Muslim Holidays Earn Growing Recognition in U.S.

Washington -- The county council of Howard County, Maryland -- a suburb of Washington and Baltimore -- made headlines recently when it passed legislation prohibiting the scheduling of public hearings on the two Eid holidays, the most holy days in Islam.

Although Howard County's action is unusual, it does reflect a growing trend toward official recognition of Muslim holidays in the United States, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which informally tracks such developments.

Especially since the attacks of September 11, 2001, "more and more Muslims are working to get their communities integrated into U.S. society and have made efforts to get their religious holidays recognized and accommodated at school and in the workplace," says Rabiah Ahmed, communications coordinator in CAIR's national office in Washington.

Even before 9/11, public school systems in the states of Michigan and New Jersey with large Muslim populations declared school holidays on Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan; and Eid ul-Adha, which celebrates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael.

The Dearborn, Michigan, public school system and colleges such as Syracuse University in New York, offer Halal meals prepared according to Islamic standards in their cafeterias. At Syracuse, Eid ul-Fitr is also an official holiday for students and faculty.

The White House, the Department of State and the Department of Defense host annual Iftar dinners to break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan. A CAIR-sponsored Iftar on Capitol Hill this year attracted about 10 Congressional co-sponsors and several hundred attendees, including diplomats, members of Congress, and other government officials. In California, five state legislators co-sponsored what was billed as the first annual Ramadan Iftar at the State Capitol in Sacramento.

The Howard County, Maryland, law resulted from the inadvertent scheduling of an important planning board hearing on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Councilman Ken Ulman, who is Jewish, introduced a bill to officially prohibit scheduling of hearings on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the two holiest days for Jews.

"While I was putting together the bill, I thought it was appropriate to reach out to the Howard County Muslim community and ask if there were one or two days so holy that people would not be able to participate in public hearings scheduled for those days," Ulman says. Based on the response he received, "I thought it was an important gesture to include Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha in the bill."

After the legislation was passed, Ulman says, he received more than 100 e-mails from all over the world welcoming his action as a sign of respect and acceptance. "I've gotten responses from both Jews and Muslims who felt that with all the issues in the Middle East this was a nice symbolic gesture to have two Jewish holidays and two Muslim holidays included in the same piece of legislation," he says.

Celena Khatib, director of the Michigan office of CAIR, says she has seen an increased effort by both Muslims and non-Muslims to achieve a better mutual understanding in recent years.

"I have seen an increase in people requesting diversity training, people requesting speakers on Islam, and I get calls all the time from human resources officials who want information so they accommodate their employees' needs," she says. "I think the Muslim community realized after 9/11 that we need to be more open for people to get to know us, so we've also become more proactive."

Ulman credits the Muslim community in his county for recognizing the importance of making contact with elected officials. "Had I not gotten to know the Muslim leadership, I might not have reached out or not have known whom to reach," he says.

"This country was founded upon the strength of its diversity, although it has taken us a long time to view certain groups' diversity as a strength," Ulman adds. "It's all about education, exploring our differences, and breaking down the barriers."

By all means let's celebrate the religion of peace:

Rafsanjani says Muslims should use Nukes on Israel [from 2001]
IPS ^ | 12/14/01 | IPS

Posted on 12/04/2004 4:44:13 PM PST by freedom44

TEHRAN 14 Dec. (IPS) One of Iran’s most influential ruling cleric called Friday on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only".

"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.

Analysts said not only Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s speech was the strongest against Israel, but also this is the first time that a prominent leader of the Islamic Republic openly suggests the use of nuclear weapon against the Jewish State.

"It seems that Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani is forgetting that due to the present intertwinement of Israel and Palestine, the destruction of the Jewish State would also means the mass killing of Palestinian population as well", observed one Iranian commentator.

While Israel is believed to possess between 100 to 200 nuclear war heads, the Islamic Republic and Iraq are known to be working hard to produce their own atomic weapons with help from Russia and North Korea, Pakistan, also a Muslim state, has already a certain number of nuclear bomb.

In a lengthy speech to mark the so-called "International Qods (Jerusalem) Day" celebrated in Iran only, Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who, as the Chairman of the Assembly to Discern the Interests of the State, is the Islamic Republic’s number two man after Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, said since Israel was an emanation of Western colonialism therefore "in future it will be the interests of colonialism that will determine existence or non-existence of Israel".

Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani made the unprecedented threat as, following new suicide operations inside Israel and against Israeli settlements by Palestinian extremists in PA-controlled zones, responded by Israel’s heaviest bombarding of Palestinian cities, police, communication and radio-television installations, killing and wounding more than 200 people on both sides, resulted in the halting of all contacts between Israel and the PA of Mr. Yaser Arafat.

He said since Israel is the product of Western colonialism, "the continued existence of Israel depends on interests of arrogance and colonialism and as long as the base is helpful for colonialism, it is going to keep it.

Hashemi-Rafsanjani advised Western states not to pin their hopes on Israel's violence because it will be "very dangerous".

"We are not willing to see security in the world is harmed", he said, warning against the "eruption of the Third World War.

"War of the pious and martyrdom seeking forces against peaks of colonialism will be highly dangerous and might fan flames of the World War III", the former Iranian president said, backing firmly suicide operations against Israel.

Quoted by the official news agency IRNA, Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani said weakening of Palestinian Jihad is "unlikely", as the Palestinians have come to the conclusion that talks would be effective only "in light of struggle and self-sacrifice- the two key elements that gave way to beginning of the second Intifada". Iranian analysts and commentators outside Iran immediately reacted to Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s statement, expressing fear that it might trigger an international backlash against Iran itself, giving Israel, the United States and other Western and even Arab nations to further isolate Iran as a source of threat to regional security. "Jews shall expect to be once again scattered and wandering around the globe the day when this appendix is extracted from the region and the Muslim world", Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani warned, blaming on the United States and Britain the "creation of the fabricated entity" in the heart of Arab and Muslim world.

"The man who considers himself as the most able politician in the Islamic Republic utters such nonsense and empty threats at a very time that the hard line and extremist government of Israel under Mr. Ariel Sharon is looking for justification of its repressive policy against Palestinians", said Mr. Ahmad Salamatian, a veteran political analyst based in Paris.

"At a time that the right wing Israeli government is claiming that the very existence of Israel and the Jews are threatened and uses this pretext as an instrument to advance its policy of repression in Palestine, such statements and ushering such dangerous menaces by one of Iran’s top officials is nothing but bringing water to Israel’s propaganda mill, providing it with more justifications explaining its present maximalist policy", he told the Persian service of Radio France Internationale.

Though Mr. Salamatian is of the opinion that Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s words are part of both his own show and the ongoing internal tensions between conservatives and reformers, however, he also agrees with other Iranian analysts that his "untimely" menace could backfire, becoming a justification for threats against Iran, at a time that the United States and its allies are determined to continue the fight against international terrorism.

"One of Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s main characteristics in Iranian politics during the past twenty years is that in order to preserve his own position, he is ready to set fire to all the Caesareas for one handkerchief, including, in the present case, providing Israel with enough pretext to attack Iran", he noted, adding: "for the time being and what is important for Mr. Sharon is that this kind of statements are open invitation for more violence, an encouragement to extremists on either side of the Israel-Palestine conflict".

Observing that despite the fact that Israel is believed to have more than one hundred atomic warheads and the necessary technology to transport them to the very heart of Iran and elsewhere, but no Israeli official nor any newspaper have ever raised the slightest possibility of an atomic threat, "even in defence of their very existence", Mr. Salamatian wondered the reasons behind Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s declaration, which he said should be taken seriously "considering the rank of the man who pronounced it".

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