Ramadan a Time for War
Your reportage on the attitudes of the people of the Islamic world on Ramadan (Ramadan begins with hunger worsening and war raging on (CT Post March 12)) ridiculously points to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as some indicator of what the month stands for. You report that Mr. Guterres “urged Israel and Hamas to honor the spirit of Ramadan by “silencing the guns” and releasing all the hostages.”
Instead, you could report the calls of those who stand for Islam in the middle east: “Ramadan is not a month of laziness but rather a month of activity, of effort, and of hard work, and as it also was in the life of the Prophet, a month of jihad, conquest, and victory.” Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the religious advisor to the “moderate” Mahmoud Abbas. Those words from 2022, but October 7 has not moderated his zeal: “Ramadan will [revive]… the power of faith, activity, and just Jihad for our legitimate goals and rights… what will be erased and will leave is the racist occupation.” From his Facebook page, March 1, 2024.
In accord are the words of a Muslim cleric in India, Maulana Bashir Ahmad Khaki (from 2018): “Ramadan is the pious month of ‘Jihad-o-Qital’ (Jihad and killing). Those who attain martyrdom while waging Jihad, doors of heaven remain open.”
Also in agreement, out of Bulgaria (2012): “Ramadan is a month of holy war and death for Allah. It is a month for fighting the enemies of Allah and God's messenger, the Jews and their American facilitators.”
Perhaps it would also be interesting to note that the 1973 Yom Kippur War (a/k/a Ramadan War) was started during the holy month of Ramadan for which “Egyptian and Syrian soldiers were given an exemption from fasting because they were engaged in the religious duty of killing infidels, the category that Jews are in.” David M. Weinberg, Accepting Muslim violence during Ramadan insults the majority of world Muslims – opinion, Jerusalem Post, Mar. 9, 2024.
But I guess this is what you get when your stringers report out of Rafah, which they can only do if they represent the voice of Hamas.
