{"id":1017,"date":"2011-06-21T21:20:38","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T01:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2011-06-21T21:20:38","modified_gmt":"2011-06-22T01:20:38","slug":"why-a-muslim-welcomes-the-summer-solstice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2011\/06\/why-a-muslim-welcomes-the-summer-solstice.html","title":{"rendered":"why a muslim welcomes the summer solstice"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was surprised and then pleased to see today’s Google Doodle:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Summer Solstice by Takashi Murakami<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It commemorates the Summer Solstice, which is today (June 21 2011). The occasion of the summer solstice was of course important to all those pagans of antiquity, exactly the sort that Christianity and Islam labored so mightily against. The ancients demonstrated their love of the solstice thus:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Where the demons dwell ... where the banshees live and they do live well<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

but for a muslim, especially during the month of Rajab al Asab (and in a few years, during Ramadan as well) we might demonstrate our love of the solstice thus:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Follow them at @meatheadsburgers, folks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reason is simple – today is the day that the days get shorter, which means that fasting gets easier from here on out instead of harder. Right now, Ramadan’s 30 fasts aren’t until August, and every fast will be shorter than the one before as the days get shorter and shorter on approach to winter. In a few years, Ramadan will intersect the summer solstice, which means that fasts will get longer and then get shorter.[1]<\/sup> <\/p>\n

If this sounds overwrought to you, well, that’s partly because it kind of is. But few matters occupy the muslim mind as much as fasting. Of course we are grateful to Allah for the opportunity to gain blessings from the fast, but we are also grateful that, as the Qur’an puts it, <\/p>\n

He has subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law)! Each one runs (its course) for a term appointed.<\/i> (13:2<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[1] Of course, the winter solstice should engender a corresponding sense of dread in the muslim, but not so much because Ramadan passed through the winter solstice a few years ago. We won’t have reason to dread it for about 30 years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was surprised and then pleased to see today’s Google Doodle: It commemorates the Summer Solstice, which is today (June 21 2011). The occasion of the summer solstice was of course important to all those pagans of antiquity, exactly the sort that Christianity and Islam labored so mightily against. The ancients demonstrated their love of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[47,45,46],"class_list":["post-1017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-pillars-of-faith","tag-astronomy","tag-fasting","tag-ramadan"],"yoast_head":"\nwhy a muslim welcomes the summer solstice - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"why a muslim welcomes the summer solstice - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was surprised and then pleased to see today’s Google Doodle: It commemorates the Summer Solstice, which is today (June 21 2011). 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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1021,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions\/1021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}