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June 28th, 2014
08:12 AM ET
The Belief Blog guide to Ramadan(CNN) - For 1.6 billion people, the holiest month of the year began this past Saturday. The exact starting date sometimes depends on the locale, but most Muslims across the globe will be fasting, praying and abstaining from sex and smoking during daylight hours. Many call it a time of spiritual purity and rededication to God. Here's everything you need to know about the observance. What is Ramadan? Ramadan is the name of the ninth month in the Hijri, or Islamic calendar. The word derives from the Arabic ramida or ar-ramad meaning a fierce, burning heat. How important is it? Ramadan is the most sacred month in the Muslim year, commemorating the revelation of the Holy Quran - the sacred religious text of Islam - by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Mohammed, according to Islamic tradition. What does it involve? The main obligation of the festival is the Sawm, or fast. Believers are expected to refrain from eating and drinking from dawn (fajr) until dusk (maghrib) for the entire month, a discipline that is thought to burn away all sins (hence the origin of the word 'ramadan'). The Sawm is considered one of the five "pillars," or foundations of Islam, the others being the Shahadah (profession of faith), Salat (praying five times daily), Zakat (charity) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). When does the festival start? Ramadan begins with the sighting of the new moon. Because it is calculated according to a lunar rather than a fixed calendar, its precise dates change from year to year, and it can begin at different times in different parts of the world. According to the Fiqh Council of North America, Ramadan started this year on June 28 and will end July 28. Is there more to Ramadan than fasting? Yes. As well as eating and drinking, the faithful are expected to abstain from smoking and sexual relations between dawn and dusk, and to abjure lies, slander, greed, covetousness, giving false oath and denouncing someone behind their back (all of these are prohibited throughout the year by Islam. To commit them during Ramadan, however, is considered particularly sinful). Muslims are also expected to recite a special 'night prayer', the taraweeh, in addition to the five daily prayers. Is every Muslim expected to fast? No. Young children - before the onset of puberty - are exempted, as are those with an illness or medical condition that would be exacerbated by fasting. If the medical condition is only temporary, the sufferer is required to make up for the days missed once they have recovered. If the condition is permanent, the spiritual benefits of fasting can be obtained by feeding a needy person for a month. What happens if you break the fast? If a believer intentionally breaks the fast, or performs any other prohibited activity, they become subject to a penalty, or kaffara (literally, atonement). This can take the form of an extra 60 days of fasting at the end of Ramadan, feeding 60 people in need, or - not quite so easy in the modern world - freeing a slave. And what happens at the end of Ramadan? Ramadan officially ends on the first day of the month of Shawwal. This heralds a three-day celebration called Eid al-Fitr, or the "Festival of Breaking Fast", a joyous occasion during which believers attend mosques, give gifts, visit friends and family and decorate their homes.
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Reblogged this on Ghost River Studios Blog.
Muhammad was a murderer
Was Dr. Mohammed anything like Dr. Kevorkian?
Is it time to throw acid on girls faces again? it comes around so fast.
Not a hypocrite? Of course not. You are a Poe. Well done!
I do not judge a religion by human behavior, what bothers me about any religion is the lack of any data to back any of them up.
Well if you want data then here is a site for you: http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/index2.php
here's a taste of "data" you could find in the quran
THE VOYAGE TO THE MOON
And [I swear by] the moon when it is full, you will mount up stage by stage! What is the matter with them, that they have no faith? (Qur'an, 84:18-20)
After referring to the Moon, the above verses then say that people will mount up stage by stage. The term tarkabunna comes from the verb rakiba, (to mount, walk on a path, follow, embark upon, set about, participate, or rule). In the light of these meanings, it is very likely that the expression "you will mount up stage by stage" refers to a vehicle to be boarded.
Indeed, the astronauts' spacecraft pass through each layer of the atmosphere one by one, and then begin to pass through the Moon's gravitational field. Thus, the Moon is reached by moving through individual layers. In addition, the swearing by the Moon in Surat al-Inshiqaq 18 further strengthens this emphasis, meaning that the verse may well be a sign that humanity will travel to the Moon. (Allah knows best.)
And there is MUCH more where that came from. I could give you a site id you want
People do misguided when they go far from religion, you are right we should not judge a car by its driver.
Nice.
by Islamic scholar Hindu-bot, Islam is NOT a religion, but a way of life.
Remember what ALLAH SUBHANA WATALAH says:
And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be
accepted of him and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.
[Al-Quran 3:85]
These are the true words of our CREATOR, So here the word of scholar has no value. Hope you understand.
Shakira,,,
Your womanly intellect is a refreshing encounter and I am in adornment of your wordage usages,,, I though am but a solitary man whose needs are to take care of my only brother for he has social issues and I try wholeheartedly to keep us both above our nations ever faulty social regulations holding back much needed resources. May your Muslim faith give you pleasurable understandings in your faith-life. Our Godly father of all things created is awesomely grand and He may well have had too many first born sons when in the very beginnings of Creationism, God had to do away with many of them in order for their survival of the most fittest sons to begin building all these celestial creations we know of as suns, and stars and moons and planets,,,
Wow... what a load......... is this where all the ku ku nuts live??
What is your point? That Churchill abhorred proselytizing religions. Christianity has Islam beat in that account. Your use of a source to make a point about Islam when you disagree with other points in the same quote is a new technique I've never seen. You discredit the source and use it in the same stroke. Wow.
I can see that you feel like Islam is something people should be concerned about, Rainer. Some of us see all religion the way you see Islam.
Khan, I admire you for your patient descriptions of your faith. Good job.
However, you're wasting your time if you expect converts. No amount of patient explanation will help rational people to adopt irrational beliefs. Yahweh / Allah / Jesus / Satan, and all other human-invented gods are a fiction surrounded by fictional dogma. It's your right to believe in them, of course, but those who weren't brought up in the dogma are highly unlikely to take it seriously.
He isn't trying to convert anyone he is just explaining what Ramadan is for those who don't know.
Tragically the idling storm relinquishes its heavily raised burdens giving the rains up to a fondness farewell. The baron wasted lands wreak of its rainy wantonness ever drying the foment of landing appraisals awaiting the vacated acquiescence of a spring like thawing of vesper debasements chicaneries. The pleasures of the seeded landscapes are mooring in waited abstinent frolicking upon the rainy newness to come and be as a bellowing comforter in needs of replenishment. Eat there upon the fruits of seeded garnishments and fill up one's watered vestments. The clouds cry out and teardrops ensue. Alas, the wallflowers are deemed satisfied and life begins once again.
The rainy wantonness to comfortered satisfied land like the fondness to a spring of seeds cry out and land like there mooring storm repleasures of vestment fruits once as arewell. The foments chicaneries. The fruits arewell. The idlinquiescence againy newness to come agains giving upon wally the bell. The foment frolicking apprain waitinents heavily rain Tragicaneries. The seeds wreak of its rainy needed satisfied absting comforter drying in newness to coments rainy wantonness fare mooring in needs
You know, requiring your toadies to fast is every bit as absurd and pointless as demanding their foreskins.
You have lack of understanding about religion [Islam], you should study Islam.
When you can provide even the tiniest evidence supporting your superstition, then I will consider it. Otherwise, yours is just another idiotic illusion in this world. Not going to study Thor either.
Your obvious denial of truth is not worth my efforts to enlighten you. The evidence of the Creator is all around you, and the Quran is self-evident if you know what to look for. Good luck with your life!
The truth is out there... Fight the future!
Hey there Boneless clucker,
We Gentiles need more then a healthy does of chicken hearts and gizzards to prattle with,,, Maybe a good slab of calf liver and spring onions with green peppers all sautéed in olive's oil,,, It's chicken chow Mein tonight folks!
When my opponents can provide nothing but ad hominem, I have won.
Hey"Boneless Chicken",why does anyone have to be your opponent? I'm willing to wager that like most non-believers,you probably know very few,if any,actual adherents of any of the so-called Abrahamic faiths;it's obvious you've never did any in-depth studies of same.Why don't you try having a calm,non-judgemental conversation with a well-informed member of Christianity,Islam,or Judaism? You may actually discover that we all of us are not your"opponents"(though admittedly some may prove to be,sadly!)-Peace In Christ!!
Muslims seem willing to die for their beliefs. Non-Muslims know it's best to let the sons-of-bitches who want to die for their beliefs do all the dying.
Instead of quoting dead man [Chuchill], who knew nothing about Islam. Why don't read about it? Try studying Koran without getting mad or upset.
I see. Virulent indolent militants.
Hello Rainy Braen,,,
While Churchill was a great orator, his words meant much back in those days but how soon does history tend to overlook such orations,,, For is it not a more wiser ambition to live freely among all religious persuasions and cling ever gently upon one's own independent literacies even though self-indulgence of the religious socialisms may give rises toward individualized dementia?
So you post it twice?
Spam is verboten. Stop pimping your website. If people were interested, they would click onto you hyperlinked name.
Stop stealing advertising from CNN.
I guess the Muslims in the far north starve to death because the sun never sets there at this time of year!
HOW SMART WAS MOHAMMED?
Oh, they'll find an excuse. For the religious, any excuse will do, as is proven in any "debate" with them.
They can set the time for their fast and determine the beginning and end of Ramadaan and the times of starting and breaking the fast each day by the dawn and sunset each day in the closest country in which night can be distinguished from day. The Qur'an, in addition to the verse already mentioned, underlines God's mercy by telling us that: "Allah does not tax any being over its capability…"Q2:286. Fasting is not meant to induce starvation and health risk, but to teach TAQWA - conscientiousness and awareness of the Divine.
The trick is to always plan your Ramadan vacation in an area experiencing a short day.
A religion is just a cult with more people/popularity. All gods are myth; yours isn't special. None of them exist.
SARASWATI – U r u pukhtana? 🙂
SARASWATI – U r pukhtana? 🙂
Cpt. O, in a cult, the guy at the top is a maniac. In a religion, the guy at the top is dead.
Ha! That's pretty good. I guess it was a good day for Scientology when Hubbard died. I'm visualizing a Super Mario Brother's power up tone and maybe a new twinkle on the church façade.
the god of the christians gave his instructions in a language he knew would become extinct. how smart is this?
Stop pinping your website. Spam is verboten.