ramadan kareem! just for fun, here’s a list of some of the things i’ll be using this ramadan insha’Allah:
- quran android – free, open source quran android application.
- haramainrecordings – latest mp3s for salah at the haramain (including taraweeh!) these guys are awesome masha’Allah!
- guidance for mac – know what time salah is with this useful tool on osx.
i want to remind myself and you guys to keep the ummah in our prayers, especially since many people are undergoing difficulties, war, tyranny, and so on…
salam 3alaikum -
first off, belated ramadan mubarak. i wanted to take a moment to write a bit about ramadan here in egypt.
the first note is that about the ambiance and overall mood – apartment buildings, masajid, and streets are all decorated for ramadan. cans of pepsi contain “ramadan mubarak” messages.
for those in the us, think of the overall ambiance around christmas time – it’s the same here during ramadan. in addition, you hear Quran almost everywhere you go – taxis and busses (which usually are either playing quran or music) are mostly playing Quran. the masajid are a lot more full. you’ll see people on trains reading Quran to pass time.
there is a lot of khair going on – “ma2idat ramadan,” or “ramadan tables,” provide food for the needy and the traveling during ramadan. the “shantet ramadan” (ramadan bag) project prepares a bag filled with rice and other necessary food items to feed a family and gives them to the needy.
many have told me that at iftar time, people walk around busy intersections and give food, dates, and water to those in their cars.
most masajid have taraweeh. friends have told me that some masajid have tahajjud from day 1.
anyhow – that’s it for now, insha’Allah will perhaps write more later.
walsalam 3alaikum.
so much stuff about these calculations — yesterday, mansoor posted a link to what sheikh 7amza yusuf had to say about the fiqh council decision. today, sas sent me a link to dr. zulfiqar ali shah’s 60+ (!) page paper supporting the calculation theory. in sas’s words, and i quote:
“ok basically i saw the video and was very upset since he broght nothing from the quran and sunnah and went against what i thought were clear texts… its AMAZING how much proof they brought like fiqhi and responses and clarifications – its out of this world… the arguments are so amazing dude – this is islamic scholarship (contempoary) at its finest man..”
when i came to post this, i saw OK’s comments on the previous posts, where he points to some links that critique the paper. mind you, i didn’t read any of those links really… but regardless, at the end of the day, as the introduction to “3asr al-a2imah” used to say:
“علي الأصول اتفقوا و كانت حكمه… و في الفروع إختلفوا و كانت رحمه”
which means, “with regards to the usool, the fundamentals or principles, they (the 4 imams) agreed, and this was a wisdom… and with regards to the branches, they differed, and this was a source of mercy…”
ramadan kareem to all! i am so glad that the moon was actually seen in some places, otherwise i was going to have a hard time deciding whether to fast on saturday with the masjid or on sunday… this, of course, didn’t stop some people from deciding to fast sunday anyway 
by the way, mansoor pointed me to this video on the isna page where dr. muzammil siddiqi talks about the reason for the fiqh council’s decision. good watch.
our masjid here announced the dates for ramadan and 3eid being this saturday (9/23) and monday (10/23) respectively. this is based on the fiqh council of north america‘s decision to use calculation to determine the dates for ramadan and 3eid.
something about this struck me as odd, determining the dates of both ramadan and 3eid this far in advance. i used to think that basing the moonsighting off of calculations was a good thing, until i found out that calculations could be wrong. i found this out when i read sheikh isam’s excellent answer to this question on islamicnetwork (link courtesy of OK, jazahAllah khair).
in my personal and non-scholarly opinion, i would figure that since the world is so small today and news can travel from one part of the world to another within seconds, that if any trustworthy people say they saw the moon, then we should all fast, and if no one sees it, then we should wait. but of course there is difference of opinion on all of this, and its from the mercy of Allah on us, and of course as always, Allah knows best.
insha’Allah we’re starting our fasting tomorrow (10/15). more updates later…
