The ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims around the globe refrain during the day from eating and drinking, begins July 20.
Lebanese orphans play traditional drums during a ceremony to celebrate the coming Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Beirut.
ANWAR AMRO / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Muslim female detainees offer prayers during a gathering in the yard at the Narathiwat jail in Thailand’s restive southern Narathiwat province. The Thai government opened the doors of a prison for relatives to visit their loved ones, welcoming the holy month of Ramadan.
MADAREE TOHLALA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A vendor cleans Ramadan lanterns displayed for sale at a shop ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo.
AMR ABDALLAH DALSH / REUTERS
Iraqis shop for food at a market as they prepare for Ramadan in Baghdad’s Sadr City.
AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Laborers put up a tarp to shade the area in front of the Dome of the Rock in preparation for Ramadan on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, where the Al-Aqsa mosque (not seen) also stands, in Jerusalem’s Old City.
DARREN WHITESIDE / REUTERS
A Bahraini woman gestures as she prepares treats and refreshments for children and passersby inside a decorated area in front of her home in the western village of Malkiya, Bahrain.
Hasan Jamali / AP
A Bahraini man arranges decorations in Malkiya for a celebration of the birthday of Imam Mahdi, grandson of Islam’s founding prophet. The event, known as Nasfa and most widely celebrated in Shiite Muslim areas, is held on the full moon night midway through the Islamic month preceding the holy month of Ramadan.
Hasan Jamali / AP
Source: washingtonpost
