Islamic Greetings on the Internet
This year, the Islamic holy month of Ramadan fell slap in the midst of the year-end swirl of various other religious holidays--Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa. Not ideal timing for observant Muslims, for although Ramadan ends Jan. 7 with the three-day celebration of Eid al Fitr, it is a holiday of worship and contemplation, of fasting and abstinence. Eating, drinking, sexual relations and smoking are forbidden during those hours when it is possible to tell a black thread from a white by the light of the sun.
When the daily fast is broken, it is with prayer and homage rather than relieved abandon. So it’s not exactly an icicle-light-dazzled, mall-crawling, money-hemorrhaging, eggnog-swilling kind of time.
And not, traditionally, a holiday with a lot of attached merchandising. But this year, perhaps because the lunar Islamic calendar brought Ramadan into December, Ramadan gifts and cards have begun to appear, especially on, you guessed it, the Internet. Many of the greeting-card sites, including https://www.greetsomeone.com and https://www.123greetings.com, offer electronic Ramadan and Eid messages.
The sites are accessible by typing “Ramadan and cards” into the search field of Internet search engines, including Yahoo (https://www.yahoo.com) and Altavista (https://www.altavista.com) and Excite (https://www.excite.com).
On https://www.unmah.net, there are free Eid cards, along with an assortment of holiday-related services including an online prayer minder that will gives prayer times for whatever city you are in, and a “cybersalat”--a multimedia Islamic prayer tutor. At the richly beautiful site https://www.arabview.net, you can find the verse of the day, the hadith of the day (written accounts of the life of the prophet Muhammad) and recipes for breaking your fast.
Http://www.holidays.net explains the holiday in wonderful detail and will lead the browser to other related sites. But https://www.tuhfa.com contains perhaps the largest assortment of Ramadan and Eid-related gifts.
Among the edibles are date baskets, Turkish Delight, and mithai (Middle Eastern candy). One can purchase fancy prayer/wall rugs, a mosque-shaped clock, and various pieces of framed religious art. For the kids there are videos, including “Alif Is for Asad,” the new “fun way to learn Arabic,” and the epic tale of “Salaam and the Knights of Virtue.”
There are also several CD sets, including “The Case of the Last Prophet,” which includes a book and its CD narration, both by Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens).
All of these sites and their merchandise are tasteful and quietly celebratory, something worth emulating no matter the holiday or religious affiliation.
Mary McNamara can be reached by e-mail at mary.mcnamara@latimes.com.
