals of grateful sharing.
However, giving and sharing are not limited just to the Eids or specific months or those close to us. While Muslims own the wealth produced by their labour they are given many reminders that this ownership is temporary and that the real owner of all things is God. Thus, while free to spend as they please there is a moral pressure to give more than the obligatory payments of zakat and khums. Men and women must act as agents in the process of distributing the sustenance that God has provided for all mankind. Every day must contain elements of fasting, restraint from over indulgence and, to be true to the commands of the Qur’an, the needs of neighbours and strangers must not be neglected. This means that Muslims should not be content to say that anyone is welcome to join our celebrations but look beyond the walls of their houses and Mosques. Therefore, I invite readers of this brief article to share the happiness of our Eids, grasp the hand of friendship and mutual understanding offered to all during Islamic Awareness Week each November and also thank all those brothers and sisters who pray for mankind.
The Hajj.-Birmingham Post
There is something so special about the Muslims who perform the pilgrimage to Mecca; the Hajj. Discarding all signs of wealth and status and clothed only in two simple pieces of white cloth they walk in the footsteps of innumerable pilgrims who like them follow traditions that, it is believed, date back to Abrahamic times. Stripped of all the things that encourage men to think that they are better than others they circle the Kabah, run backwards and forwards between two hills, throw stones at pillars of rock and sleep beneath the stars. Simple acts, made difficult by the heat of the day, the cold of the night and the millions of fellow pilgrims. Yet this simplicity hides a profound message and experience for those who undertake this journey, that man at his lowest, at his most unimportant, tired, thirsty and so weary that it is a struggle to walk, is still so valuable, so important that he or she is invited to the presence of God. From that faceless sea of white clad figures each one stands forward as an individual remembering that God knows them.
When we push and struggle on our way to work; forget the needs of family, friends, neighbours and strangers; carelessly reveal secrets or trade honour for personal advancement, we should all look to what the Hajj teaches. Although, only Muslims may perform it can speak to the hearts of everyone and remind us of our true worth.
Why Muslims live life within the bounds of nature for the love of God;- Birmingham Post Nov 2006
ISLAM AWARENESS WEEK (www.iaw.org.uk/ ) In today's article in our special series marking Islamic Awareness Week, Shaykh Muhammad Amin Evans considers man's impact upon his environment and fellow human beings.-
Everything we do causes a reaction in the world around us and as a Muslim I have a duty to minimize the negative effects and maximise the positive effects of my actions. A healthy society, that lives in peace with itself and its neighbours, is an Islamic ideal and much of the spread of Islam in the Middle and Far East was due to trading contacts with Muslims working to principles that were established in the first Muslim community of Medina during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad: trading standards, anti-inflationary measures, property ownership, free enterprise and ecological responsibility. People knew what their money would buy, that the money in their purses was to be worth the same tomorrow and that their homes were theirs for life.
The ban on usury was not simply a moral gesture but a measure to ensure confidence in the economic sustainability of Medina, reduce disputes and avoid the destabilisation that inflation guarantees. The effects of inflation are well known, price rises and claims for increased wages teeter on the edge of a whirlwind spiral that can destroy societies overnight. It is specifically mentioned in the Quran that profit from trade is permitted while usury, profit without the creation of real wealth, is prohibited. Reliable currency and regulations to standardize weights and measures became the secure footing for a society that relished trade and esteemed enterprise.
Of course, the society of which I write was medieval and did not face the complexities of global trading or environmental damage. But, just as Islam believes people may earn and spend wealth as they please within moderating guide lines, so too the environment may be used and enjoyed. There is a clear parallel between the way wealth is protected in Islam and the way the environment should be sustained.
Far from being 'either-or' choices I suggest the spiritual, social, economic and ecological well-being of our environment are inextricably linked and inter-dependant realities dealt with from the very beginning of Islamic governance.
Birmingham has a tradition of religion and business working together to improve social and ecological problems. After the fever epidemics of the 19th Century, Methodist preacher Dr Dale was at the forefront of a campaign for clean drinking water and adequate sewerage disposal. Business donations paid for a significant proportion of these works. Perhaps instead of just seeing themselves as the owners or shareholders of big businesses, they realized they were stakeholders in society. Such a mixture of roles may cause difficulties and not always be comfortable - but we share one world.
In Islam, the rights and duties we bear towards one another are not left ill-defined. Certain duties are given greater importance: the duty to worship God, the duty of a child to the parent, the duty of parents to children, the duty to give charitably, and the duty of the individual to society. It is in fulfilling these duties that Muslims are becoming involved with environmental issues, to restore our usage of natural resources to a sustainable rate which are quite moderate, balanced and very Islamic ambitions.
When Muslims speak of Sha’riah they are most often talking about living life within the bounds of nature for the love of God. In its entirety, it is conceptually a way of living like Dharma or Tao but we don't seem to have an English word for it, even though we need one.