Posted on October 14th, 2007 by Namrata  •  Filed under: Festivals

Ramadan or Ramadhan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

The word Ramadan is derived from the word ramd “to burn”. The month is spent fasting during the daylight hours from dawn to dusk. The name came from the time before the Islamic calendar, when the month of Ramadan fell in the summer. Fasting during this month is often thought to figuratively burn away all sins. Muslims believe that the Quran was sent down to the earth during this month. It is considered the most venerated and blessed month of the Islamic year. Prayers, sawm (fasting), charity, and self-accountability are especially stressed at this time; religious observances associated with Ramadan are kept throughout the month.Ramadan ends with the holiday Eid ul-Fitr, on which feasts are held.

I really feel the most prominent event of this month is the daytime fasting (sawm) practiced by most observant Muslims. Every day during the month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world get up before dawn to eat (sahur) and perform their fajr prayer. They break their fast when the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib (sunset), is due.

Muslims are prohibited from eating, drinking, smoking, and engaging in sexual intercourse from dawn (fajr) to sunset (maghrib). Fasting is essentially a means of seeking nearness to Allah and increasing one’s piety. One of the remote aims of fasting is to sympathise with those less fortunate ones who do not always have food and drink readily available. Also one must try to avoid cursing and thinking evil thoughts. Fasting is also viewed as a means of controlling one’s desires (of hunger, thirst, sexuality, anger) and focusing more on devoting oneself to God.

Reading Quran:

Sunni Muslims tend to perform the recitation of the entire Quran by means of special prayers, called Tarawih(Extra Prayers), which are held in the mosques every night of the month, during which a whole section of the Quran (‘Juz’, which is 1/30 of the Quran) is recited, so that by the end of the month the entire Quran has been completed.

Muslims also pay Zakaat (only applicable if one can afford it) during the month. They have to pay 2.5% of their wealth earn in that whole year. They can pay zakaat at any time of the year.

Since it is a festival of giving and sharing, Muslims prepare special foods and buy gifts for their family and friends and for giving to the poor and needy who cannot afford it. It is a festival time where Muslims buy new clothes, shoes, jewelery, other items of need, prepare special foods, invite people for Iftar (meal and snacks commemorating the breaking of Fast).

Muslims are encouraged to fast six days in Shawwal, the month following Ramadan that begins after Eid ul-Fitr; these days need not be consecutive. According to hadith, one who fasts the month of Ramadan and six days during Shawaal will be rewarded as though he fasted the entire year.

I think its great culture. There are many benefits of fasting. They must be feeling healthy and pure as fasting burn away all sins. By thinking about it only, i can feel positive and spiritual energy. Hats off to those people who had fast for last 30 days.

Benefits of fasting:

Sawm is intended to teach believers patience and self-control in their personal conduct, to help control passions and temper, to provide time for meditation and to strengthen one’s faith. Fasting also serves the purpose of cleansing the inner soul and freeing it of harm. Fasting inculcates a sense of fraternity and solidarity, as Muslims can feel and experience that which their needy and hungry brothers and sisters feel. However, even the poor, needy, and hungry participate in the fast. Moreover, Ramadan is a month of giving charity and sharing meals to break the fast together, the latter offering more reward than if eating alone. Most importantly, the fast is also seen as a great sign of obedience by the believer to Allah.

Eid Mubarak To all of you.