"We will be like mid America."

[Mark Spahn]

Dear Imam Saad "Dr. 80" Mohammed
< isl...@cox.net >:

Read this article in today's Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3004302/Parents-anger-school-bans-pupils-watching-eclipse-cultural-religious-reasons.html
and in the middle you will find the exclamation of a
British parent, "We will be like mid America!"

Where is "mid America"?
Answer: It's Oklahoma!
It must make you proud that your Mercy Madrassah
in Oklahoma City is taken worldwide as the model for
the school rituals to follow during an eclipse of the sun.
http://www.mercyschool.com/

In the days of jahiliyya, the pagans used to pray to
the gods to keep the snake from devouring the sun,
but in our modern era, we realize that a solar eclipse
is an occasion for hours and hours of Quran recitation.

For the story of what to do during a solar eclipse,
consult section F20 of _Reliance of the Traveller_
('Umdat al-Salik), which is summarized here:
http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/03/eclipsed-by-sharia/#more-35835
It makes fascinating reading.

As explained there, the prescribe Eclipse Prayer
involves reciting all five of the first chapters of the
Quran, and as you know, the chapters in the Quran
are arranged from longest to shortest, so reciting
them will be very time-consuming.
(Hey, what do orthodox Jews do during a solar eclipse?
Do they have to recite the whole Pentateuch?)

Since solar eclipses occur so seldom, I too had
to review the rules for what to do. I did not know,
for instance, that "women who have attractive figures"
should not be present. This must have caused personnel
problems for you as an academic administrator,
in deciding which of your female teachers are
attractive enough to be ordered to stay home on
Eclipse Day. You must have had to deal with
rivalry and jealousy among your female staff.

And once the eclipse has ended, there is
even more work for you as an imam:
You have to deliver not one but two sermons,
each as elaborate as your weekly Friday khutbah.

So how did your schoolkids do yesterday?
I hope they had a fun and educational experience
in eclipse watching and Quran recitation,
and in listening to your two sermons.

For your students, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime
experience to learn both Quran recitation and,
from your sermons, the science of the Quran,
and its rejection of Copernicus's heliocentric heresy.
-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)