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8 Aug, 2013

Ramadan a chance to reflect on charity, selflessness – William McKeith, SMH

By William McKeith

For the first time in my life I have spent Ramadan working among the Muslim people of Lakemba. As a non-Muslim, who has lived and worked with mainly Christian and secular families, and had very little exposure to the Muslim faith, this holiest month in the Islamic Lunar calendar has concentrated my attention on the many noteworthy aspects the Islamic community brings to Sydney.

As the acting principal of a Sydney Islamic school, a block from the large Lakemba Mosque, I have the rare privilege of sharing my days with families from Bangladesh, Lebanon, Egypt, Indonesia and many others who are fairly recent arrivals to Australia.

For them, Ramadan is a unique opportunity for spiritual and social rejuvenation and bonding. It is a time to build personal taqwa, or piety, and to commit oneself to living a kind, gentle and forgiving life.

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