EID MUBARAK!

Beloveds: 

Eid Mubarak! As Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan, almost a billion people will remain hungry. If fasting is a way to cultivate empathy for those that go hungry, then we need to both understand and respond to the plight of the ultra-poor - it is a matter of life and death:

Facts about Hunger
925 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition around the world. 
Malnutrition affects 32.5% of children in developing countries.
1 out of every 6 infants are born with low birth weight due to undernutrition among pregnant women in developing countries.
1 out of every 3 people in developing countries are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Hunger is number one on the list of the world's top 10 health risks. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

You can take action now! Just click on the link below to take a stand against hunger and death by malnutrition. Love, light and shadow, Jalaledin

If you chose not to fast this Ramadan, or to interrupt your fast, for whatever reason, (Q 2:256 There is no compulsion in religion)  please join my team at Action against Hunger to raise funds to alleviate world hunger. My team is called SACRED MONTH OF RAMADAN. No donation is too big or too small but human life is hanging in the balance!  

"But whoever of you is ill, or on a journey, (shall fast instead for the same) number of other days;  and (in such cases) it is incumbent upon those who can afford it to make sacrifice by feeding a needy person.... God wills that you shall have ease and does not will you to suffer hardship...." 
Q 2:184-185 (Muhammad Asad translation)

RAMADAN KARIM!

Love, light and shadow, Dr. Jalaledin Ebrahim
Your action is only a mouse click away. Thanks for your generosity of spirit! Thus far we were able to raise
more than 80% of our goal by Eid al-Fitr. Alhamdulillah!

http://support.actionagainsthunger.org/site/TR?team_id=2690&pg=team&fr_id=1070&et=U4flCv7EbEZeYSCmHDpjPQ&s_tafId=1421

Islam is a surrendered state of consciousness

Beloveds:

Who is a Muslim? Scholar of Islamic Law, Prof. An-Naim has this to propose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhjHsmZTg2A

In my view, Islam is a surrendered state of consciousness and not a set of practices. Anyone who thinks they are qualified to judge another person's Muslim-ness is not in a state of Islam but is entrapped in contested notions of religious identity, which itself is another aspect of idolatry. The 5 pillars of Islam are a human construct based on a doctrinal interpretation of the Divine revelation. As we approach the holy month of Ramadan, perhaps we need to be more focused on the state of consciousness that the practices of the Prophet truly aspired to achieve. Does this state of consciousness include - in the spirit of Tawhid - an embrace of all of Allah's Creation, human and non-human, sentient and inanimate? Does this state of consciousness inspire peace-making, the cultivation of social conscience and social justice, artistic and technological creativity, and a committment to the evolution of global human development? Can we begin to see the coming holy month as an opportunity to make the world whole? Can we begin to think about alleviating world hunger and helping those who are deprived of the basic essentials of life?  Can we focus on sharing life's abundance instead of sharing the experience of self-deprivation? Can we extend the love for family to include those who do not look like us or speak like us or think like us? Can we invite the stranger, the poor and the underprivileged to the banquet of love? I bid you all a very happy Solstice and Ramadan Karim!  Love, light and shadow, Jalaledin