The African National Congress (ANC) extends its best wishes to the Muslim community as they prepare to observe the month of Ramadan.
Ramadan is the most sacred month on the Muslim calendar and marks the time when Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an, was revealed. It also is a time of devotion and reflection when Muslims abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.
Adherents to the Muslim faith regarded this holy month as a time for spiritual reflection and performing acts of charity, practicing patience and forgiveness.
The ANC lauds the activities of Muslim charitable organizations such as Gift of the Givers, who are a constant presence in the local philanthropic community- and who provide humanitarian services in South Africa and beyond to the needy, regardless of colour or creed.
The majority of South Africans are people of deep and abiding faith – and the interfaith community has always had an instrumental role in South Africa; not just as a voice of moral authority, but also in working alongside the ANC as it strives to realize a county free of the evils of racism, sexism, poverty and discrimination.
The ANC wishes all Muslims in South Africa as well as our comrades from fraternal political organizations and in the local diplomatic community well over the fast. We further urge our Muslim compatriots to use this opportunity of this blessed month that represents peace, unity and compassion, to once again renew their pursuit of peace and justice for all. We hope that this period of deep introspection serves to unite all South Africans and instill in us a strong sense of love and compassion for our fellow South Africans.
Ramadan Kareem.
As we prepare to usher in Ramadan the ANC calls on South Africans to remember the plight of the Palestinian hunger strikers. For them, this Ramadan will not be a happy time to be spent with family and friends, but in incarceration. The ANC remains steadfast in its commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people and their right to live in freedom in dignity.
Issued by the African National Congress
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