The significance of Ramadaan for Muslims

AT SUNSET in Washington on a recent evening, the call to prayer resounds. In Arabic, a man recites a declaration of faith, practically singing as he praises God – Allah, as he is known in Arabic.

The man is signalling to the hundred members at Masjid Muhammad that it is time for two very important events: the evening prayer and the breaking of the day’s fast.

Most of the men, women and children at Masjid Muhammad, a mosque, have not eaten or drunk in nearly 15 hours. They have been fasting since dawn, praying and reading the Qur’an in snatches, while at work or school. They are hungry, but it is Ramadaan – a holy month of fasting and prayer for Muslims around the world – and they say their hunger is not important.

“Fasting,” explains Imam

Talib Shareef, “makes you conscious of human life and aware of universal human needs. Regardless of your race, ethnicity or nationality, you have to eat, drink and sleep,” important daily tasks that are carefully controlled during Ramadaan.

Waking up early to eat before dawn and fasting during the day forces you to think about the essentials in life, he points out.

Shareef heads Masjid Muhammad, built in 1960 and one of the oldest mosques in Washington. He wears a black kufi and leads daily prayer services for the mosque’s 1 500 members.

Ramadaan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is considered to be the month when the Qur’an was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, the central figure of Islam.

The calendar uses slightly fewer days than the Western calendar of January through to December, so Ramadaan occurs at a different time each year.

The day after Ramadaan ends is a holiday, Eid al-Fitr, during which families feast and give gifts. But fasting isn’t the only thing encouraged during Ramadaan.

“You try to be the best person you can be,” says Asiya Khokhar, one of about a dozen kids at the prayer service. “You try to be nice and polite to other people, and try not to fight and shout.”

Muslims are expected to pray five times a day and read all of the Qur’an during Ramadaan. Asiya, 12, says she feels “more spiritual, more focused and more happy” during the month. – The Washington Post

Isa Khokhar, 7, (in the white shirt) helps to serve food after a prayer service at the end of the day, and after fasting, during the holy month of Ramadaan.