Problem
Cards and greetings, from family, friends, strangers, businesses, people overseas - I received a Muslim greeting on what's ap, a picture with Arabic writing and the words in Roman script:
EID MUBARAK.
I am sure this person didn't send me a greeting last year. Maybe that's when they were overseas and could not use phones which work with the UK, or maybe they just joined Whats Ap, or maybe they sent to everybody they knew, and accidentally included me on the list
Regardless of their motivation, how do I reply.
My first thought was to reply in English, briefly: Many thanks, and all good wishes to you and your family.
Somebody else said, you don't have always have to reply. Then, as if in answer to my question, up pops the answer on the internet.
WHICH FESTIVAL?
Moslem Festivals
Firstly, I thought Eid meant any kind of celebration or holiday. Then I thought, it's only the big two, one of which is Ramadan. Ramadan is the whole month of fasting during the day, eating after sunset and before dawn. Ending with a big feast and lots of outdoor food stalls in Little India in Singapore and many more in the Malay area.
(If you are in Malaysia during Ramadan, the food shops and restaurants will be shut during Ramadan However, in the suburbs you will see Chinese restaurants with Chinese writing or orange lanterns serving food.
Then I read about the festival being connected with the sacrifice of firstborn son Isaac by Abraham, the death being averted by the signal from God when an animal ran forward to be sacrificed instead.
Jewish New Year
I had attended Jewish New Year several times, and eventually discovered that the reason the story was so familiar was that the entire bible is read through the year, started again with the first story about the averted sacrifice of the son each Jewish New Year's Day.
So if you only attended synagogue for the Jewish New Year, every year you would hear the same story (in English as well as Hebrew at the Liberal Synagogues in London, England).
Ramadan and Jewish New Year are the same time of year, following the lunar calendar, not the solar calendar.
Christianity and Sacrifice
Christianity, with the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus, recalls the earlier biblical story.)
The Greeting
EID MUBARAK
Two possible replies:
KHAIR MUBARAK
This sounds balanced.
JAZAK ALLAH KHAIR is an extra word, and can be translated as
May Allah reward you with goodness.
That sounds more formal. Should I act like the Chinese and Asian system that you must give back more than you received?
Am I using the right language, if it's Arabic? I thought, if that's Arabic, some Muslims are not Arabic and don't speak Arabic. But if I have received a greeting in Arabic, I should reply in Arabic, unless the greeting is more or less the same in all Arabic speaking countries, but the reply is in various languages and dialects.
As the hours went by and other events interrupted, I worried that if I spent too long on research, I would be too late to catch the event and out of politeness I should reply within 24 hours.
In 2017 the Eid ul Adha lasts until Tuesday September 5th 2017.
Tips
https://www.quora.com/When-is-the-best-time-to-wish-Eid-Mubarak-to-Pakistani-friends
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-respond-to-Eid-Mubarak
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/25/eid-mubarak-how-to-wish-someone-a-happy-eid-in-11-different-languages-6721865/
https://www.slideshare.net/AbdulaiAbarika/eid-cards-sms-and-images
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/10/five-places-to-eat-in-london-this-eid-al-fitr-6700005/
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16511473/Happy-Eid-Everyone-Here-s-How-To-Greet-Muslims-in-Eid
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
Cards and greetings, from family, friends, strangers, businesses, people overseas - I received a Muslim greeting on what's ap, a picture with Arabic writing and the words in Roman script:
EID MUBARAK.
I am sure this person didn't send me a greeting last year. Maybe that's when they were overseas and could not use phones which work with the UK, or maybe they just joined Whats Ap, or maybe they sent to everybody they knew, and accidentally included me on the list
Regardless of their motivation, how do I reply.
My first thought was to reply in English, briefly: Many thanks, and all good wishes to you and your family.
Somebody else said, you don't have always have to reply. Then, as if in answer to my question, up pops the answer on the internet.
WHICH FESTIVAL?
Moslem Festivals
Firstly, I thought Eid meant any kind of celebration or holiday. Then I thought, it's only the big two, one of which is Ramadan. Ramadan is the whole month of fasting during the day, eating after sunset and before dawn. Ending with a big feast and lots of outdoor food stalls in Little India in Singapore and many more in the Malay area.
(If you are in Malaysia during Ramadan, the food shops and restaurants will be shut during Ramadan However, in the suburbs you will see Chinese restaurants with Chinese writing or orange lanterns serving food.
Then I read about the festival being connected with the sacrifice of firstborn son Isaac by Abraham, the death being averted by the signal from God when an animal ran forward to be sacrificed instead.
Jewish New Year
I had attended Jewish New Year several times, and eventually discovered that the reason the story was so familiar was that the entire bible is read through the year, started again with the first story about the averted sacrifice of the son each Jewish New Year's Day.
So if you only attended synagogue for the Jewish New Year, every year you would hear the same story (in English as well as Hebrew at the Liberal Synagogues in London, England).
Ramadan and Jewish New Year are the same time of year, following the lunar calendar, not the solar calendar.
Christianity and Sacrifice
Christianity, with the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus, recalls the earlier biblical story.)
The Greeting
EID MUBARAK
Two possible replies:
KHAIR MUBARAK
This sounds balanced.
JAZAK ALLAH KHAIR is an extra word, and can be translated as
May Allah reward you with goodness.
That sounds more formal. Should I act like the Chinese and Asian system that you must give back more than you received?
Am I using the right language, if it's Arabic? I thought, if that's Arabic, some Muslims are not Arabic and don't speak Arabic. But if I have received a greeting in Arabic, I should reply in Arabic, unless the greeting is more or less the same in all Arabic speaking countries, but the reply is in various languages and dialects.
As the hours went by and other events interrupted, I worried that if I spent too long on research, I would be too late to catch the event and out of politeness I should reply within 24 hours.
In 2017 the Eid ul Adha lasts until Tuesday September 5th 2017.
Tips
https://www.quora.com/When-is-the-best-time-to-wish-Eid-Mubarak-to-Pakistani-friends
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-respond-to-Eid-Mubarak
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/25/eid-mubarak-how-to-wish-someone-a-happy-eid-in-11-different-languages-6721865/
https://www.slideshare.net/AbdulaiAbarika/eid-cards-sms-and-images
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/10/five-places-to-eat-in-london-this-eid-al-fitr-6700005/
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16511473/Happy-Eid-Everyone-Here-s-How-To-Greet-Muslims-in-Eid
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
No comments:
Post a Comment