The Muslims across the globe are marking Eid Al-Fitr after a month of fasting, nightly prayers and all-encompassing spirit of piety. Each Ramadan, the Muslim world undergoes a magical transformation as the believers turn to God in total devotion and prayers.

Emphasis is not just on abstinence from food and water from dawn to dusk but all things that take one away from the path chosen by Allah and His Last Prophet, peace be upon him. While piety, mercy, charity and constant prayers are the high points of Ramadan, this is also a month of celebration of the Holy Qur’an.

It was in this month that the Final Word in the long line of divine scriptures was revealed to Prophet Muhammad. If the Qur’an is a truly miraculous gift sent for the benefit of entire mankind, the manner in which it is experienced throughout the blessed month is another miracle in itself.

From one end of the world to another, the believers read, study and listen to Qur’an, all 30 sections and thousands of verses, during the special taraweeh prayers constantly trying to imbibe the spirit and teachings of the Book. The Eid Al-Fitr thus not just marks the culmination of the month of fasting and prayers but also the celebration of the Book that came as the ultimate mercy and guidance to humanity. 

This Eid finds the Muslim world at one of the most critical points in its history. While old wounds continue to fester, fresh ones are being opened. As ever, Palestine tops the Ummah’s concerns — and rightly so. The condition in the occupied territories is now so vile and pathetic that words defy humanitarian agencies working there.

The sense of gloom and utter helplessness across the Middle East is so thick that even the US-hosted Israel-Palestine talks have failed to pierce it. The second round of talks, to be held after Eid in Egypt, holds little promise or hope for Palestinians — or the region. Forgotten and forsaken by the world, Pakistan’s luckless and leaderless multitudes are desperately fighting for survival. They need more than our prayers and words of support. 

Iraq remains in a shambles even though a desperate US President Barack Obama tried to stage a sort of “Mission Accomplished,” by withdrawing combat troops but leaving behind more than 50,000 “experts” in uniform. Meanwhile, the Iran-US-Israel drama has entered another nerve-wracking phase. But it is another, far more explosive confrontation that preoccupies much of the world’s attention today.

Since this Eid coincides with the Sept. 11 attacks, the significant Muslim community in America and elsewhere in the West finds itself understandably tense. As if the endless posturing and tensions on the question of the Islamic center near Ground Zero were not enough, the powerful Christian right has added fuel to the fire by calling for “Burn a Qur’an Day’ to mark the 9/11 anniversary this week.

Understandably, the call has sparked outrage around world. Senior administration officials, including Hillary Clinton, and US commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus have slammed the move by a Florida church. Some in the US may only be concerned with “repercussions for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq,” but the fact is such disgraceful and disrespectful acts mock American values of tolerance and religious freedom. Worse still, they end up strengthening the cause of extremists on either side. True believers mustn’t dignify the bigoted actions of a lunatic with a response.editorial in Arab News