To all the Muslims out there,

Happy Eid Fitr! (Eid ul'Fitr Mubarak!)

Yesterday was the last day of Ramadan, so today is the first day of the next Arabic calendar month, Shawwal. So today is the Eid ul'Fitr, one of the four holiest days of Muslims. I for one am happy today. One thing went quite wrong this morning, but it is OK. There was an important lesson learnt out of it, so I guess it worked out for the best. I don't think I have mentioned this here before, but I consider myself very religious. I think I have strong beliefs in God, in the religion of Islam, the right Islam that is. Not the one represented by many Iran's Mullahs, or Taliban-like-individuals. I also believe I am in intelligent enough to challenge all my beliefs to make sure I am not just "blindly" listening to others. Just because I was born a Muslim, even though I strongly challenge the idea of being born with a religion, or any religion, doesn't mean I shouldn't think about what I am thought, or expected to believe in. Anyways, I just wanted to bring this up. I tried it few times during Ramadan but I guess I was too lazy, or busy (my favorite excuses!!)
What I really wanted to talk about was why I fast. What is the purpose? What is the philosophy or logic behind it? There has to be some logic behind everything, right? I got two older brothers, who didn't fast. They also asked me the same question, why fast? My oldest brother, God bless him, even made fun of me once saying that this fasting business is old school, or it is Mullahs (Clerics) fooling you, or something like that. But in my brothers defense, once they realized I am actually quite serious about fasting and all, they respected my believes, and whenever they saw me, the would say "Namaz Rouze'hat Ghabool Basheh" which in Farsi means I hope your prayers and fasting are accepted by God. Some traditional phrase Iranians use a lot during Ramadan. But back to the main question, why I fast? Well I have good reasons. But I will talk about it in a later post. I am tired now. Just joking. I should get back to work. I had a long enough break.

Peace people, peace.