: Bombings Bring Ramadan To A Somber End

The last ten days of Ramadan are the most special of this holy month, where Muslims are called upon to reflect deeply in prayers lasting through the night. One of these evenings is known as the “Night of Power,” when Allah is said to be most receptive to the prayers of his believers. And while warfare during Ramadan isn’t prohibited, the restraint practiced during the month is supposed to direct that fight inward, towards one’s faults and impulses and away from fighting. “In the theology, what is called for is seclusion, not machoism and acts of war,” says Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, an expert in Islamic law at Yale. But a series of bombings in Turkey and Iraq – targeting Americans, British, and Jews but claiming mainly Muslim lives – have brought a somber mood to the end of the holy month. “Muslims are connected with Iraq and the world,” said Imam Rafiq Mahdi, leader of Masjid al-Iman in Fort Lauderdale. “And this Ramadan, a lot of people in Iraq have seen loved ones killed. And our soldiers there don’t know who their friends are.” But following the bombings in Turkey which claimed over 50 lives, some fear that a “Ramadan offensive” from jihadist groups might become a new tradition. “Religious sentiments are most intense during that last 10 days,” comments Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University, “and when someone wants to exploit it, that is the best time to do it.” But warnings of possible attacks in the US – following calls by militant groups for US Muslims to vacate major US cities – didn’t materialize. In the wake of bombings that shattered the Ramadan peace in Turkey, Turkish Muslims held “peace protests” in the streets, and imams plan to use the upcoming Eid-al-Fitr holiday on Tuesday to renew condemnations of terror. “Terror, violence and anarchy have no connection whatsoever with Islam,” reads a khutba (sermon) that will be read throughout Turkey on Tuesday. “Our religion clearly outlaws any kind of anarchy, sedition, enmity, cruelty, torture, terror or violence.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.