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2017
ﻣﻠﺤﻖ ﺧﺎص- رﻣﻀﺎن
Beaumont Health community breaks
bread in Ramadan Iftar
DEARBORN —
On June 2, hundreds
of guests, including physicians, nurses
and other professionals and their fami-
lies, attended Beaumont Health's annu-
al Ramadan iftar dinner in celebration
of the holy month at the Islamic Center
of America.
According to the organizer Dr. Zu-
lfiqar Ahmed, a pediatric anesthesi-
ologist at Beaumont Hospital-Dear-
born, Beaumont-affiliated physicians
launched the tradition eight years ago
to strengthen understanding and build
relationships within the local Muslim
communities.
Susan Grant, Beaumont's executive
vice president and chief nursing offi-
cer, shared her respect for the Mus-
lim community as the special guest
speaker.
"I deeply respect how the obser-
vance of Ramadan through fasting fo-
cuses thought and prayer on those who
are less fortunate," she said. "I appre-
ciate the challenges you face when Ra-
madan is in the summer when the days
are long."
"Events such as these show how we
at Beaumont are privileged to serve a
rich variety of cultures and people."
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Event organizer Zulfiqar Ahmed, M.D. and keynote speaker Susan Grant, executive
vice president and chief nursing officer at Beaumont Health
- Photo by Beaumont
Lanterns, Qurans as Jerusalem holy site meets Ramadan
JERUSALEM —
Jerusalem buzzes with
renewed energy in the days before the
start of Ramadan, Islam's holy month,
when the faithful abstain from eating and
drinking during daylight hours.
There's the bustle to prepare the al-Aq-
sa Mosque, the 8th-century Muslim shrine
in Jerusalem's Old City, for the hundreds
of thousands of Muslims who will come
to pray.
Palestinians employed by the Waqf,
the Islamic trust that oversees the mosque
and the ancient compound that surrounds
it, set up tents for fasting worshippers to
take respite from the heat alongside the
golden Dome of the Rock, the site where
the Prophet Mohammad is said to have as-
cended to heaven.
Around the Muslim Quarter of the Old
City, shopkeepers stock up on Ramadan
essentials, including bright lights for dec-
orations and Qurans and prayer beads for
recitations.
Issam Zughaiar, 67, sells ornate Ra-
madan lanterns, called fanous, in the Old
City's winding covered market. Each year
he visits factories around Jerusalem and
neighboring Jordan and Egypt to hand-
pick his selection.
The twisting alleyways are filled with
the scent of sweets eaten at Iftar, the night-
ly breaking of the fast, including atayef,
sugar-soaked pancakes with cheese or
nuts, and date-filled ajwa cookies.
Dutch tourist Ari Heida came to see
preparations at the holy esplanade, re-
ferred to by Muslims as the Noble Sanctu-
ary and by Jews as the Temple Mount, the
site of an ancient Jewish temple destroyed
by the Romans in 70 C.E.
"This is why I like Jerusalem," he said.
"It's the center for Jews, Christians and
Muslims."
That's also what makes this time partic-
ularly tense.
Israel controls access to the esplanade,
which sits on large raised area between
the Muslim and Jewish quarters of the Old
City. Authorities have restricted access to
the compound before during periods of
confrontation.
For now though, the politics has been
pushed into the background by the bustle
and energy of Ramadan preparations.
"What will happen in Ramadan, what the
security situation will be like, whether Jeru-
salem be will be open, whether the mosque
will be open, we are always optimistic,"
said Abed al-Rahim Sader Helmi Ansari,
who works at al-Aqsa Mosque.
g
I
n 2015, British Muslim stand-up co-
median Bilal Zafar wrote an article for
The Independent called "Six things
you shouldn't say to someone fasting for
Ramadan."
"I have been fasting during the month
of Ramadan every year since I was about
8-years-old and the experience has been
changing for me in many ways, teach-
ing me a lot about discipline, and what
it means to be less fortunate," Zafar
wrote.
He said the days during Ramadan have
gotten longer over the years, but non-Mus-
lims' reactions haven't changed.
Zafar shared the remarks non-Muslims
shouldn't say:
1. "So you don't eat or drink
anything at all for 30 days?"
The comedian said he would clearly be
dead if that's what he was doing and that
it's not about starving yourself.
2. "Is it okay to eat in front of you?"
"Of course it is. One of the main principles
of fasting is discipline and I would prefer if
you just spent your day normally and didn't
worry about me."
3. "Why do you do it to yourself?
Isn't it bad for you?"
To that question, Zafar replies with, "Why
do you have to talk about it so negatively?"
He said it's not a form of punishment, but
rather a life changing month of spiritually
and positivity.
4. "Must be a great way to get in shape!"
Zafar said there's evidence that supports
that claim, as fasting improves brain func-
tion and the immune system, normalizes
insulin sensitivity, helps to cure addiction
and aids with weight loss.
"We also eat a lot of dates during this
month, which are very good for
you," he wrote. "However,
we tend to cancel a lot of
this out, because as soon
as the sun begins to set
and we hear the call to
prayer begin, we are like-
ly to eat as many delicious fried foods as
possible and continue to snack at every
possible opportunity until the following
sunrise. That may just be my routine,
though."
5. "Eat some of this, no one will know."
Zafar said that comment shows that
the person completely missed the pur-
pose of this month, explaining that it is
to learn self-discipline, to strengthen
spirituality, to be grateful for God's gifts
to the world, to "reflect on the value of
charity… and give thanks for the Qur'an,
which was first revealed in the month of
Ramadan."
6. "You must be really hungry!"
He advised non-Muslims to act normally
around their fasting Muslim friends.
"If you still find the entire concept too dif-
ficult to comprehend, remember that it only
lasts about a month and at the end we get to
celebrate Eid al- Fitr," he said.
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Muslim comedian shares six things
not to say to those fasting