{"id":178,"date":"2009-01-06T11:02:25","date_gmt":"2009-01-06T19:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html"},"modified":"2017-08-04T09:57:38","modified_gmt":"2017-08-04T16:57:38","slug":"fastingyet-sad-as-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html","title":{"rendered":"Fasting&#8230;yet Sad As Well"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Typically, it is quite difficult for me to fast outside of the month of Ramadan&#8230;I love my coffee WAY too much (it&#8217;s now decaffeinated, though). But, there are a few days during which I am happy to do so. Two of those days are here. <\/p>\n<p>They are the ninth and tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. The tenth day, Ashura (which is tomorrow), is a very special day, especially for Shi&#8217;i Muslims, as they commemorate the assassination of Imam Hussein, the son of Imam Ali and grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). That event is a very sad one for me, also, as I am very much in love with the family of the Prophet (pbuh). <\/p>\n<p>Yet, it is also a special time because of the event which it commemorates: the Exodus of the Children of Israel out of Egypt. During the time of the Prophet (pbuh), he encouraged us to fast the 9th and 10th day of Muharram to mark the victory of the people of God over the cruelty of Pharoah. Thus, I am fasting to mark that event, and that is why our beloved Aziz went on vacation (honoring me and Willow with guest posting for a while).&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>The fact that Muslims fast for the Exodus may come as a surprise to many, but it should not. We are wholly part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and we honor and adore all of the Hebrew Prophets (pbut). Yet, this year&#8217;s Ashura is an especially painful one, because of the carnage of Gaza. <\/p>\n<p>As Muslims the world over fast for Moses, why can&#8217;t the peoples of the Holy Land come to grips that we are more alike than we are different, that we have lived together in peace and can do so again, that our blood is equal and should not be spilled on the holy soil of the Holy Land? <\/p>\n<p>As I fast, I send this prayer to the Lord: that He makes the killing stop and that both sides can once and for all enjoy peace, security, and prosperity. Amen.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Typically, it is quite difficult for me to fast outside of the month of Ramadan&#8230;I love my coffee WAY too much (it&#8217;s now decaffeinated, though). But, there are a few days during which I am happy to do so. Two of those days are here. They are the ninth and tenth day of Muharram, the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[45,150,24,46],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islamerica","category-the-pillars-of-faith","tag-fasting","tag-guest-post","tag-islam","tag-ramadan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fasting...yet Sad As Well - 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=\"Fasting...yet Sad As Well - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Typically, it is quite difficult for me to fast outside of the month of Ramadan&#8230;I love my coffee WAY too much (it&#8217;s now decaffeinated, though). But, there are a few days during which I am happy to do so. Two of those days are here. They are the ninth and tenth day of Muharram, the&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-06T19:02:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-04T16:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hesham A. Hassaballa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GodFaithPen\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fasting...yet Sad As Well - City of Brass","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fasting...yet Sad As Well - City of Brass","og_description":"Typically, it is quite difficult for me to fast outside of the month of Ramadan&#8230;I love my coffee WAY too much (it&#8217;s now decaffeinated, though). But, there are a few days during which I am happy to do so. Two of those days are here. They are the ninth and tenth day of Muharram, the&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html","og_site_name":"City of Brass","article_published_time":"2009-01-06T19:02:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-04T16:57:38+00:00","author":"Hesham A. Hassaballa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GodFaithPen","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html","name":"Fasting...yet Sad As Well - City of Brass","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-01-06T19:02:25+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-04T16:57:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/c2d50a46198edad19abb055001c4cd21"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/fastingyet-sad-as-well.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fasting&#8230;yet Sad As Well"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/","name":"City of Brass","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Aziz Poonawalla","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/c2d50a46198edad19abb055001c4cd21","name":"Hesham A. Hassaballa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b40\/b40d6f8e0c3aa244ec260418ea44558fx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b40\/b40d6f8e0c3aa244ec260418ea44558fx96.jpg","caption":"Hesham A. Hassaballa"},"description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation and now serves as its Treasurer.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/GodFaithPen"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178","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\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3119,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/3119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}