Not much to report today folks.
For suhoor it was the usual pick'n'mix of left overs blended into a smoothie of green colouring, and washed down with tankfuls of water. Yummy.
Iftar was also a gigantic wrap of sandwiches rolled into a toasted giant and digested with lemonade, tea and milk. Don't you feel Ramadan's being wasted a wee bit? I'm alarmed but not surprised at the suddenness of Ramadan's arrival, movement and near departure. Day 15 came and went already; that quick. Subhan'Allah.
Eidmas is near, therefore all the commercial work that's marketed with it is pumping up the shops and internet. I call it Eidmas as an interfaith pun; a silly play on words indeed, however, a fabulously iconic event for sharing with others. I once met a woman in Asda who saw me hold a packet of marshmallows and asked 'Isn't marshmallow bad for Muslims?' - she meant wasn't the mallow haraam. Lucky for me (thank you Asda, brought to you by Walmart Chain from the US) the mallow packet had a convenient 'halal' label on it. I explained what that meant: Like Kosher for Jews, and we went on to discuss festivals and fasting and Eidmas. I made a friend, hurray.
I have batches of Eidmas cards made in towers and more to be sold and posted out soon insha'Allah. I'm looking forward this year to sending 'English Iftar Packs' © to friends and family in Canada, India, Indonesia and America. WARNING: I'm going to insert my (only) complaint here today in saying that I do NOT, I do NOT receive a single Eidmas card from the 'friends' I have. That includes high school comrades, the neighbourhood community, penpals and general contacts. How pitiful! Ah well, insha'Allah, give love, not expect it - or something reluctant along those lines.
I've blogged about some Eid cards I made too on my Spreading Light blog (it's having another facelift). The simple Eid card design is here: 
(click for a closer look)Does it look balanced? Would you buy it? It's too simple isn't it? Yeah... If you are interested in buying it email me. I'll have some up on ebay soon insha'Allah and make it a regular thing. Certain people, quite stern and scary looking, like to inform me that Eidmas cards are an assimilation of Christmas/birthday cards and therefore 'haraam'... and hellish... and evil. -gives up- Allah knows best as always...
So, all the prayers were read on time, I managed to read a few more pages of Quran. A brother boastfully told me he had finished reading the whole Quran once and was on the second round of 16th 'juz (volume) to complete for the 27th fast (which is a holy night - I'll get to that later). I was really pleased, masha'Allah, he read that fast! Islamically, as a humble characteristic, there's no real benefit from boasting about how much or how fast or how well we read as Muslims, is there? Not to criticise the young brother; when I did suggest he read not-so-fast and try to memorise some chapters or translate them too, he felt attacked. I did not intend this at all. He then went onto slowly and curiously ask how much I had read. We compared, he won. Boys. Everything is a competition.
Another thing that's come to me like a revelation: The former Guantanamo guard Terry Holdbrooks also called Mustafa I mentioned in almost every single entry, was detained again in America upon arrival from the UK. The FBI gripped him, told him he was a National USA Threat to Security, as I like to abbreviate NUTS! And they seized most of his possessions, letters, and other terribly evil items. Now I know the FBI are reading so I'm going to phrase this very carefully: Can I have the Eidmas card back please that I sent to brother Mustafa? That wasn't for you, thieves! Great, now I'm affiliated with another "terrorist threat". This is no joke, we're all plotting murderous Muslims according to the authorities, didn't you know? And I was just told about this two days ago! ARGH!
Tell me? Are we as Muslims a real threat to our countries and communities? How?! The whole concept behind sites such as Muslimness and Muslims in England is to declare, honestly, we don't. Yet why oh why is there a darker tension between the 'Muslim looking paradise loving Arabs' and the rest of the world? I get called 'Arab' a lot, as though that were a bad thing. When you're fasting, you can't swear as much back to those who insult you. Or hit! You must as a Muslim show stylised etiquette, be firm but curt with your words to get the message across. Some people and governments will refuse to discuss this though. But, -sigh- that's people for you I suppose.
Later on in the afternoon I got talking with some sisters about wearing the hijab for the first and a goof friend-writer from Egypt posted a discussion piece about that on our very own site Muslimness.
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