HAPPY EID UL FITR – TIME TO REMEMBER

Dear REIDINers

Wish you all a great, blessed, happy and sweet EID UL FITR/BAYRAM ahead.

RAMADAN is such a wonderful month for all of us to stop for a moment and think about the reason of our existence in this world, where we are heading, what is there hereafter.  

It’s a MONTH for us to remember that:

·         According to UN Numbers 20,864 people will die of hunger today!!!

·         Every five seconds, a child dies from hunger-related diseases – by the time I finish this email 60 kids will die!

·         1.5 million – Total number of children that die every year from hunger that is 4000+ children a day

·         33% – Percent of world population considered to be starving that is around 1.8bln+ people

·         Two-thirds of the world’s hungry live in just 7 countries: Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan

RAMADAN is the key to true, sincere, extensive, and universal thankfulness. “For at other times of the year, most people whose circumstances are not difficult do not realize the value of many bounties since they do not experience real hunger. If their stomachs are full and especially if they are rich, they do not understand the degree of bounty present in a piece of dry bread. But when it is time to break the fast, the sense of taste testifies that the dry bread is a precious divine bounty in the eyes of a believer. During Ramadan, everyone from the monarch to the destitute manifests a sort of gratitude through understanding the value of those bounties.”

It’s a GIFT to think about the people who doesn’t have 1% of what we WASTE a day.

“God Almighty invites the rich to assist the poor, so that through the hunger experienced in fasting, we can truly understand the pains and hunger which the poor suffer. If there were no fasting, many self-indulgent rich would be unable to perceive just how grievous are hunger and poverty and how needy of compassion are those who suffer them.”

RAMADAN  is NOT about starving and getting full at night or good food or candy. None of these go to God Almighty.

RAMADAN is about remembering our inability and weaknesses. Without God’s mercy we can’t move a finger. Then Iftar comes and it becomes a feast.

RAMADAN is about training our instinctual soul and its gratitute for all divine bounties around us.

Now it’s time for all of us to step back and think about what we can do better to grab true meaning of RAMADAN.

Giving Fitr to the poor is a good start! Also making happy the loved ones around you with gifts beyond candies for instance you can make a small donation to a charity helping children around the world in their name.

All the bests,

Ahmet Kayhan

CEO

REIDIN