Postage Stamp Celebrating Muslim Holiday To Be Re-Issued (EID stamp)

usps.com ^ | August 12, 2002

[American Preservative]

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Philatelic News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2002
Stamp Release #02-052

Postage Stamp Celebrating Muslim Holiday To Be Re-Issued

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Postal Service is pleased to announce that the Eid postage stamp will be re-issued on Oct. 10, 2002, at the current First-Class rate of 37 cents.

A 34-cent Eid stamp was first issued on Sept. 1, 2001, at the annual Islamic Society of North America's convention in Des Plaines, Ill. The new version will be available beginning Oct. 10 at Washington, D.C. post offices and at post offices across the country starting the following day.

"This is a proud moment for the Postal Service, the Muslim community, and Americans in general as we re-issue a postage stamp to honor and commemorate two important Islamic celebrations," said Azeezaly S. Jaffer, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications for the Postal Service. "The Eid stamp helps us highlight the business, educational and social contributions of the estimated six to seven million Muslims in this country whose cultural heritage has become an integral part of the fabric of this nation."

The Eid stamp commemorates the two most important festivals-or eids-in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. On these days, Muslims wish each other "Eid mubarak," the phrase featured in Islamic calligraphy on the stamp. "Eid mubarak" translates literally as "blessed festival," and can be paraphrased as "May your religious holiday be blessed." This phrase can be applied to both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

The first day of the Muslim lunar month of Shawwal, Eid al-Fitr signifies "The Feast of Breaking the Fast." This festival marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. As prescribed in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, fasting during Ramadan begins from just before first light until sunset. Eid al-Fitr is observed by offering special alms with prayers, feasting, exchanging gifts and visiting family and friends.

Signifying "The Feast of the Sacrifice," Eid al-Adha occurs approximately two months and ten days after Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Adha comes at the end of the hajj-the annual period of pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca-and commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail. (This is the Muslim account of the Judeo-Christian story of Abraham and Isaac.) Eid al-Adha is celebrated with prayers and social gatherings and traditionally includes the sacrifice of a lamb (or any other animal permitted for food in Islam) as an act of thanksgiving for Allah's mercy. The sacrificial animal is distributed among family, friends and the poor.

This year, Eid al-Adha was celebrated on Feb. 23 and Eid al-Fitr will be celebrated on Dec. 6.

The Eid stamp will join the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stamps which will also be re-issued on Oct. 10. In addition to the stamps, a special commemorative panel will be available for $8.50 each.

The Eid stamp, designed by Mohammed Zakariya of Arlington, Va., features the Arabic phrase "Eid mubarak" in gold calligraphy on a blue background. English text on the stamps reads "EID GREETINGS."

Employing traditional methods and instruments to create this design, Zakariya chose a script known in Arabic as "thuluth" and in Turkish as "sulus." He describes it as "the choice script for a complex composition due to its open proportions and sense of balance." He used homemade black ink, and his pens were crafted from seasoned reeds from the Near East and Japanese bamboo from Hawaii. The paper was specially prepared with a coating of starch and three coats of alum and egg-white varnish, then burnished with an agate stone and aged for more than a year.

Zakariya's black-and-white design was then colorized by computer. The colors chosen for the stamp-gold script on a blue background-are reminiscent of great works of Islamic calligraphy. This stamp was Zakariya's first project for the Postal Service.

The Eid stamp and commemorative panel, and all recently issued stamps and philatelic products, as well as the free USA Philatelic catalog, are available by calling toll free 1 800 STAMP 24. The stamps and a selection of current U.S. stamps and gift items, are also available at the Postal Store at www.usps.com/shop. Images of many current, past and future stamp issues can be found in the Stamp Issues section of the Collector's Corner.

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Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 137 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $65 billion, it is the world's leading provider of postal services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume-some 207 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves 7 million customers each day at its 40,000 retail locations nationwide.

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[Alouette]

"It's a guesstimate," Bagby said about his decision to triple the number.

This is like the claims from the gay crowd that 20% of Americans are homosexual but most of them don't know it yet.

[Illbay]

So they have stamps commemorating Christmas and Easter, and stamps for Passover and Yom Kippur.

But it isn't okay to have a stamp honoring Eid because the ****-faced bigots on FR don't like it.

Sheesh.

[American Preservative]

Passover and Yom Kippur stamps? Really?

[Don Joe]

"So they have stamps commemorating Christmas and Easter, and stamps for Passover and Yom Kippur.

"But it isn't okay to have a stamp honoring Eid because the ****-faced bigots on FR don't like it."

Get back with us when you have news about Ministers, Priests, and Rabbis "inspiring" their congregations to drive airliners into office buildings, Bill.

Onday "oh, gimme a f'n break" Ojay

[American Preservative]

And, btw, the USPS refused to have a stamp made honoring the 100th anniversary of the United States Jewish War Veterans, citing they were a "religious" organization!

[Uncle Miltie]

"****-faced bigots"

I can help you calm down...repeat after me:

Islam is a religion of peace. The Mossad flew the jetliners into the towers.
Islam is a religion of peace. Death to America!
Islam is a religion of peace. Except when we send our children out with bombs on their backs.
Islam is a religion of peace.....etc. ad. infinitum.

Well, you get my drift. A few people are upset, and find invective like "****-faced" a good release. I hope you don't mind.

[American Preservative]

#45 - this was several years ago.

[Don Joe]

"By late Thursday afternoon, the controversy led Hooper to declare flatly that the council believes most non-Muslim scholars are wrong about Islam's size."

Well then I guess there's only one way to get to the bottom of this. We'll have to have the government tally up a list of all muslims (names and addresses) who are currently residing in the USA.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Hoopie.

"This gets irritating after a while."

This is the mother of all f-y statements, coming as it does from a CAIRwhore.

[WyCoKsRepublican]

Does the stamp resemble a jetliner smashing into the twin towers?..........

[SarahW]

Oh, and how lovely of the stamp to make it to my PO on the 11th of ANY month, let alone one month after the anniversary of last year's attacks.

You think they might at least issue it on a date that did not seem particularly chosen to resonate with September 11.
My guess - the distribution date was deliberately chosen as some sort of PC gesture.

C'mon, America, prove you don't hate the towel-heads!!!
(After all, we can't REALLY know who is behind these attacks, certainly it has not been proved that the muslim faith had anything do with 9/11.) Let's prove we can ll get along! /sarcasm.

[SarahW]

Now that you mention it, it does have two "towers" in the middle, collapsing.

[brityank]

Thanks. They got mine:

Your reissuance of the EID stamp is a slap in the face of all Americans who were mortally wounded last September. I suppose it never occurred to your addled brain that the representation of the Twin Towers among the debris and smoke of their destruction is exactly what that God damned stamp shows. The sooner private industry drives the management and executives of the USPO out of business the better for America.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Oh, well. Nobody will buy them -- the USPS raised the price of a first class letter to 37 cents in June.

It's still disgusting.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Duh! I didn't read that too carefully. They are changing the price of the stamp to 37 cents! That is absolutely outrageous. They should withdraw it from the market.

[American Preservative]

I posted a picture of an EID stamp at #7. You can decide for yourself.

[Dialup Llama]

>Now that you mention it, it does have two "towers" in the middle, collapsing.

If you look at the calligraphy, you can see the sylized Twin Towers in the middle represented by two vertical strokes. The swirly strokes to the side represent the debris and smoke of the falling towers.

[Dialup Llama]

[MonroeDNA]

Is the proper response to wipe bacon on the stamp?

i will!

[maxwellp]

Simple solution. If you need to buy a stamp/s and the Post Office hands you one of these, just say "I prefer the stamp with the U.S. Flag on it".

[maxwellp]

I e-mailed the USPO and told them how I felt about this outrage. I told them I would not buy the stamp, that Americans are still recovering from 9/11 and as we approach the first anniversary, it was a really "stick it in America's" face, idiotic thing to do. Thanks for the link.