An American Ramadan

"Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant -- the Ten Commandments." Exodus 34:28.

It is Ramadan in America.

Somewhere, a young soldier is running -- and fasting.

My first Ramadan, I was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and no one had told me physical exhaustion was a good excuse to break the fast.

When I passed out, my battle buddies drug me beneath a tree and laid a wet rag across my head.

Somewhere, the sun is setting and a circle of old Arab men are huddled behind a minaret, lighting their first cigarettes -- and hoping their daughters won't see.

Somewhere, a cabbie is arguing with a fare. He remembers the holy month, pulls away, and thanks God for the miracle of air conditioning.

The Prophet Muhammad said, "Fasting is a shield; so when one of you is fasting he should neither indulge in obscene language nor should he raise his voice in anger. If someone attacks him or insults him, let him say: 'I am fasting!'" (Sahih Muslim).

It is Ramadan in America.

In Galvez, Louisiana, Jacob curls up in a cooling duct, suspended 120 feet off the ground. When they call him on his radio, he picks up his welding gear and goes back to molding steel.

His foreman asks why in God's name he won't take a drink, and Jacob responds, "so I know what it's like for the people forced to live this way every day."

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." Matthew 25:35.

In Uptown, we walk to the corner store. I pull a bottle of water from the cooler, sweating and seductive. I hand it to the man laying on the sidewalk out front.

"Why did you do that?" My friend asks.

"He looked thirsty." I say.

"Was he thirsty... or are you?" He responds.

It is Ramadan in America.

Somewhere, a doctor is remembering her mother's gulab jamun, and the smell of Karachi at night -- only a few more hours to sunset.

Somewhere, a refugee is getting off a plane, war and loss behind them, and there heart is full of hope.

The Prophet Muhammad said, "Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange. So, glad tidings to the stranger!" (Sahih Bukhari).

It is Ramadan in America.

Somewhere, a student lines up for prayer. He turns his cap backwards so the bill won't hit the ground when he presses his forehead to the carpet. He honors a 1,400 year old tradition, and celebrates the Saints 2010 Super Bowl Championship -- simultaneously.

"O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become pious, attain salvation, and guard against evil." Noble Qur'an 2:183.

In New Orleans, we stand for taraweeh, shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot.

As the Imam begins to recite, the words of the Qur'an mingle with the distant, muffled, sound of fireworks.

It is July 4th, and it is Ramadan in America.