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Ramadan Mubarak Mezze: “I Am Fasting”Mezze - المزة - a wide selection of small dishes served as appetizers, including such delicacies as hummus, cheese, eggplant, brains, stuffed grape leaves, calamari, and much more
Good Morning Family, Friends, Colleagues, Ramadan Kareem! “I Am Fasting”Earlier this month I was asked - because I am Muslim - if I would speak out at a public hearing against a resolution proposed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives - HR 34 - which stated that ... Sharia law and political Islam represent an existential threat to the state and country and that any deference to Sharia law by a government institution is prohibited. I thought about it for a few minutes (it’s not often that one is confronted by such ignorance) and decided against speaking. First, the resolution as drafted is a barely comprehensible - seemingly AI-generated - racist screed so steeped in bigotry and prejudice as to make my hair curl - I wouldn’t know where to start! Second, as it was a resolution rather than a proposed bill there was no chance it would become law.* Third, I never want to give xenophobes and troglodytes any oxygen. It would be wonderful, this Blessed Month of Ramadan, not to have to even acknowledge the existence of bigots who seemingly live amidst my neighbors, bigots for whom, as Umberto Eco has written: … the meaning of identity is now based on hatred, on hatred for those who are not the same. Hatred has to be cultivated as a civic passion… You always want someone to hate in order to feel justified in your own misery. Yet, it’s the American way: The same First Amendment that empowers all Americans (even me, even Muslims) to speak freely, publish, worship, and assemble protects both heroes and xenophobes, pluralists and troglodytes, believers and atheists - even in the New Hampshire State House. ** Let them be. Instead, please allow me to share with you, this Ramadan, a story that suggests how I think people like those sponsoring HR34 should be treated: In the early days of the Muslim community in Medina there was a woman who daily would throw trash on Prophet Muhammad as he walked past her house. The routine never varied: Prophet Muhammad would walk by, she’d throw trash, he’d ignore her. In spite of advice from friends and companions the Prophet never responded or retaliated, never changed his path. He ignored her and kept walking. One day he walked by her house and there was no one to throw trash on him. He stopped walking - he went to her home to see if she was well. That’s what we are called upon to do. Today is the fifth day of Ramadan fasting, the obligatory month of fasting from dawn to sunset for those Muslims who are able. It is a time meant to be spent in contemplation and prayer, an opportunity to confront challenges to our humanity and compels us to consider fully what it means to serve alongside sisters and brothers with whom we share the world regardless of beliefs and traditions. I hope to be able to fast and pray during this Holy Month and try and keep from getting agitated or angry toward others - especially toward MAGA-inspired Islamophobes. Ramadan is a time to turn inward in reflection, upward toward God, outward toward all others. It’s a time to heal relationships, to re-establish paths to goodness and hospitality. At its best, Ramadan is a time when we’re reminded of our inter-dependence, our reliance on our sisters and brothers, of breaking free of parochial desires and narrow interests. At its best, Ramadan is an exercise in overcoming ego. Otherwise, as the Prophet said: Many people get nothing from the fast but hunger and thirst. Witness. I believe Ramadan challenges all of humanity - not just Muslims - to define and reaffirm the sacred in a world grown increasingly profane, a world seemingly consumed by greed, prejudice, wars, conflict, poverty and occupation, by pillagers, abusers and exploiters of the gifts which we’ve received from the Beloved. And in this increasingly profane world our thirst and hunger reminds us not only of the abundance, sometimes excesses, of our lives but of the many for whom life each day is a struggle with poverty and hunger, of those for whom potable water is an unknown luxury, of those for whom disease and illiteracy is epidemic, of those who dwell in dark, desolate corners of our neighborhoods, of our earth. Witness. And the earth has He spread out for all living beings, with fruit thereon, and palm trees with sheathed clusters (of dates), and grain growing tall on its stalks, and sweet-smelling plants. Which, then, of your Sustainer’s powers can you disavow? (Qur’an 55: Ar-Rahman 10-13) During this Ramadan, as attacks from Minneapolis to Kyiv to Gaza and beyond continue, as attacks on Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela continue, we are sadly reminded that there are too many willing to turn their back on the Beloved. Which, then, of your Sustainer’s powers can you disavow? Today, we are challenged as we witness the visibly culpable, the oligarchs, abusers, terrorists, and warlords - whether far from our souls or distant from our shores - we need to be vigilant and attentive - and prayerful. Witness. We need to fast and pray. We must resist all who in their blindness target Hind Rajab and Liam Ramos. Let there be no confusion - know that those who believe that one color, or one religion, is more privileged than others, who deny health care to the sick, who deny shelter to the homeless, who rip families apart, those who attempt to disenfranchise and marginalize the Other, who pollute our earth and daily betray humanity by abusing our most vulnerable - it is they who disavow the truth. Witness. It’s hard these days, as I witness all that is being inflicted upon the weak, the vulnerable, the oppressed and disenfranchised, especially upon people of color, by the privileged and powerful, not to remain angry. But that is not what we are called upon to do during Ramadan. We pray. We witness and pray. Let us together honor Prophet Muhammad’s insights and beauty; let us find a reprieve from anger by following his example. Prophet Muhammad said that, especially during Ramadan, one should respond to abuse by saying: I am fasting. I am fasting. Bear witness, loved ones. Pray. I am fasting. * Ramadan column 2025: https://robertazzitheother.substack.com/p/sunday-mezze-ramadan-mubarak-1446** HR34 as proposed: https://legiscan.com/NH/text/HR34/2026***At a hearing called for 1:00pm on Friday, Feb. 20th, (at prayer time for the first Friday in Ramadan) the resolution was referred (13-3) for interim study, which I think is a polite way to kill a bill. As the vote wasn’t unanimous it won’t be on the consent calendar, so it will get a floor vote in the house.Stay well, stay strong. Robert Azzi / The Other is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. |