Something we can all do
GREENSBORO, NC - Islamic leader Badi Ali of Greensboro has issued a call for physically well Americans of all religious beliefs to observe a single day of fasting on October 21 "in the interest of universal justice and our struggling and suffering humanity."
Ali pointed out that the date is one of Ramadan's 29 holy days of annual focus on God/Allah, meditation, special sacrifice, adoration and fasting by Muslims throughout the world.
"It is a good time for Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people of other faiths to renew their spiritual commitments to God/Allah and to each other as believers in His mercy, love, forgiveness, goodness, wisdom and justness."
"In other words, this is a special time for human solidarity as workers for peace, truth, generosity, charity and compassion, the Islamic leader stressed.
"The enormous tragedies of Indian/Pakistan's earthquake, Persian Gulf war, Sri Lankan tsunami, Gulf of Mexico hurricanes should remind us all of our duty to God/Allah and each other in this respect.
"By fasting (on tomorrow), I mean total abstinence from food, tobacco, drink and intimacy from dawn to dusk. By observing this single contemplative day during Ramadan, I believe people of all faiths can, together, help to make real God/Allah's holy plan for His creation.
"In the Divine spirit of God/Allah and the secular spirit of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., we should figuratively sing 'We shall overcome' and think of ourselves as overcomers," the 44-year old Palestine-born North Carolinian urged.
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