Eid Prayer and 2 Cents

So, had a great Eid and still count to go out and do some more fun things. For the Eid prayer (Eid is the grandest Muslim day of celebration)I went with my roommate Jehad my roommate to George Washington University, the Muslim Students Association had a Eid prayer there, I actually liked the sermon, the young, informed and energized young man (Now I sound old) gave a lesson about being a Muslim and how the last major speech by Prophet Mohammad during his last and only Hajj in which he said something that is also quoted in the Koran, to the meaning of how the prophet have perfected our religion and completed his favor upon us and accepted Islam as our religion! I was touched on so many levels by this message and it actually got to me and made me think about religions in general and keep in mind that I just watched the "Golden Compass" a movie supposed to be anti-religion. My thing with this movie is it assumes that all religions want to control people and know what is going on on their lives, which is true for most religions, but not all. The concept of free agency is available in most religions, but actually not practiced in the way most religions conduct business. It might be not the religion that is bad or controlling, but those who understand it or try to offer their take on specific things, like taking the general laws and applying them to the particulars. anyhow, this is just got me tot think, not a good idea, but if we do not think we are dead...The Eid Sermon also talked about the experience of prophet Ibrahim and how he was asked to sacrifice one of his sons. This was a tough situation, and when he asked his son, the son's response "Do as you are told!" Man, see his son, did not say "No", nor say "What do you think dad?" "you do the right thing...dad!" leaving an area to bargain with. The son said "do as you are told" This got me to think that such faith is possible...but I thought I mean there are all sort of crazy people out there, how do know that God talks to them or is talking to them. I know Ibrahim was a prophet of God, but others might not know that. That's where faith comes in, not facts, just good old faith.

For my Eid Celebration, I joined some friends of mine to dine at a Malaysians restaurant, one of DC's finest...I never had Malaysian food, but I have heard good things about it from my good friend Hanna Shihab that it is good and that it's like Indonesian food. Anyhow, I was actually impressed with the way they cooked their chickens, in a way their chicken and rice is sort of a fusion of Hawaiian, Japanese and Thai cuisine, I like two of the above, so it was a pleasant experience. The rice selection I must admit. they offer, white rice, brown and coconut rice, you guessed right, I took the coconut rice. I highly recommend it.