This week the Muslim world will be celebrating Eid al-Fitris which marks the end of the month long fasting of Ramadan. It is a special Muslim celebration. You can hear or see on all types of media this week, from TV commentators to political leaders to journalists and they all seem to have one thing in common; They are saying, “Eid Mubarak” which means nothing more than Happy Eid, but is Arabic. I am puzzled as to why we seem to be brown-nosing to our Muslim neighbours for Eid. Do they hold something that we want, are we afraid to offend them? This is bending over — why in Arabic?
Arabic and Hebrew both belong to the Semitic language family making them similar languages. The structure, pronunciations and words resemble one another. Even the basic greetings are remarkably similar,
- 'Assalamualaikum' Muslim greeting generally means 'peace be unto you'.
- 'Shalom aleikhem' Hebrew greeting meaning 'peace be upon you'.
But when it comes to Jewish celebrations, we all say 'happy hanauka' and think nothing of it. I can't recall anytime hearing, "Pesach Sameach" (PAY-sock sah-MEY-akh) to wish them a happy Passover. In fact, unlike the Muslim greeting above, I had to look up this Jewish greeting. Are we only playing favourites?
I am not Islamophobic, but the obsequious greeting used by non-muslims should stop. It is just a mannered display conjured up by the social elite. I wish we would stop pretending and simply wish them a good and happy Eid.
