It’s that time of the year! The time when people express immense curiosity in my eating habits. I get asked questions like, “Why aren’t you eating or drinking? Don’t you even drink water? No water at all? Do you get enough nutrients?” In this blog I want to answer some of these questions and cover some of the important facts and practices of the holy month. My name is Afnan, and as a recent graduate of Ohio State University, this will be my fourth Ramadan in the United States.
There’s been an anti-Sharia movement afoot in a good twenty US state legislatures starting in the late 2000s. The idea is to ban any reference to Sharia in US courts, because allegedly Islamic law is the toxic spearhead of Islam’s totalitarian ideology that aims to take over the world. According to this view, Sharia represents the greatest threat to the United States since the Cold War.
Peace Catalyst exists to ignite local movements of Christians and Muslims (and others!) living together in peace and working together towards peace. To this end, our Muslim friends have graciously invited us to join them in fasting, praying, and eating together during one of their most holy times - Ramadan.
Last week I went to an great place called the Global Mall. It’s like the Somali version of Target. Walking into the Mall it looks like it’s going to be one big store (like Target) but it’s not: It’s dozens of stores, set up like stalls in a market. There are gorgeous, ornate dresses lining the walls and hanging twelve feet up and middle-eastern style super-sectional couches with tassels on them. The cafe inside serves amazing tea, but in the mornings it’s filled with only women and in the evenings it’s filled with only men.