An Inclusive Litany

11/26/01

In response to a five-year lobbying effort, the Postal Service released a stamp with Arabic writing commemorating Islam's two most important festivals, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The stamp must be reissued three times for it to earn a permanent place in the United States Holiday Collection. But it was unfortunately released a few days before the attacks on New York and Washington, at which point it became very unpopular, not least among postal workers threatened with anthrax exposure. Things got so bad that Aly Abuzaakouk of the American Muslim Council said that September 11 "has become a catastrophe for the stamps, too."

[Ed.: During the stamp's unveiling ceremony, Rep. Tom Davis (D-VA) announced: "This stamp is an appropriate symbol of the values American Muslims represent. I look forward to buying a whole sheet of them and sending them on my Christmas cards."]