Anne of Carversville Learns to Celebrate Ramadan
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 9:44AM Tonight the First Couple will host a Ramandan celebration at the White House. No word yet, on the menu. While this is not the first Ramadan dinner at the White House, it comes at a time of increased dialogue between America and the Muslim world.
Unintentionally, I have also entered this discussion, via my support of Lubna Ahmed Hussein, who will return to court in Sudan on Sept, 7, 2009.
Officers of Malaysia's Islamic authority use a telescope to perform "rukyah", the sighting of the new moon of Ramadan, in Teluk Kemang, south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 20, 2009. Muslims scan the sky at dusk in the beginning of the lunar calendar's ninth month in search of the new moon to proclaim the start of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month during which observant believers fast from dawn to dusk. (REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad) Reflecting on burqas and international women's rights has thrust me into a wide-ranging discussion on the relationship of religion and politics; religion and women's rights; and global politics.
In a world of folks who mostly seek black and white solutions for how we live our lives, I'm mired in 'grey matter', when the fundamental elements of any religion collide in oppostition to each other.
Just this morning I read an excellent article, on The Jakarta Post: Pluralism, Indonesia's historic strength. I commented that this is one of the first essays I've read in which the importance of pluralism in Islam is even mentioned, let alone being emphasized.
Islam in Women's Rights