Recently in Ramadan Category

With Eid-ul-Fitr -- the three-day holiday signifying the end of Ramadan -- approaching soon, many Muslims are getting ready to send Eid greeting cards to their friends and family. And what better way to send them than with the official Eid stamp issued by the US Postal Service (USPS) adorning the corner of the envelope? The stamp, which has been in circulation since 2001, was reissued last week at the new $0.41 rate, just in time for the Eid holidays (the other Eid being Eid-ul-Adha, which occurs later this year and commemorates the hajj).

For those who aren't familiar with the history of this stamp, it is an intriguing one. It all started ten years ago, when Cincinnati housewife Aminah Assilmi started a campaign to have the stamp issued, after a friend's son saw a Hanukkah stamp and asked what the Muslim equivalent looked like.

For the next several years, Muslim children and women's groups sent thousands of postcards and drawings to the USPS in an effort to push the stamp forward. After all, each year the USPS receives 50,000 stamp recommendations, of which only 30-40 become stamps. For years, the campaign seemed like an uphill struggle.

One of the best things about Ramadan in America is that it is still under-the-radar. After all, it doesn't take long for entrepreneurs to realize the commercial potential around religious holidays, as the "holiday season" can attest to. And even as Ramadan's visibility increases, it would seem odd that a religious holiday centered around self-restraint and denial of impulse could be seen as an opportunity to promote consumerism.

But in some parts of the Muslim world, that's exactly what is happening. There are indeed aspects of Ramadan that involve consumption--gifts for children at the end of the month, dressing up for the Eid holiday in your finest clothes, and of course going out for dinner during the month--and which open the door for enterprising business to move it. Hence advertising like this Ramadan greetings ad from Burger King, which implies that you should be breaking your fast with a Whopper.

Unlike Christian or Jewish holidays, there isn't a universally accepted method to be exactly sure which day Ramadan begin. In fact, there is significant debate among Muslims in America about whether calculations or visual confirmation should be used to determine the exact date of Islamic holidays.

One school of thought on the issue follows the dictates of scientific calculations, which tell us that the new crescent moon should be visible tonight, signifying that tomorrow will be the first day of Ramadan. Others feel that an actual sighting of the moon is required to confirm the date, regardless of whether or not calculations predict it will be there. This group of people could start Ramadan tomorrow or the day afterwards.

As I previously mentioned, I am an unapologetic geek, so I abide by the calculations method. This, however, does not take away the significance for me of seeing the hilal (crescent moon) that marks the beginning of Ramadan. So tonight, just after sunset, I will look just above and to the left of where the sun set to see with my own eyes what my heart (and computer) already know to be true: Ramadan has arrived, and fasting begins tomorrow.