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Mayor Mike Says #Ramadan Mubarak

NYC.gov. “There is no single reason why New York is the greatest city on earth, but chief among them is that the world’s hardest-working people come to achieve a better life for their families and simultaneously enrich and are enriched by their neighbors once here. The start of Ramadan marks the beginning of a time of fasting, prayer and reflection for New Yorkers in all Five Boroughs, and I want to extend my best wishes for this holiest month on the Muslim calendar. Ramadan Mubarak.”

Navroz Mubarak 2007

Yes, it is a hybrid date format. But the holiday is now hybrid. Little bit of Zoroastrianism, little bit of Iranian nationalism, little bit of Islam, little bit of 21st century style globalization. Here is a good, short history of contemporary Navroz. Just a clarification, the Ismailis don’t recognize Navroz as Hazrat Ali’s birthday, we recognize Yawm-e Ali as a separate holiday. Navroz is also a marker of the solar new year for most Ismailis. The Fatimids marked a celebration of the holiday as well in the 11th century. (see Ritual, Politics and the City in Fatimid Cairo). Here’s the…

slacktivist: Please forgive me for the actions of extremists I have never met who commit acts of violence that I have never advocated

slacktivist: Please forgive me for the actions of extremists I have never met who commit acts of violence that I have never advocated. As a white male Baptist, it is my duty today to denounce the violence perpetrated by Patrick Gray Sharp, 29, who yesterday attacked the police headquarters in McKinney, Texas, in a heavily armed but ineffectual assault involving a high-powered rifle, road flares, “gasoline and ammonium nitrate fertilizer.” I understand that this denunciation must be swift and unambiguous and that, in the absence of such denunciations made by and on behalf of every and all white male Baptists,…