Prayer

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Students at an Indonesian boarding school kneel in prayer on the first day of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar: photo by Binsar Bakkara/Associated Press, 6 June 2016

Students at an Indonesian boarding school kneel in prayer on the first day of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar: photo by Binsar Bakkara/Associated Press, 6 June 2016

Naomi Shihab Nye: Different Ways to Pray
 

There was the method of kneeling,

a fine method, if you lived in a country

where stones were smooth.

The women dreamed wistfully of bleached courtyards,   

hidden corners where knee fit rock.

Their prayers were weathered rib bones,

small calcium words uttered in sequence,

as if this shedding of syllables could somehow   

fuse them to the sky.

There were the men who had been shepherds so long   

they walked like sheep.

Under the olive trees, they raised their arms --

Hear us! We have pain on earth!

We have so much pain there is no place to store it!

But the olives bobbed peacefully

in fragrant buckets of vinegar and thyme.

At night the men ate heartily, flat bread and white cheese,   

and were happy in spite of the pain,   

because there was also happiness.

Some prized the pilgrimage,

wrapping themselves in new white linen   

to ride buses across miles of vacant sand.   

When they arrived at Mecca   

they would circle the holy places,   

on foot, many times,

they would bend to kiss the earth

and return, their lean faces housing mystery.

While for certain cousins and grandmothers

the pilgrimage occurred daily,   

lugging water from the spring

or balancing the baskets of grapes.

These were the ones present at births,

humming quietly to perspiring mothers.

The ones stitching intricate needlework into children’s dresses,   

forgetting how easily children soil clothes.

There were those who didn’t care about praying.

The young ones. The ones who had been to America.   

They told the old ones, you are wasting your time.

      Time? -- The old ones prayed for the young ones.   

They prayed for Allah to mend their brains,

for the twig, the round moon,

to speak suddenly in a commanding tone.

And occasionally there would be one

who did none of this,

the old man Fowzi, for example, Fowzi the fool,   

who beat everyone at dominoes,

insisted he spoke with God as he spoke with goats,   

and was famous for his laugh.

Naomi Shihab Nye: Different Ways to Pray from Different Ways to Pray, 1980

Indonesian Muslim women perform an evening prayer called Taraweeh, the night before the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia: photo by Adi Weda / EPA,  6 June 2016

   
Muslims praying Sunday in Bali, Indonesia, on the eve of Ramadan: photo by Firdia Lisnawati/Associated Press, 5 June 2016

Muslims praying Sunday in Bali, Indonesia, on the eve of Ramadan: photo by Firdia Lisnawati/Associated Press, 5 June 2016

A Muslim woman reads the Quran following noon prayers on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia: photo by Tatan Syuflana / AP, 6 June 2016

Syrians shop in a market ahead of the month of Ramadan, in Damascus, Syria. Muslims throughout the world will begin to mark Ramadan this week.: photo by Youssef Badawi / EPA, 5 June 2016

Palestinians decorate the main entrance of the Old city of Nablus with colourful umbrellas as they prepare to welcome Ramadan in the West Bank city of Nablus: photo by Alaa Badarneh / EPA, 5 June 2016 

Syrian refugee children gather as the president of Secours populaire arrives in the village of Al-Aqibiya near Sidon in Southern Lebanon to overlook delivering food aid.: photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP, 6 June 2016

Syrian refugee children gather as the president of Secours populaire arrives in the village of Al-Aqibiya near Sidon in Southern Lebanon to overlook delivering food aid.: photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP, 6 June 2016

Indonesian Muslims hold prayers to mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al Akbar mosque in Surabaya: photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP, 5 June 2016

Indonesian Muslims hold prayers to mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al Akbar mosque in Surabaya: photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP, 5 June 2016

Whirling dervishes perform to mark the first day of the holy month of Ramadan at El-Moez Street in historical Fatimid Cairo, Egypt yesterday. Devout Muslims throughout the world began to celebrate Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, refraining from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset.: photo by Amr Nabil/AP, 6 June 2016



Whirling dervishes perform to mark the first day of the holy month of Ramadan at El-Moez Street in historical Fatimid Cairo, Egypt yesterday. Devout Muslims throughout the world began to celebrate Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, refraining from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset.: photo by Amr Nabil/AP, 6 June 2016


#Pakistan #Ramadan2016 Prayer after viewing the new Crescent moon in Islamabad #AFP Photo by Aamir Qureshi: image via  Aurelia BAILLY @Aurelia BAILLY, 6 June 2016

 #Malaysia #Ramadan2016 Breaking the fast in Kuala Lumpur #AFP Photo by @MananVatsyayana: image via  Aurelia BAILLY @Aurelia BAILLY, 6 June 2016

SYRIA - The Milky Way is seen from the rebel-held town of Douma on the first day of Ramadan. By @SameerAlDoumy #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 6 June 2016 

BAHRAIN - Man looks at sky to spot 1st crescent of moon marking start of Ramadan in Karzakkan. By Mohammed Al Shaikh: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 6 June 2016

SYRIA - A man reacts following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces in Bustan al-Qasr: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 5 June 2016 

This is what remains of his house which was destroyed by the Syrian regime aircraft in Aleppo Ph: Baraa Al Halabi: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 3 June 2016 
 

SYRIA - A Syrian man carries a severely wounded baby following a barrel bomb attack near Aleppo. By @baraaalhalabi: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 June 2016


Un hombre cubierto de polvo tras un ataque aéreo atribuido a fuerzas del régimen cerca de Alepo @baraaalhalabi #AFP: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 31 May 2016

There were those who didn’t care about praying

SYRIA - A young man carries a pile of wheat in a field near in rebel-controlled town of Hamouria. By @SameerAlDoumy: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 6 June 2016
 

A man runs from the scene of a terror attack at the Ambassador Hotel, after a car bomb exploded at the top Mogadishu hotel that houses several MPs, killing several people. The bombing was followed by a gun battle. Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group was chased out of the Somali capital Mogadishu in 2011, but remains a dangerous threat in both Somalia and neighboring Kenya, where the group carries out frequent attacks.: photo by Mohamed Abdiwahab / AFP, 1 June 2016

"Je suis déjà mort, je n'ai qu'à continuer". Témoignage du fond de l'enfer somalien #AFP: image via Making-of AFP @AFPMakingof, 6 June 2016

Firefighters try to stop a blaze at an oil well in Kirkuk, northern Iraq: photo by EPA, 2 June 2016