Salon.com > Ramadan

Iraq officials: Over 90 dead in Thursday’s attacks

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 12:45:00 +0000

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials said Friday that a blistering string of attacks across the country the previous day ultimately killed at least 93 people and wounded many more, as the extent of the violence grew clearer and mourners began to bury their dead.

It was Iraq's second deadliest day since U.S. troops left in December, surpassed only by a wave of coordinated killings last month. Thursday's attacks seemed meant to strike fear in Iraqis and undermine faith in the Shiite-led government's security measures ahead of what was supposed to be a festive holiday weekend.

"Al-Qaida wants to send a clear message to the Iraqi people that the terrorists are still strong and able to harm them despite the huge amount of funds spent on the Iraqi security forces," said Shiite lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, a member of Parliament's security and defense committee. "The terrorists want to tell the Iraqi people that the security forces are still incapable of protecting them."

Officials had feared an upsurge in violence coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this weekend. Steps have been taken to ramp up security measures to protect the crowds who gather in public places such as mosques, parks and restaurants to celebrate the occasion.

Cairo hit by power cut

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:15:00 +0000

CAIRO (AP) — A massive power cut has hit large parts of the Egyptian capital, halting much of its crowded metro service and delaying the start of trading on the stock exchange.

Egypt has been beset by frequent power cuts since the hot summer months began. The outages, together with water cuts, have enraged Egyptians, sending many to the streets to protest.

The cuts have been particularly hard since the July 20 start of the holy month of Ramadan, when devout Muslims fast dawn-to-dusk while coping with soaring temperatures. The power outages have also led to criticism of the country's new President Mohammed Morsi.

The government says excessive consumption due to the summer heat is behind the cuts. Thursday's outage affected large parts of Cairo, which is home to some 18 million people.

Fox: Why does Obama hate Easter and love Ramadan?

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:45:00 +0000

Can we all agree that the worst thing about "Fox & Friends" is how clumsy and obvious they are with their political agenda? (Ok, the second-worst thing, after Steve Doocy's face. And voice. And the things he says.) Good propaganda is supposed to be sort of covert and insidious, right? Anyway, a couple months ago Fox attacked Obama for not issuing a "proclamation" for Easter, even though the president celebrates Easter every year with a massive party. If you wondered why they did this, the punchline came this morning, when Fox trashed Obama for issuing a proclamation... for Ramadan, the Shariah Easter!

What else we’re reading

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 01:24:00 +0000

New York Times: (select): We'd like to send an autumn valentine to Bob Herbert for the latest salvo in his crusade to awaken the news media to the "permanent world war" against women. When any male Times Op-Ed columnist lends his voice to the millions of women's-rights activists around the world, it's worth an Internet smooch.

New York Times, again: The Girls Gone Wild phenomenon seems to have reached the Middle East -- the Times reports on the post-Ramadan tradition of young women in Beirut prowling the streets, drinking too much and, yes, dancing on top of bars during a time when many men return from their jobs abroad to visit Lebanon.

Feministing: Curtsies to the gals for spreading the word on The RX Zone, an interactive game created by the Planned Planned Parenthood of Illinois that allows you to experience some of the obstacles of getting E.C. Some antichoice groups have called the game bigoted, because it portrays them as Neanderthals. But hey, if the animal fur fits...

Not your father’s Ramadan

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 11:00:00 +0000

On Sunday evening at New York's Carnegie Hall, Youssou N'Dour was caught between an elderly Senegalese griot and an unhappy soundman. Seems the xalam, a five-stringed Senegalese folk lute, wasn't easy to mike. The opening concert of his four-night series just hours away, N'Dour nonetheless radiated calm.

N'Dour -- the most popular singer in Africa and the archetypal world-music star -- is used to reconciling antiquity with modernity. Besides, he's negotiated trickier divides.

In March 2003, on the eve of the most ambitious American tour of his career, N'Dour simply canceled. "As a matter of conscience," he wrote in a press statement, "I question the United States government's apparent intention to commence war in Iraq. I believe that coming to America at this time would be perceived in many parts of the world -- rightly or wrongly -- as support for this policy."

Unholy war

Mon, 05 Nov 2001 21:16:00 +0000

American military planners seemed temporarily stumped last month when Muslim allies in the war on terrorism began suggesting the United States halt its bombing campaign in Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which this year begins Nov. 17.

After days of persistent questioning, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced there would be no stopping for Ramadan, telling reporters, "History is replete with instances where Muslim nations have fought among themselves or with other countries during various important holy days." Besides, Rumsfeld noted, the al-Qaida terrorist network was "unlikely to take holiday." President Bush backed Rumsfeld on Friday. "The enemy won't rest during Ramadan and neither will we," Bush said.

End of discussion, in the U.S. anyway. As Newsweek's pithy "Conventional Wisdom" column put it: "Forget talk of a Ramadan ceasefire. They fast and fight all the time."

The debate over a Ramadan bombing halt, however brief, highlighted both the unusual lengths to which the U.S. might have to go to keep its tenuous coalition together, as well as the pitfalls of fighting terrorist organizations instead of state-run armies, with whom official ceasefires can be negotiated.

Suspicious minds

Tue, 09 Oct 2001 19:30:00 +0000

In December 1998, after Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had once again refused to allow United Nations weapons inspectors to do their job, the United States and Britain responded with a four-day bombing campaign over Baghdad.

The timing was tricky -- just before the commencement of the Muslim holy month, Ramadan. Sensitive to the implications, the allied forces were careful to end their bombing raid before Ramadan, hoping to avoid provoking unnecessary anger from Muslims around the world.

But that didn't stop two smiling U.S. servicemen from posing for a photographer as they scribbled "Happy Ramadan" on a missile bound for Baghdad. The photograph, capturing America's worst kind of stereotypical disrespect toward Islam, was printed in Arabic newspapers throughout the region and broadcast over and over on Middle Eastern television.

"That image was shown nonstop," recalls Chris Toensing, editor of the Middle East Report, who was living in Egypt at the time. "The damage was done as far as public opinion."

Finding comfort in prayer

Wed, 16 Aug 2000 19:36:00 +0000

I was working in Hebron, in the West Bank, during Ramadan. I climbed a 10-foot-high concrete barrier to get away from all the other photographers. I was up there for an hour, waiting for prayers to start. The little boy was fidgety from the beginning. His father kept trying to show him how to pray. Once the prayers started he just collapsed on his father's back.

Bawdy blasphemers arrested in Ramadan sex scandal

Fri, 07 Jan 2000 17:00:00 +0000

Jan. 7, 2000

A horny horde of Middle Eastern miscreants carnally defiled the
Islamic holy month of Ramadan on millennium night, according to the Jan. 3
Agence France-Presse.

The frolicking fornicators were arrested at dawn on a farm 12 miles
south of Kuwait City. Twenty-six men and 11 women were accused of the
rambunctious
crimes of prostitution, using and possessing drugs, organizing an illegal
dance and
immoral behavior during Ramadan. The busted male revelers included 14
Kuwaitis, two Saudis, two Bangladeshis, three Egyptians, one Bahraini and
one Iraqi, while the allegedly wanton women were a Kuwaiti "pimp" (madam)
and her stable of 10 "hostesses" (prostitutes). The madam reputedly raked
in $330 for each happy hooker she provided.

Ramadan commemorates the bestowal of the Koran from Allah to the prophet
Mohammad and humanity. The world's 1 billion Muslims are supposed to
spend this sanctified time fasting, reading the Koran, performing
charitable deeds and purifying their behavior.

Going without at Ramadan

Tue, 30 Mar 1999 20:00:00 +0000

I am not a pious woman. I didn't go into Ramadan with a long history of restraint. In fact, the most I knew about fasting was from my Catholic childhood during Lent, where you went without some chosen item for 40 days. There were also meatless Fridays, but you still got a good fish sandwich from the church that night.

No one expected me to fast in Marrakesh, not even my traveling companion, who had chosen to do so to practice self-discipline. But we had decided to swear off Western extravagances on this trip -- no e-mail, no expensive indulgences, and with luck, no expat communications -- and hey, when in Rome ... Besides, I thought, if I couldn't go without food during daylight hours, what kind of weak human was I?

I spent the night before the first day of fast with many other Moroccans and tourists in the Place Djemaa el Fna, a large open market area jammed with food stalls, snake charmers, musicians and general business. There was a continual procession of cars, buses, motorized bikes, bicycles, scooters, horse-drawn carriages and every other conceivable form of transportation. Exhaust hung gray-blue against the road. I saw two parents and three children crammed on one bike. Motion was in every direction.

Baghdad bombing: The right move, the wrong time

Thu, 17 Dec 1998 20:00:00 +0000

On Wednesday, Americans awoke to morning newspapers awash in impeachment headlines. By afternoon they were watching the darkened skies of Baghdad illuminated by the orange glow of U.S. bombs. As the bombs were landing, the House decided to delay Thursday's vote on the president's future -- although Republicans left open the possibility that they might vote as early as Friday.

In a speech to the nation, President Clinton defended his attack on Iraq, saying a "strong, sustained series of airstrikes" against Iraq was necessary to punish Saddam Hussein for his refusal to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors. Only minutes into "Operation Desert Fox," Republicans were crying "Wag the Dog." Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., joined other leading Republicans in claiming he could not support the attack because he couldn't be sure it wasn't politically motivated, although Lott had been briefed three weeks ago about the possibility of an attack if Saddam defied the United Nations.

Baghdad bombing: The right move, the wrong time

Thu, 17 Dec 1998 12:02:00 +0000