Ramadan, sacred month of fasting and prayer for Muslims
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Nearly 1.5 billion Muslims around the world are called early this week to begin the month of fasting and prayer rite of Ramadan, which commemorates the revelation received by Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
- Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, with the profession of faith, the obligation to pray five times a day, almsgiving and pilgrimage to Mecca. During this time, believers abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset.
- For Muslims, Ramadan is a month of piety, charity and frugality. Fasting is designed as a spiritual endeavor, a struggle against the seduction of earthly pleasures.
- Ramadan is the ninth month of the Hijra calendar, which Muslims refer to in their religious festivals and based on the lunar cycle. This calendar has eleven days shorter than the solar calendar.
- For this reason, the date of beginning and ending of Ramadan varies each year. Ramadan this year, the 1.431ème of history should begin 10 or 11 August.
- The first day is determined during the "night of the doubt" in which one observes the appearance of the first quarter of the new moon, which must be visible to the naked eye and duly noted. Theologians and religious scholars gather so every year to fix the precise time which varies depending on the location of the globe.
- Observance of the fast is required of all believers who have passed the age of puberty. Even if children are taught, it is recommended that they gradually get used to. Pregnant or nursing mothers, patients and passengers have a right not to fast, but the duty to submit to them as they are able to do so.
- The feast traditionally gathers families at the break daily fasting. The meal at the end of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) is celebrated in family.
- Ennaharonline/ M. O.
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