Editor’s Note – Once again, our government is catering to the most intolerant people on Earth. It has decided that this year, since Ramadan falls over the period of our Independence Day, July fourth, the US Embassy in Jakarta held its celebration a month early.
Since the Muslim world operates on a 354 day calendar, a cycle based on the moon, each year it backs up eleven days on our calendar. 2015 is also the year 1436 AH on the Hijra Calendar until October of this year. That calendar began in 622 AD.
Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar and begins with the hilal, the Arabic word for crescent or “new moon,” in the ninth month of each year.
But because the lunar cycle steadily moves backward compared to the Gregorian calendar, Ramadan falls earlier and earlier each year.
During the summer months, the days are much longer and hotter, making fasting more difficult. Late in the holy month, Muslims celebrate the Laylat al-Qadr, or Night of Power.
This is the anniversary of the night on which Allah first revealed the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad. While different traditions celebrate this night in the last 10 days of Ramadan, the 27th night is the most widely celebrated date, when the Koran says, “The grand night is better than a thousand months.”
Thank goodness this is not 1998, 1999, or 2000 or they would have had to postpone Christmas as well. In those three years, Ramadan coincided with December 25th. On second thought, though Christmas is a National Holiday, the likelihood that a Christmas party would be held in any government agency is remote at best.
What next, we have to change our calendar to suit the Muslim world? Tolerance of the intolerant. We wonder if they did the same thing last year because Ramadan began on June 29th; and then there is next year when it begins on June 7th.
US Embassy moves Fourth of July Celebration to June 4 ‘out of respect for Ramadan’
In a mind-boggling gesture of official US Government dhimmitude, the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia celebrated our sacred Independence Day holiday on June 4, so as to avoid any conflict with the month-long Ramadan celebration.
If you think any Islamic countries – there are 57 of them (not counting ISIS) that count themselves officially Islamic – will move their DC embassy’s celebration of Ramadan to accommodate our Independence holiday, I have some bridges to sell you.
The Jakarta Post (hat tips: Pamela Geller and Jihad Watch) writes:
“US Embassy celebrates 4th of July earlier out of respect for Ramadhan,” by Dylan Amirio
The United States Embassy enjoyed its annual 4th of July celebration on Thursday, June 4, one month early, in order to respect the upcoming Ramadhan month, which will begin on June 17 and last for one month.
Embassy staff present on the Innovative and Sustainable Design of the New U.S. Embassy Jakarta
US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake and US Ambassador to ASEAN Nina Hachigian presided over the festivities, which involved brass band renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner and the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya.
Blake explained that the theme of the event leaned toward “green” development, which supported the US’ focus on building and promoting a green economy and more environmentally sustainable development.
He also praised Indonesia’s performance as a fully functioning democracy, aiming for further collaboration between the two countries in the years to come.
“The US will continue to support Indonesia in the future through its democratic achievements. Democracy is an American value which we have championed since [the country’s birth in] 1776,” Blake told the crowd during the festivities at his residence near Taman Suropati, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.
He added that moving the 4th of July celebrations to June 4 was one done out of respect for the upcoming Ramadhan month, which will last from June 17 to July 17.
The event also showcased a number of American products and businesses, including the Zero FX Electric Motorcycles, which Blake explained were an environmentally friendly vehicle used by the California Highway Patrol.
Officially, embassies are the national territory of the country being represented, not of the host country. So there is no need to accommodate local sensibilities in celebrating our most sacred national holiday. Perhaps the pipe dream of peddling electric motorcycles to one of the world’s biggest petroleum exporters that happens to have a pretty large conventional motorcycle industry of its own took precedence over our national dignity?
It is a bedrock of Islamic scripture that infidels must bow down in submission to Islam and Muslims, being tolerated so long as they endure humiliations and pay a special tax. Muslims have no obligations at all to infidels, which is why you will never see [any] counterpart to the submission just demonstrated by the US Embassy in Jakarta.
This is a moment of national dhimmitude and deep shame. I hope someone will ask Marie Harf to explain if any Muslim countries plan on moving their embassy’s Ramadan celebrations to accommodate our Independence Day. That would allow for some great Harfing.
