"Kul A’am wa-Antum bi-Khayr." Happy New Year! That is how people greet each other during the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which is being celebrated on Aug. 7-8 throughout the Muslim world to mark the end of the Ramadan month of fasting. This season marks the completion of the writing of the Quran — at least according to one tradition — but for most people celebrating the festival today, its significance has come to be forgiveness, camaraderie and peace. It is a holiday in which conflicts and disputes are resolved, and everyone starts anew.
This year, more than any other year, the traditional blessing is recited in a much more supplicatory tone than usual. The Arabic word "khayr" has so many positive connotations. It means joy, happiness, a livelihood and a secure and promising future. After such a bloody year in the Middle East, however, a dark shadow looms over these expectations for a better tomorrow. The Arab Spring has taken its toll in victims, and it continues to take its toll, so that this optimistic metaphor — once an expression of liberation from the yoke of tyranny and dictatorship — is no longer very accurate. Spring has transformed itself into a harsh winter, and dark, ominous clouds still obscure the sky.
That is why now, with the holiday that marks the start of Shawwal — the 10th month of the Muslim calendar — it is all the more appropriate to greet the Muslim community in the many countries of the world with Kul A’am wa-Antum bi-Khayr. Let us hope for a better year.
Kul A’am wa-Antum bi-Khayr to the people of Syria and the refugees who are still alive almost 2½ years after the armed uprising and revolt broke out against the country’s unelected president, Bashar al-Assad. Over 100,000 people — over 0.5% of Syria’s total population — have lost their lives since the start of the civil war, and it seems almost certain that in the coming year, the “Lion” (which is what Assad means) will remain in power watching, as his people bury their dead and lick their wounds. And he will feel a sense of accomplishment. After all, he has managed to survive. It is a Pyrrhic victory, of course, but this year Assad celebrated Eid al-Fitr the same way he does every year, with prayers at the Umayyad Great Mosque in Damascus. Which leaves us wondering what he may have thought about during the month of Ramadan. Was he expecting forgiveness for his actions?
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