Ramadan Kariim! The holy month for Muslims began last night: two billion people in the world (23 percent of the world’s population). This was established by the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia, as well as the moon sighting committee of the United Arab Emirates and the House of Fatwas of Libya: the start was delayed by one day than expected for the failure to sight the first crescent of the crescent moon. Not bad, we’re here now.
1. Ramadan kicks off for 2 billion Muslims around the world
Ramadam is the fourth of the five pillars on which Muhammad’s religion is founded and commemorates the descent of the Qur’anic revelation to the Prophet through the Archangel Gabriel in 610 BC During the next 30 days believers abstain from eating and drinking starting from first light of dawn until sunset. In fact, he says sura II, v.183: «O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those who were before you, in the hope that you may become God-fearing.”
The word Ramadan in Arabic means “hot, torrid month”: originally it was therefore probably a summer month. But since the Islamic calendar – as it was established by Mohammed – is linked to the lunar cycles, it falls every year at a different moment of the solar year, and therefore gradually in a different season.
It varies, and by a lot, too the time at which meals are eaten in various parts of the world and the duration of the fast, depending on the hours of light, as he explains Al Jazeera.
2. Meals, from breakfast to dinner
We wake up before the sun rises to consume the Suhoor, a meal that must provide energy for the whole day, and also water. In reality, the amount of this meal depends on how much you ate during the night, and usually it is a lot: the “breakfast” could then consist of just water. For fasting to have a religious value, the niyyah is pronounced before starting it.
After sunset you can break your fast with theiftar, the evening meal. It usually starts with a date (as Mohammed is said to have done) and is a real feast that brings together the whole family and friends. Usually three courses follow one another, the first consisting of an odd number of dates, the second of one soup based on lentils, chicken, oats and potatoes. The third is more varied. The paradox is that on average families spend more on food during Ramadan than they do in other months.
3. Not just food: no sex and smoking
In addition to fasting from sunrise to sunset, the month of Ramadan entails other obligations for all Muslims. Like the obligation to charity with the poor and of the prayer, which are two more of the five pillars of the Islamic religion. Abstinence and purification is both physical and moral during the days of Ramadan (always considered from sunrise to sunset): for this reason the faithful are obliged to avoid sexual intercourse, smoking and, of course, alcohol, but also bad deeds, lies, slander and quarrels.
4. Exceptions for children and menstruating and nursing women
The principle is very clear: no one has to hurt their body. That’s why I am Menstruating women are exempt from fasting (for a period of ten days), who are pregnant or have just given birth and are breastfeeding. But also i sick peoplethe very elderly and those who work in which an illness could put the lives of other people at risk (such as the pilot or the driver).
Also exempt children up to 14 years, but even the little ones are encouraged to participate in Ramadan with collections for the needy and reading aloud from the Koran. The little ones make decorations for the home or prayer calendars (a bit like Advent calendars) to hang at home and check off day by day until.
Little girls play while women pray during the first night of Ramadan in Putrajaya, Malaysia on March 22, 2023. (Photo by Zahim Mohd/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
5. The party at the end of Ramadan
Eid al-fitr 2023, around April 21 in 2023, is the first of three days of banquets and celebrations to celebrate the end of the fast. In many countries it is customary to go on holiday between the last week before the end of Ramadan and the end of Eid al Fitr.
6. Islam in the world
After Christianity, Islam is the world’s second largest religion: a 2010 Pew Research Center estimate estimated there were 1.9 billion believers worldwide. About two-thirds of Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific regionparticularly in Indonesia, which alone has more than 209 million inhabitants, double that of Egypt, which is the most populous Muslim country in North Africa and the Middle East.
7. Fasting in other religions
Fasting as a form of purification of body and spirit, to be more ready to think about one’s God, is not a prerogative of Islam. Also Christians according to tradition, practitioners abstain from food during Lent (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) as well as abstaining from meat and refined foods every Friday. The Jews fast for 24 hours on yom kippur (the Day of Atonement). Monks abstain from food Buddhists for meditation and Hindus during vigils and sacred anniversaries.
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