Well, it seemed like a great idea: to blog a daily entry here from my reading of 1/30 of the Quran each day during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Then an extraordinarily unusual amount of my time was demanded to properly fulfill a professional obligation: covering, for whataboutourdaughters.com, the first trials in the Dunbar Village tragedy.
Perhaps that development also provides “a teachable moment.”
As in: “What do sincere Muslims do when they fall behind in their daily reading of 1/30th of the Quran?”
Not claiming to speak for anyone other than this Muslim: First, it should be noted that the reading is not a requirement.
But even non-Muslim friends have remarked on the inestimable benefit of reading the entire Quran, within 30 days, while fasting the month along with the soon-to-be 2 billion other Muslims here and around the world.
One option, of course, it to assume the task too daunting and drop it. That’s not recommended here.
The best option is simply to catch up. The reading of each 30th — or juz — takes less than an hour depending upon the amount of time spent reflecting on it.
But what if one still is unable to complete the reading within the 30 days of Ramadan, which this year will end around September 18?
Again, one could say: Try again next year, G-d willing.
Much better, however, is to finish the reading over subsequent days after the end of the month of Ramadan.
In fact, the latter approach is one I have taken in years past when unable to focus on my reading amid the crunch of other activity.
It also is consistent with another practice among many Muslims: Upon finishing reading the Quran, begin reading it again.
There I can point to a longstanding personal practice: Rarely does the day dawn that I do not read at least a section (a few verses) of the Quran. The result over the years has been a trememdous familiarity with it.
This is not to suggest that Muslims not bother to read the entire Quran during the 30 days of Ramadan. We should push ourselves to obtain all of G-d’s blessings all the time.
What I am advocating is that while striving for those blessings we maintain a good balance, recognizing, as do many Muslims, and many other people of faith, that what G-d does not have for you, will not be for you, and what G-d has for you, will not pass you by.
I enjoyed the convention this year. However, I thought that the CARES committee should have automated the registration process by storing the registrants names and payment status on computerized databases instead of printouts. The sound system was terrible.
And most of all, no one spoke confidently of electing a leader.