Happy New Year everyone!  In case you think I am a bit belated with my congratulations - it’s the Islamic New Year today wipppeeeeeeeeee.  Time to calculate your zakat (if you pay zakat on 1 Muharram).

Eid falling so close to Christmas has been strange this year. This year’s celebratory season is also the first that my four year-old daughter has really got i.e. there are presents to be had.  This means, it’s the beginning of the Eid versus Christmas competition.  I need strategies peoples!!!

It started with my mum ringing up and asking whether we minded if she cooked roast pork and served ham at the Christmas lunch we are expected to attend.  *Sigh*.  It’s bad enough she talks to Yasmin about Santa, which I try and offset by getting home and saying “darling, you know Santa isn’t really real, Grandma just likes to pretend it’s real.

This is the perenial problem for Muslim converts I think.  At least because my parents are Baha’i I don’t have the alcohol worry. I’m okay with visiting family and exchanging presents to demonstrate filial love, but sitting down to a table with a big ‘ole roast hunk of swine in the middle is just too much. 

At first I tried saying “mum do you mind if I bring something for us to eat” but we’ve compromised and I’ve bought a leg of lamb and two chickens from the halal butcher for her to cook instead of the pork, and I won’t groan too much when she talks about Santa on the actual day.

(And for non-Muslims reading this, I’m allowed to complain as my parents - being Baha’is - aren’t even supposed to celebrate Christmas!!!)

I’m not too fussed if others want to celebrate Christmas, but I want the two Eids to be the special festivals for my daughter — so I have decided I have to make them special. No point grumbling about all the Santas, tinsel and Carols on the telly, in the shops, and practically everywhere you go, they are here to stay.  So I have to do what I can to make Eid really special for Yaz.

So I bought her favour this year.  A trip to Toys-R-Us saw me trying to capture the essence of my own Christmas mornings.  For someone who rails against materialism, I must confess it did feel like capitulation.  I tried to talk about Prophet Ibrahim and the symbolism of Eid, but at the moment, she just knows “presents”.

Next year I’m going to be well prepared insha’Allah .  I figure if we do some talking about the Eid stories well in advance of the actual Eids, write up recipes and prepare special foods for Eid, send out Eid cards, decorate the house, and most importantly, visit the masjid lots - I might have a running chance against Christmas.

EID MUBARAK!!!  Shaykh Nuh Keller has an Eid message to listen to, and Shaykh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali has an article on Arafat and the calendar issue. I was asked to write a little bit about what this Eid means for a newsletter, so I’ve reproduced it here below:

Just a few days before Christmas marks this year’s Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, the second of two main feasts in the Islamic calendar. Because this calendar is lunar (following the waxing and waning of the moon) each year the Eid falls a little earlier. In 2007 it will fall on the 21st of December. Eid al-Adha occurs during the annual Hajj season—during which millions of Muslims travel to Makkah to pray and perform pilgrimage rituals–and commemorates Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son (peace and blessings be upon them) believing it to be a test from the Almighty. Muslims not going on Hajj will bathe and dress up in beautiful clothes, visit the mosque for special Eid prayers and sermons, and then visit with family and friends. Those who can afford it will offer (or pay for) an animal to be sacrificed (usually a sheep), with the meat being distributed in charity.

The Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims does not specify the name of Abraham’s son, although traditionally most Muslim interpretations of the scripture have placed Ishmael in the role. According to the Qur’an, Abraham had a dream in which he saw himself sacrificing his son, as was a practice amongst the polytheists surrounding him. He discussed his dream with his son, who replied “O my father! Do as you are commanded. You will find me, if God so wills, patient and constant.” Just as Abraham was about to give up his beloved son in obedience, the Almighty spoke to him saying “O Abraham! You have confirmed the vision, thus indeed do We reward those who do right. For this was obviously a trial!” At which point God provided a ram for them to sacrifice instead, to commemorate their willingness to surrender everything in faithfulness and obedience.

Australia’s in a bit of a pickle with this Eid.  We’re celebrating three different dates LOL.  For those who follow the Saudi pronouncement, Eid was today. For those who follow astronomical calculation, Eid is tomorrow.  For those of us who are moonsighters, Eid is on Friday.

Eid Mubarak, which ever method you follow.

P.S. If you’re following Eid as per moonsighting, the following Victorian masjids are praying:

Ararat Islamic Centre 21/12/07 Friday 08:00am
Dandenong 21/12/07 Fri 7:30am
Fawkner Masjid 21/12/07 Friday 07:30am
Horsham Musalla 21/12/07 Friday 7:30 am
Huntingdale Masjid 21/12/07 Friday 08.00 am

(Hijab flutter to Aussie Muslims)

They’re a pretty cool bunch of Muslims, and over Ramadan lots of different members of the community made little short YouTube reflections.

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