c. 1999 Religion News Service
UNDATED _ The Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins this year with the sighting of the new moon Dec. 9, is a time during which observant Muslims refrain from food, drink and sensual pleasures from dawn to dusk.
The fast is one of Islam’s”Five Pillars,”or major obligations. All able-bodied adult Muslims other than travelers and pregnant women are expected to fast.
Ramadan commemorates the Islamic calendar month that fell in the Gregorian calendar year 610 when, Muslims believe, the Prophet Muhammad started to receive God’s revelations as transmitted through the Angel Gabriel and which became the Koran.
Because Muslims follow a lunar calendar, Ramadan begins about 11 days earlier each year. That means that in the course of a normal life span Ramadan is experienced in all four seasons.
Muslims look upon Ramadan as a period of spiritual discipline and purification. The fast is traditionally broken each evening with a drink of water and a handful of dates. Visiting family and friends to share the evening meal is common.
Ramadan ends with the Eid ul-Fitr (Jan. 8), one of Islam’s two major feasts.”Eid is as important to Muslims as Christmas and Yom Kippur are to Christians and Jews,”noted a”Ramadan facts”statement issued by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
DEA END RIFKIN