Ramadan Kareem

So, for the first time, I'm actually out in the Middle East during Ramadan. Shia Muslims begin fasting today, while their Sunni cousins began yesterday (the lag is a result of slightly different methodologies in judging the beginning of the lunar month). I began fasting yesterday with the Sunnis and intend to carry on through to the end of the Shia period, so as to be in equal solidarity with both sects. I'm currently just doing the solids component of the fast between dawn and dusk and am drinking water through the day (I'm ill at the moment and getting dehydrated in this climate didn't seem wise), but may cut out water as well when I'm feeling better.

One of the things I appreciate about Ramadan, like so many aspects of Islamic devotion, is that it provides a connection with the natural world in an age when many of us live in cities and spend almost all of our waking hours indoors chained to a computer. In an age when few of us have time or inclination to study the sky, ever Muslim around the world pays careful attention to the phases of the moon, as the physical sighting of the new moon heralds the start of fasting. In an age when we often sleep in late in our environmentally-sealed houses and stay up late burning trillions of watts of electric light, those observing Ramadan wake up before sun rise for their first meal and know to the minute ever day when the sun sets behind the horizon - the time for iftar, the breaking of the fast. In an age of snack food and instant gratification, it is phenomenal seeing a whole nation choosing not to pass anything through their lips during the hours of daylight.

On Monday, unconnected to Ramadan, there was an eclipse of the sun. Even though it was not visible here in Iraq, all my observant Muslim friends were aware it was happening and made additional prayers at that time, in recognition of the majesty of the created universe. I am usually total ignorant of my geographical orientation, but Muslims must know this in order to be able to pray facing Mecca (in my office it seems that this about a 40 degree angle facing into the left hand corner).

To mark the beginning of Ramadan I emailed everyone in the office and invited them to meet at midday for an interfaith prayer meeting to intercede for the victims of the conflict and pray for peace in Iraq. I was amazed that about 20 people showed up and we had a wonderful time of prayer. I distributed news clippings of recent incidents and invited people to pray about them. By and large Islamic prayer - at least in group settings - is litugical, and therefore I think most of those present were unfamiliar with this model of group intercession, none the less they seemed to get the hang of it. Prayers were a mixture of english and arabic, and one lady began weeping as she called for God's mercy for the children of Iraq.

I started the meeting by reading the famous prayer of St.Francis "Lord make me an instrument of your peace..." and then recalling that Iraq is a holy land of prophets and martyrs, that the Tigris river flowing a few feet away from us (sadly hidden behind concrete blast walls) used to run through the Garden of Eden, and it was along this river that Ibrahim lead his family on the first ever pilgrimage in response to God's call. I received a wonderful email from one of the Iraqis present who wrote: "When you said your prayer at the beginning, I thought of my dearest friend who was assassinated few months ago, and ... and I said this prayer is for him, the words were so moving made me feel so near to GOD."