islamicate

Muslims in Portland, OR

Reports here.

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Blog Quake Day

As many of you know a horrific earthquake hit South and Central Asia almost a month ago. The need for donations remains immense. DesiPundit has nominated today as Blog Quake Day (found via Chapati Mystery, Danial, and Planet Granada; see also Avari-Nameh for more good links). Please donate to anyone you feel comfortable with. In addition, I've been working with people on the ground to get supplies and money over there and a friend is working with the UNDP to raise funds. His details are below (if you do donate this way, please indicate in the notes field that you heard about it through “islamicate.com.” We won't contact you, but it's to let us know how effective this medium is for appeals.)

U.S. Committee for United Nations Development Program
c/o Amer Ahmad
William Blair & Company L.L.C.
222 West Adams
Chicago, IL 60606

One of the best stories I've read coming out of the quake is this one, because I worked as a consultant for the government of Estonia for three months.

Technorati Tags: Blog Quake Day, Estonia, South Asians

Personal Aside

Where has islamoyankee gone? Well the short answer is that my father passed away a month ago - and while not totally unexpected - it has been a busy and crazy time. Today I blog again for three reasons:

1. It's been a month
2. Tonight, I observe Laylat ul-Qadr (more on that in another post)
3. Today is Blog Quake Day (more in another post)

I'm back, and hopefully the rest of will be as well.

Ramadan Mubarak and L'Shana Tov [updated]

For us, Nizari Ismailis, the night of October 4, 2005, was the first night of Ramadan. This holy month for Muslims coincides with Rosh Hoshana.

Over at City of Brass, he's talking about something called the Tent of Abraham. Sounds interesting. Check it out.

Also, the Bohras (official website), or Mustalian Ismailis, like the Nizari Ismailis, do not rely on moon sighting, but on astronomical calculation. I was always under the impression that we shared our calculated calendar from the Fatimid period, but since they started a day earlier, there must a divergence somewhen. Anybody know when and/or why?

Update: Official website of the Dawoodi Bohras linked as Aziz suggested in comments. Also, did some research on the calendar (and conferred with a Bohra friend who did her PhD at Harvard and is now at Chicago) and was reminded that the Nizari calendar was further elaborated on by Nasir ad-Din Tusi during the post-Fatimid era. So, while there is a great deal of agreement between the Mustali and Nizari calendars, there are occasional - although not persistent - differences. Of course, what we haven't figured out is why the Sulaymani Bohras (another Mustali group) always seem to agree with the Nizari calendar.

Technorati Tags: Ismailis