Eid 101: Five facts about Eid al-Fitr

3. Eid traditions

Trisnadi/AP
Indonesian Muslim youths are seen through the windows of a mosque as they perform Eid al-Fitr morning prayers that mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Porong, East Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013.

On the morning of Eid, Muslims typically wake up early, eat a small breakfast, and go to pray either outside or at a mosque. A sermon is given, followed by a prayer, known as Salat al-Eid, that may only be recited with others.

In the afternoon, Muslims eat a large meal, attend processions and celebrations, and spend time with their friends and family. Gift giving is common during Eid. The celebrations are meant to give thanks to Allah and to ask for sins to be forgiven. 

3 of 5

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.