Eid il-Fitr, just like the holy month that precedes it, is naturally a religious holiday and celebration. In Islam, there is an entire list of “Eid Etiquette” rules or guidelines to follow and many of those rules have become embedded in the way we celebrate the day. The sunnah (way of the Prophet pbuh) outlines […]

Friday is Eid il-Fitir in Jordan. Eid Mubarak everyone!

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Some people work and become wealthy.
Others do the same and remain poor.
Marriage fills one with energy.
Another, it drains.
Don’t trust ways.
They change.
A means flails about like a donkey’s tail.
So always add the gratitude clause:
‘if God wills’.
Then proceed.
You may be leading a donkey, no, a goat, no, who can tell?
We sit in a dark pit and […]

Why does every thing seem to slow down during Ramadan?
Lunatic drivers seem to be the only people going fast these days, both before and after breakfast. Banks, who with their typical 9 to 3 hours already make it hard for customers to bank, seem to close shop before they even open, with their 9 […]

Since this is my first Ramadan in Jordan since 2000, I thought I’d share a thought or two. First of all, I’ve been having difficulties reconciling with this new environment where religion interacts with culture. West Amman is like an odd sample in the petri dish. Nothing about this place adds up or makes sense. […]

What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious…
Like
That.
- Hafiz
The mosque of this affluent neighborhood is crowded. My father lives here and prays here but is not from here; not of here. His spirit […]

Would you think it odd if Hafiz said,
“I am in love with every church
And mosque
And temple
And any kind of shrine
Because I know it is there
That people say the different names
Of the One God.”
?
Would you tell your friends I was a bit strange
if I admitted I am indeed in love with every mind
And heart and body.
?
O, […]

Emad Hajjaj does, what I personally consider, the best social commentaries on Ramadan in the Arab world, especially in Jordan. They portray Jordanian society in all its aspects. From the workplace environment with the angry boss who hasn’t had a cigarette, to setting new working hours according to who’s fasting and who’s not, to the […]

“There’s hidden sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness.
We are lutes.
No more, no less.
If the soundbox is stuffed full of anything…
no music.
If the brain and belly are burning clean
with fasting, every moment
a new song
comes out
of
the
fire.
- Jelaluddin Rumi (1207 - 1273)

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It seems Ramadan is on Thursday! So, to all the readers of The Black Iris, Ramadan Mubarak to you and your families! May Allah (swt) accept your fasting!
I have a few interesting posts on Ramadan coming out both on this blog and on 7iber, so watch out for them this month!
p.s. easy on the qatayef!
p.p.s […]

poetry is prayer
light dancing inside words
five times a day
I try to write
step by step
I move towards the mihrab
I prepare to recite
what is in my heart
I recite your name
- E. Ethelbert Miller

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First came this. Then came this:
AMMAN (Petra) - Minister of Interior Eid Fayez on Saturday issued a circular banning the sale of liquor in bars, liquor stores, nightclubs and restaurants during the Holy Month of Ramadan. In addition, restaurants and coffee shops will be closed during the day. The minister stressed the need to preserve […]

A few nights ago I was watching the popular Al-Jazeera ‘debate’ show, “The Opposite Direction” (as translated). On the show there was a debate about democracy, specifically with regards to the posed question of whether modern democracies suffered from a stranglehold by leaders/dictators. Bush and Blair were made examples of.
One of the panelists claimed that […]

A professor at Egypt’s Islamic Al-Azhar university on Monday retracted a controversial religious edict which states that a woman can only be left alone with a strange man if she breastfeeds him.
Ezzat Attia, president of the university’s Hadith department which studies traditions based on the Prophet Mohammed’s words and deeds, withdrew his fatwa and apologised […]

So get this. In 628 C.E the Prophet (pbuh) sent a letter to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt.Sinai. This is what he wrote:
“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my […]

Christian evangelist and “Moral Majority” leader Jerry Falwell died yesterday. Falwell, was part of the popular anti-Islam band alongside buddies Robertson and Graham who rose to fame in the post 9/11 era with hits such as “Prophet Mohammad Was A Terrorist” and the radio-friendly “Islam is E.V.I.L.”. The music these three made together helped bring […]