{"id":2036,"date":"2013-07-23T06:28:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-23T10:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/?p=2036"},"modified":"2013-07-23T06:30:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-23T10:30:49","slug":"ramadan-1434-inflection-point-reflection-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2013\/07\/ramadan-1434-inflection-point-reflection-point.html","title":{"rendered":"Ramadan 1434: inflection point, reflection point"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Full<\/a>
Full “Sturgeon” Moon, July 21 2013 (by Xudonax on Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In mathematics, an inflection point is a point on a curve at which the curvature or concavity changes sign from plus to minus or from minus to plus. What better description of the midpoint of Ramadan? Regardless of your reckoning, we are roughly halfway through Ramadan 1434. This means that we are now leaving, not entering Ramadan \u2013 that the divine window is closing, not opening wider.<\/p>\n

The believer must ask themselves, how have they spent Ramadan thus far? Every hour ahead is a reflection of an hour that went before. In that sense, this is also a reflection point, an opportunity for introspection and self-evaluation. How have we done so far, and how can we push ourselves a little further? <\/p>\n

A couple years ago<\/a> I gave myself an A in fasting, a B in overall ibadat but a D in Qur’an. This year I’d say my grade average is up to solid B. As I wrote earlier, Ramadan is the month of jihad<\/a> – perfectly symbolized by the curve 1\/x, with an asymptotic ideal that no muslim can attain, but which we are obligated to measure ourselves against and strive towards. There is always room for improvement. Otherwise, we are simply running to stand still<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In mathematics, an inflection point is a point on a curve at which the curvature or concavity changes sign from plus to minus or from minus to plus. What better description of the midpoint of Ramadan? Regardless of your reckoning, we are roughly halfway through Ramadan 1434. 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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\/2036","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=2036"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2040,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036\/revisions\/2040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}