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Ramadan or Ramadhan (Arabic: رمضان ) is the ninth month of the Islamic year. Siyam or Saum ("fasting" in English) is the fourth of the Five Pillars of Islam and involves fasting during Ramadan.
Timing
The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. While many Muslim sects insist on the physical sighting of the moon, there is no such requirement in the Qur'an, and some Muslims allow that the start of the month can be determined by astronomical calculations. Because the Islamic calendar has no correction for the fact that the lunar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Ramadan migrates throughout the seasons.
Observance
Siyam or Saum is the name for the fourth pillar of Islam and places a number of restrictions on the activities of Muslims during Ramadan.
What is prohibited?
The prohibitions only extend during daylight hours. Traditionally this begins at dawn from the moment a white thread can be distinguished from a black thread and ends at sunset, when the sun's disk sinks below the local horizon. The night consequently is a time of pleasure and indulgence.
The following things are forbidden during daylight hours:
- Eating and drinking. There is a dispute as to whether the swallowing of saliva is forbidden.
- Sexual intercourse. Some schools say touching your spouse is forbidden. However, Malik's al-Muwatta contains Hadith that allow for kissing during fasting; even this, though, is balanced by further Hadith of the companions that suggest that restraint is preferred.
- Playing games of chance.
- Smoking.
What is encouraged?
The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal (suhoor) before dawn and a post-fast meal (iftar) after sunset.
During the month, Muslims try to read as much of the Qur'an as they can. Some spend part of their day listening to the recitation of the Qur'an in a mosque or meeting for Quranic studies or for congregational prayers. Believers are admonished not to swear or utter vulgarities during the month of Ramadhan.
The last ten days of Ramadan are a time of even greater devotion; some Muslims spend the entire time in a mosque. The night on which the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Mohammad, known as the Night of Power (Lailat ul-Qadr), is generally taken to be the 27th night of the month. Many Muslims spend that entire night in prayer.
The celebration of Eid ul-Fitr, the feast at the end of the month to break the fast, is a traditional practice rather than a religious one.
Who observes Ramadan?
There are a number of groups of people who do not need to observe Ramadan, though they may if they wish:
- Children before the onset of puberty
- Soldiers on the battlefield
- Travellers in the desert
- Weak, elderly, and sick people
- Pregnant women, if they feel it might endanger their child
- Menstruating women
- Non-Muslims – in particular, dhimmis and people of the Book, such as Jews and Christians
Sick people, travellers, and menstruating women are expected to make up any days they miss during another period of the same year.
What is the purpose?
The Siyam is intended to teach the believers patience and self-control, and to remind them of the less fortunate in the world. The fast is also seen as a debt owed by the believer to God. Faithful observance of the Siyam is believed to atone for personal faults and misdeeds, at least in part, and to help earn a place in paradise. It is also believed to be beneficial for personal conduct, that is, to help control passions and temper. The fast is also meant to provide time for meditation and to strengthen one's faith.
In other religions
The Christian Lent is also a time of fasting.
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