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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 19, 2005 Since You Asked Stamps honor Muslim festivals We buy our stamps from the USPS by mail. Recently, they substituted a stamp for our "Christmas theme" request. It is a 37-cent green one, with Arabic script in the shape of a Christmas tree. At the top is "Eid" and at the bottom, the word "GREETINGS." We have no idea what the Arabic script says. Do you? Can you find out from your references? And, what is meant by "Eid?" To issue such a stamp at this CHRISTmastime and in the midst of high tensions with Arab nations and Muslims seems to me to be in poor taste (at best) and insulting to Christians. I ask "What is our government thinking, if at all!!! We have strongly hesitated to use these stamps on our Christmas mailings of cards and letters. Thanks. — Bob K., Horton Plaza, Medford That was no substitution, Bob, it’s part of a regularly rotating collection in the Holiday Celebration Series. Advertisement The Eid stamp, introduced Sept. 1, 2001, commemorates the two most important festivals — or "eids" — in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr (which celebrates the end of the fasting of Ramadan) and Eid al-Adha (which celebrates both the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca and the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son at God’s command). According to usps.com: "On these days, Muslims wish each other "Eid mubarak," the phrase featured in Islamic calligraphy on the stamp. "Eid mubarak" translates literally as "blessed festival," and can be paraphrased as "May your religious holiday be blessed." This phrase can be applied to both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha." The script is in more the shape of the top of a minaret than a Christmas tree — though timed similarly, the festivals have nothing to do with Christmas. The artwork for the stamp was done by renowned Muslim-American calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya of Arlington, Va. According to Snopes.com (our favorite site to debunk wild e-mail claims), your concerns have been shared by others since Sept. 11 and a campaign to boycott the stamp has spread through e-mail. But as Snopes’ entry points out, no proceeds from the stamp’s sale go to any cause other than delivering the mail, and, perhaps most importantly, like it or not, the United States is home to more than 6 million Muslims. Their numbers are set to surpass Jews in America by 2010 to become the nation’s second-most populous religion after Christianity. So the stamp series is simply an effort to honor the varied beliefs of all Americans, not just the majority. Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to Stamps honor Muslim festivals ">[email protected] . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Distance Education Computer Security Cheap Website Hosting Discount Hotel Reservations dvd-r Online Pharmacy Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews High End Computers Online Casino News Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Student Loans Advertisement s