Muslims: Ready for Ramadan
Ramadan Kareem! That is the common greeting to wish a bountiful or generous month at the start of Ramadan.
Sunday night at sunset marked the start of the holiest month of the Islamic calendar for Muslims – a month filled with prayer, fasting, charity and community get-togethers.
According to Islam’s lunar calendar — meaning a day extends from one sunset to the next — at dusk on Sunday, the date changed to Ramadan 1, 1432.
On the first night of Ramadan, millions of Muslims around the world visited their places of worship called Masjids, or Mosques, for special prayers where lengthy amounts of the Qur’an, or the Muslim holy book, are recited. It is common to recite at least one chapter each night so that, by the end of the month, all 30 chapters of the book are recited.
Fasting
What Ramadan is best known for is its daily fasting. Muslims who are healthy and able refrain from food and drink from before the sun rises to just as the sun sets. That’s about 16 hours of fasting in one day, when Ramadan falls in August.
Since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, it moves up about 10 days every year, compared to the more commonly used Gregorian calendar. My first fast, as a 9-year-old, was back when Ramadan used to be in December and fasting days were about 10 hours. My stomach will reminisce about those days and my brain will wonder how I will last during these 16-hour fasts without eating or drinking. Saying no to water will be especially trying amidst the incessant heat waves. But I, and everyone who fasts with me, always make it through.
There’s a strong will in Ramadan – a determination and strength in believing that anything is possible. Muslims see Ramadan as a re-charger for the rest of the year, where we acquire God consciousness and self-restraint. Feeling the hunger pangs of fasting during the day forces us to remember why we are doing it and that fills the mind with thoughts of God.
Self Control
Self-restraint is also an underlying value that comes along with Ramadan. If a person can stop eating and drinking during daylight hours, which are perfectly acceptable things to do, then there is no reason why that person cannot stop doing unacceptable things. Therefore, a fasting Muslim is a patient Muslim.
Sunday was the first evening of Ramadan and Monday is the first day of Ramadan, which means it is also the first day of fasting. Muslims all around will wake up in the earliest hours of the morning when the sky is still dark to eat a pre-fast breakfast, called suhoor.
At dawn, all eating and drinking stops until dusk, when Muslims get together for iftar, a meal to break the fast. It is said in Islamic tradition that feeding a fasting person gives the provider of the meal all the good deeds of the fasting person, without taking away from the faster. For this reason, many Muslims host iftar parties or send over meals to their Muslims neighbors to get their share of rewards.
Various verses in the Qur’an speak to the tradition of fasting. Some of the most common appear in chapter two of the book.
“Oh you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous …” (Qur’an – Chapter 2, Verse 183)
Charity
Charity and other good acts are also emphasized during the month of Ramadan. Good deeds are believed to be rewarded multiple times more than in other months in the year, so Muslims scramble to do their best whether it’s feeding the poor, donating their money or taking part in random acts of kindness.
All in all, Ramadan is a special time for Muslims where family, friends and faith take priority. The next time you see your Muslim neighbor remember to wish them a happy and blessed Ramadan.
