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One fast down, 29 to go! Fasting certainly makes a day crawl past. During a fast, every hour is magnified and elongated. This is why the days are long… but suddenly after Iftar, it seems as though there was no time at all elapsed. During the day, we strive to survive the fast, but after…

Here is the full text of a statement released by the White House from President Obama, commemorating the start of Ramadan. He also notes that he will again host an iftaar at the White House again this year. As Ramadan begins, Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to Muslim communities in…

This is a guest post by Taher Suratwala. This week marks the beginning of Ramadan, a month of fasting. I have been dreading the impending fast full of long, long summer days, the absence of coffee and missed summer lunches. Sitting down to write this has given me some clarity and pause to think about…

Ramadan unfolds! By the Fatimi calendar, today (Sunday) is the first of Ramadan 1432 and the first fast, though by other methods Ramadan begins either tomorrow (Monday) or the day after (Tuesday). I am observing the first fast myself, with four hours left to go, and other muslims are waking up right now and beginning…

What if we simply abolished our entire active duty military? Well, not entirely of course. In a nutshell, we abolish the active duty standing Army and Air Force, fold the JSOC (SEALs and Marines) back into the Navy proper, and combine the Coast Guard and the National Guard into a new entity, Homeland Defense. We…

I found this argument by Munawar Hassan of the political party Jamaat-i-Islami to be unbelievably disgusting and fundamentally blasphemous in the way he invokes the Qur’an to justify blatant misogyny: Here is the most disturbing part of Hassan’s comments: Anchor: The fundamental purpose of the women protection act was (is) to provide women with the…

I was surprised and then pleased to see today’s Google Doodle: It commemorates the Summer Solstice, which is today (June 21 2011). The occasion of the summer solstice was of course important to all those pagans of antiquity, exactly the sort that Christianity and Islam labored so mightily against. The ancients demonstrated their love of…

I am fasting today for the first day of the holy month of Rajab al Asab. Rajab is the month in which the Prophet SAW ascended for a tour of Heaven from the Rock in Jerusalem, called the Night of Ascent (Laylatul Me’raj). It’s also worth noting that the arrival of Rajab is also a…

Courtesy of the White House, complete transcript of President Obama’s speech on the Arab Spring and the Middle East / North Africa (MENA), as prepared for delivery: I want to thank Hillary Clinton, who has traveled so much these last six months that she is approaching a new landmark – one million frequent flyer miles.…

Today, President Obama will deliver a major foreign policy address aimed not just at Americans but also at the Arab world (the Middle East and NOrth Africa, commonly abbreviated MENA). The themes are likely to touch upon the Arab Spring, the implications of Osama bin Laden’s death, and American economic support of Arab democracy, particularly…
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