Ramadan a month long event for fast friends to gather around the world
The Muslim holy month is a time for adherents to read the Koran, meditate on their religion, share with others and abstain from food, drink and ‘passions’ during the hours of daylight
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan started this week. Fasting during the day throughout Ramadan is one of the five core obligations of observant Muslims. Many are likely to take part in the fast, which falls during some of the longest, hottest days of the year.
Over the course of the month, Muslims are told to read the entire Koran – or about one-30th each night. And from dawn until dusk, for the 29 or 30 days of the month, to abstain from eating, drinking “and from the feeding of their passions – whether those passions are road rage or romance,” says Johari Abdul-Malik, an imam and the director of outreach at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Centre in Falls Church, Virginia.
The obligation is laid out in the Koran in the second Surah: “O you who have attained to faith! Fasting is ordained for you as it was ordained for those before you, so that you might remain conscious of God.”
“I have always wished the US Congress would take up fasting during Ramadan,” Abdul-Malik jokes. “Can you imagine Congress being in session and every member has to tell the truth before God?”
“The word sowm [Arabic term for fasting] actually means ‘to stop,’ ” says Suhaib Webb, a popular Washington-based imam who fields questions about the religion throughout the year, using a range of social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.
To Webb, fasting poses an opportunity for broader change. People think, “If I can avoid stuff this month, I can do it the rest of the year,” he says. “You’ll find a lot of people quit smoking in Ramadan.” Others get in shape.