"Kul A’am wa-Antum bi-Khayr." Happy New Year! That is how people greet each other during the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which is being celebrated on Aug. 7-8 throughout the Muslim world to mark the end of the Ramadan month of fasting. This season marks the completion of the writing of the Quran — at least according to one tradition — but for most people celebrating the festival today, its significance has come to be forgiveness, camaraderie and peace. It is a holiday in which conflicts and disputes are resolved, and everyone starts anew.
This year, more than any other year, the traditional blessing is recited in a much more supplicatory tone than usual. The Arabic word "khayr" has so many positive connotations. It means joy, happiness, a livelihood and a secure and promising future. After such a bloody year in the Middle East, however, a dark shadow looms over these expectations for a better tomorrow. The Arab Spring has taken its toll in victims, and it continues to take its toll, so that this optimistic metaphor — once an expression of liberation from the yoke of tyranny and dictatorship — is no longer very accurate. Spring has transformed itself into a harsh winter, and dark, ominous clouds still obscure the sky.
