Obama: Ramadan Message

Muslims, Obama has a message for you.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Friday cast U.S. military efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of his drive to forge a new relationship between America and the Muslim world. Relations with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims soured after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. In a video message to Muslims getting ready for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Obama said U.S. efforts to end the war in Iraq and to isolate extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan are in keeping with America's responsibility to build a more peaceful and secure world. He said that also includes U.S. support for a two-state solution recognizing the rights of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. "All of these efforts are part of America's commitment to engage Muslims and Muslim-majority nations on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect," Obama said in the message posted on the White House Web site. "And at this time of renewal, I want to reiterate my commitment to a new beginning between America and Muslims around the world." ...Obama said Ramadan's rituals are a reminder of the principles Muslims and Christians have in common, including advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. Obama has made a special effort since taking office to repair U.S. relations with the world's Muslims, including visits to Turkey and Cairo. Obama's visit to the Egyptian capital in June fulfilled his promise to deliver a speech in a major Muslim city. In that speech, as well as in one to another important Muslim audience, in Turkey, Obama said: "America is not - and never will be - at war with Islam."

For some Muslims, observing Ramadan isn't all about "advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." Some exhibit a hefty dose of intolerance on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day was the brainchild of Ayatollah Khomeini. In August of 1979, he declared:

For many years, I have been notifying the Muslims of the danger posed by the usurper Israel which today has intensified its savage attacks against the Palestinian brothers and sisters, and which, in the south of Lebanon in particular, is continually bombing Palestinian homes in the hope of crushing the Palestinian struggle. I ask all the Muslims of the world and the Muslim governments to join together to sever the hand of this usurper and its supporters. I call on all the Muslims of the world to select as Quds Day the last Friday in the holy month of Ramadan - which is itself a determining period and can also be the determiner of the Palestinian people’s fate - and through a ceremony demonstrating the solidarity of Muslims world-wide, announce their support for the legitimate rights of the Muslim people. I ask God Almighty for the victory of the Muslims over the infidels. Imam’s message announcing Quds Day, dated 7 August 1979 (16 Murdad 1358 AHS). Sahifa-yi Nur, Vol. 8, p. 229.

An excerpt from another message from Khomeini:

Quds Day is the day of Islam; it is the day when Islam should be revived, so let us revive it and implement Islamic laws in the Islamic countries. Quds Day is the day when we must warn all the superpowers that they can no longer keep Islam under their control by means of their evil agents. Quds Day is the day to give life to Islam. The Muslims must awaken, they must come to realise the power they have, the material power and the spiritual. What are the Muslims, who form a population of one billion, enjoy divine support and have Islam and their faith behind them, afraid of? . . . The governments in the world should know that Islam will not be defeated, Islam and the teachings of the Qur’an should prevail in all countries. Religion should be the religion of God and Islam is the religion of God so it should advance on all regions of the world. Quds Day is the day to announce such a matter, the day to announce ‘Muslims, advance!’ Advance on all the regions of the world. Quds Day is not confined to (matters pertaining to) Palestine alone, it is the day of Islam, the day of Islamic government, the day when the flag of an Islamic Republic should be raised in all (Islamic) countries, the day when the superpowers should be made to realise that they can no longer advance on the Islamic countries. I see Quds Day as a day of Islam and a day of the Most Noble Messenger (peace be upon him and his descendants). It is the day when we must prepare all our forces and bring the Muslims out of the seclusion they (the foreign powers and their agents) forced them into, so that with all their might and main they can stand up to the foreigners. And with all our strength we are standing against the foreigners and will not allow anyone else to interfere in our country’s affairs. The Muslims should not allow anyone else to interfere in the affairs of their country. On Quds Day, the nations should caution those governments which are traitors. Quds Day is the day when we shall discover which individuals and which regimes approve of the conspiracies of international groups and oppose Islam. Those who do not participate they oppose Islam and are in agreement with Israel, and those who participate they are committed, and in agreement with Islam opposing the enemies of Islam at the head America and Israel. It is a day when truth will be distinguished from falsehood, the day when truth and falsehood will be distinct. I beseech God the Blessed and Exalted to grant victory to Islam over all sections of the population in the world and to the oppressed over all the oppressors. And I beseech God the Blessed and Exalted to deliver our brothers in Palestine, in Lebanon and in southern Lebanon, indeed anywhere in the world they may be, from the hands of the oppressors and plunderers. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of God and the Imams of the Muslims Imam’s message dated 16 August 1979 (25 Murdad 1358 AHS). Sahifa-yi Nur, Vol. 8, pp. 233-234.

Unfortunately, some Muslims observe Ramadan, the holy month, with acts of violence. For example, from the New York Times:

A horrific explosion on Saturday morning in the huge Sadr City district here killed at least 35 people, mostly women and children, when a bomb detonated next to a line of women waiting to receive cooking fuel from a tanker truck, according to residents and officials at nearby hospitals. Many of the victims were burned to death. Two dozen of the dead were women or girls, as were 26 of the 36 wounded, the hospital officials said. The blast struck at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, in which more attacks were expected, given what has happened in past years, according to American and Iraqi officials.

From BBC News:

Tens of thousands of Iranians took part in the rally in Tehran which Iran organises every year on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan to show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Shouting "Death to Israel, death to the Zionists", the protesters dragged Israeli flags along the ground and then set them on fire. Many carried posters and placards sporting the slogan "Israel should be wiped off the map".

From the National Post:

More than one billion Muslims mark the start of Ramadan today -- their holiest month of the year, devoted to prayer, fasting and charity. But for a small minority, it is also regarded as an auspicious time to escalate violence in the name of jihad. As a result, experts expect a surge in terrorism attacks during Ramadan, when most Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset in a spiritual exercise that teaches discipline, self-restraint and generosity. This week, in the run-up to Ramadan, hundreds of Muslims were murdered in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Yemen and Somalia. Seven massive car bombs exploded in Iraq on Wednesday, killing 96 people and injuring 536; yesterday four suicide bombers attacked police posts in Chechnya, just days after a bomb outside a police station in neighbouring Ingushetia killed 25 people and injured 160. Fierce fighting also exploded in Somalia yesterday, killing 22 people, as Islamist rebels launched a Ramadan offensive against African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu. "The month of Ramadan has a special status as the month of religious spirituality and devotion. However, in Muslim tradition it is also perceived as a month of jihad, a month in which Allah grants military victories to his believers," says a report by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute.

I don't understand people who observe a holy month by killing.