Ramadan - A Month of Fasting

O who believe, fasting is decreed for you
as it was decreed for those before you;
perchance you will guard yourselves.
...
The month of Ramadan is the month
in which the Quran was sent down,
a guidance for the people,
and clear verses of guidance
and criterion.

[Quran: Chapter 2, 183]

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. The Month of Ramadan is also when it is believed the Holy Quran was sent down from heaven. Muslims practice sawm, or fasting, for the entire month of Ramadan. Fasting is the fourth of the Five Pillars (duties) of Islam. As with other Islamic duties, all able Muslims take part in sawm from about age twelve.

The Fast of Ramadan lasts the entire month. Ramadan is a time when Muslims concentrate on their faith and spend less time on the concerns of their everyday lives. It is a time of worship and contemplation. During the Fast of Ramadan strict restraints are placed on the daily lives of Muslims. They are not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours. Smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. A cloudy sky may delay or prolong the Ramadan fast. For, the beginning and the end of the fast depends on the sighting of the crescent moon. It takes one trustworthy witness to testify before the authorities that the new moon has been sighted. At the end of the day the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the iftar. In the evening following the iftar it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends. The fast is resumed the next morning.

According to the Holy Quran:
One may eat and drink at any time during the night "until you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daylight: then keep the fast until night."

The good that is acquired through the fast can be destroyed by any of five things:

• The telling of a lie
• Slander
• Denouncing someone behind his back
• A false oath
• Greed or covetousness

These are considered offensive at all times, but are most offensive during the Fast of Ramadan.

During Ramadan, it is common for Muslims to go to the Mosque and spend several hours praying and studying the Quran. In addition to the five daily prayers, during Ramadan Muslims recite a special prayer called the Taraweeh prayer (Night Prayer). The length of this prayer is usually 2-3 times as long as the daily prayers. Some Muslims spend the entire night in prayer.

According to Quran, for a person who is sick or on a journey, fasting may be postponed until "another equal number of days." The elderly and the incurably sick are exempted through the daily feeding of one poor person.

On the evening of the 27th day of the month, Muslims celebrate the Laylat-al-Qadr (the Night of Power). It is believed that on this night Muhammad first received the revelation of the Holy Quran. And according to the Quran, this is when God determines the course of the world for the following year

When the fast ends (the first day of the month of Shawwal) it is celebrated for three days in a holiday called Id-al-Fitr (the Feast of Fast Breaking). Gifts are exchanged. Friends and family gather to pray in congregation and to share large meals. In some cities fairs are held to celebrate the end of the Fast of Ramadan.

In the Quran,the development of the Ramadan fast may be traced from the injunction to fast on 'Ashura', the 10th of Muharram, probably once identical with Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. This injunction was abrogated by a command to fast during Ramadan (2:184). Unlike the period of fasting observed in other major faiths, fast in Ramadan is seen less as an atonement and more as an obedient response to a command from God.