 "Photo: AP")
Muslims all over the world mark the end of the month of Ramadan with a celebration called Eid-al-Fitr. During this month, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and any form of sexual activity from dawn until dusk.
They view it as a time for reflection, patience, community and charity. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar calendar.
The lunar year is typically 10 to 12 days shorter than the 365 day Gregorian year. This means that each year, Ramadan begins about 10 days earlier than the year before. Last year, Ramadan began on Aug. 22 and ended Sept. 1.
This year, Ramadan began Aug. 11 and will end Sept. 9. Eid-al-Fitr will be celebrated on Sept. 10, one day before the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
This has proven to be an unfortunate coincidence for American Muslims who have been thrust on the defensive for the past several months as rising anti-Islamic sentiment stemming from the outrage over the proposed Park 51 complex near ground zero has become a national political issue.
In an election season where politicians on both sides of the aisle are desperately clamoring to score cheap political points, Islam in America has become one of the most controversial issues.
This debate, like most in modern politics, has been plagued by misinformation and a troubling detachment from facts or reason.
In recent days, it's further escalated as a number of incidents have demonstrated what happens when politicians and political talk show hosts sow hostility and fear of "the other" for short-term political gains.
A Muslim cab driver in New York, Ahmed Sharif, was stabbed multiple times by his passenger Aug. 24 after the passenger asked him if he was a Muslim. The next day Sharif told a journalist that "before yesterday, I never felt like I didn't belong here."
In another incident, a drunken man entered a mosque in Queens shouting "terrorists" as he proceeded to urinate in the area where people were praying. Most recently, federal authorities in Tennessee have determined that a fire at a mosque that is under construction was arson.
It is in this dangerous climate that Muslim communities all over the country find themselves as they prepare to celebrate the end of their holy month.
Many of these communities, including the one right here in Morgantown, are taking special precautions due to the fear of being harassed or worse.
They fear people will mistake the timing of the celebration of Eid with the anniversary of Sept. 11 and further inflame the bigoted sentiments that have rapidly grown in recent months.
According to Sohail Chaudhry, imam of the Islamic Center of Morgantown, this year's Eid prayer service was originally planned to be held outdoors, but security concerns prompted them to move it indoors.
Additionally, a community dinner was moved from Saturday to Sunday to avoid any confusion regarding the motives behind the celebration. Chaudhry also mentioned that the WVU Police Department was notified of these events and will be providing security for them.
It's a sad day in this country when a minority group has to ask for police protection just to practice their faith.
Many signs indicate this could just be the beginning.
According to a recent poll conducted by TIME Magazine, only 55 percent of Americans would approve of a mosque being built in their community. This growing animosity is undoubtedly linked to the inflammatory rhetoric being spewed by right wing politicians on a daily basis.
They create an environment that is becoming increasingly conducive to violence and they are showing no signs of stopping. Sept. 11 will be marked with a number of Islamophobic gatherings this year.
These events range from Pastor Terry Jones' "Burn a Quran Day" to the anti-Islam rally at ground zero featuring former UN ambassador John Bolton and the Dutch fascist parliamentarian Geert Wilders, who advocates banning all mosques from being built and wants to stop all Muslim immigration to his country.
Many of these people tend to propagate their ignorant beliefs based on the false notion that America was founded as a "Christian nation." Thus people from a Judeo-Christian background are more "American" than Muslims or people who aren't religious at all.
This, of course, could not be further from the truth.
To say that this is somehow a "Christian nation" is to re-write history. The following, taken from a treaty signed by none other than John Adams, explicitly refutes this distortion: "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion ... The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan (Muslim) nation."
It couldn't be any clearer.
Being American has nothing to do with one's religious beliefs. Being American is about acknowledging the rights of all people, including those we disagree with. Anyone who tries to stir up fear and hatred of another group they disagree with is un-American.
But with their hateful rhetoric, they are endangering the lives of innocent people and spitting on the freedoms so many have fought to protect.
Despite the intimidation and fear mongering, Muslims will celebrate their holiday later this week. And on Saturday, they will mourn the tragedy of Sept. 11 with millions of their American brothers and sisters.
Those who seek to benefit from the divisions they are creating in our society will come up empty-handed because they are on the wrong side of history. America is and always will be a pluralistic society, where people of all faiths are welcome.
If you have a problem with that, then you have a problem with the ideals this country was founded upon.
Moreover, Ramadan is a time of preparing oneself for Eid, a day actually celebrated. Ramadan is not a month of celebration.