Will Eid al-Fitr Bring Hope For Arab World?
Eid al-Fitr is being celebrated with an especially heavy heart this year, with massacres still taking place in Syria, hatred in Egypt boiling over and the closure of Gaza continuing.
![PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/ Palestinians buy sweets in Jerusalem's Old City ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, August 7, 2013. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: RELIGION FOOD) - RTX12D0X](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2013/08/eid%20al-fitr.jpg/eid%20al-fitr.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=Gs63M2Km)
"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.