Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the year in the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar cycle. Muslims believe it was the month God revealed the Quran to the Prophet Mohammed. During daylight hours for 30 days, observant Muslims fast, taking neither food nor drink. They also can't smoke or have sex and are discouraged from cursing and speaking ill of others. Most Muslims here began observing Ramadan on Aug. 11. But some Muslim groups began fasting a day earlier or later, depending on when Islamic leaders in their country see the first sliver of the crescent moon to mark the beginning of the month.

For local Muslims, the timing of the month-long fast of Ramadan is a blessing. Ramadan, which starts today, falls on the heels of Christmas and Hannukah, lending more weight to the fastest-growing religion in the country. Imtiaz Chaudhry, a spokesman for the Muslim Society of the Delaware Valley, points out the similarities among Christianity, Judaism and Islam, namely the worshiping of one God and the emphasis on peace. The placement of Ramadan during the holidays "provides us a nice backdrop to discuss our similarities and, eventually, our differences, and see how we can bridge the gap," Chaudhry said.

Thousands of Philadelphians began rising before dawn this week for prayer and a scant meal before beginning a long day without food or so much as a sip of water. They are among the area's growing number of Moslems, who are marking the holy month of Ramadan with daily fasts. The 30-day period of prayer and fasting, which began Tuesday, is observed by close to a billion people of the Islamic faith around the world. "We are required to focus our attention on the creator and to all living creatures.

Area Muslims are observing the holy month of Ramadan, a time of daytime fasting and prayer. It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which commemmorates the revelation of the first parts of the Koran to the Prophet Mohammed. Ramadan begins with the first sighting of the moon after the new moon last Monday. The first full day of the observance was Tuesday, according to Waliyyuddin Abdullah, of the Islamic Communications Network of North Philadelphia. "It is a time of fasting - abstaining from food, cigarettes, sex, bad- mouthing anyone, restraining yourself from anything we would consider bad . . . It teaches us to discipline ourselves," Abdullah said.

Try working or going to school without eating or drinking anything from sunrise to sunset. Try having breakfast before the sun comes up, your next meal only after the sun goes down. All day. Every day. For four weeks. That's what observant Muslims are doing these days, around the world and even in the Philadelphia region. For Muslims, the annual holy month of Ramadan - the equivalent of the Christian season of Lent - began early last week. It is a holy time. It might seem a difficult time.

Should the United States cease hostilities in Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan? Why or why not? Send essays of about 100 words by Nov. 15, including a phone number for verification, to Voices/Ramadan, The Inquirer, Box 41705, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101. Send e-mail to inquirer.letters@phillynews.com or faxes to 215-854-4483. Questions? Call Kevin Ferris, readers' editor, at 215-854-4543.

Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith and anticipation of reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven. - Saheeh al-Bukhaari Quotation courtesy of Anas Muhaimin, Ustaath, Quba Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies.

A MUSLIM MAN who once worked at the Whole Foods store in Franklintown claims he was heckled by supervisors for praying in a storage area and fired from the supermarket for his religious beliefs. The allegations are especially troubling because Whole Foods had a Ramadan promotion featuring its halal foods this year, said Amara Chaudhry, Philadelphia civil-rights director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is representing the dismissed employee. "We believe that Whole Foods was discriminating against an employee on the basis of religion and it seems to contradict their prior efforts to court the Muslim community," Chaudhry said.

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - A suicide bomber struck worshippers during prayers yesterday at a mosque close to the Afghan border, killing 48 people in an attack one official said may have been aimed at anti-Taliban elders praying during the holy month of Ramadan. Militants have frequently attacked tribesmen who have dared speak up - or raise arms - against them in the border region, where al Qaeda and the Pakistan Taliban have long held sway. Rifts between insurgent factions have also led to mass casualty attacks there.

Over the sound of the air conditioner chugging away in the window, Imad Chehab lets out a longing "ahhh" as his friend reminisces about a sweetened drink made with dried apricots. It is just past 7 p.m., about one hour until sundown and more than 13 hours since the first rays of sunlight began to appear in the morning sky, which was the last time Chehab and his companion ate. Moments earlier, Chehab, 47, had explained quite forcefully that Ramadan was not about food but about discipline and getting oneself closer to God. But now the thought of childhood treats seemed to get the better of him. "The drink, they sell it on the streets in Beirut," the software engineer explains.

This season brings a confluence of two important events for me as an American Muslim, one spiritual, one civic. Ramadan, which coincides with August this year, is the sacred month when Muslims believe God revealed the text of the holy Quran to the prophet Mohammed. And Sept. 11 is the day when my country was attacked as never before, as well as when my faith was tarnished as never before. Many Muslims would cringe at juxtaposing Ramadan and 9/11. Yet both the holy month and the coming 10th anniversary of 9/11 call on our higher senses of humanity and citizenship.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The U.N. Security Council condemned the violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Syria on Wednesday as authorities intensified the assault on a city that symbolizes resistance to President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule. The Security Council, which has been deadlocked over Syria for the last three months, expressed "grave concern at the deteriorating situation" and called on authorities "to fully respect human rights and to comply with their obligations under applicable international law. Those responsible for the violence should be held accountable.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syrian troops opened fire on people throwing stones to stop a convoy from advancing toward an eastern oil hub, killing as many as three Saturday, activists said, as government forces intensified a pre-Ramadan crackdown against protests calling for President Bashar al-Assad's ouster. Activists have predicted that demonstrations will escalate during the Islamic holy month, which begins Monday, as both sides try to tip the balance in the more than four-month uprising.

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan comes to an end this week, Akbar Ahmed, a prominent Islamic scholar, is asking Iran's supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to show "Islamic compassion" by releasing three Americans arrested more than a year ago. They are accused of illegally entering Iran. Josh Fattal, 28, a 2000 graduate of Cheltenham High School; Shane Bauer, 28, of Minnesota; and Sarah Shourd, 31, of California, were hiking in a mountainous resort area of Iraqi Kurdistan and may have accidentally crossed Iran's unmarked border, their supporters say. They were arrested July 31, 2009, and are imprisoned in Tehran.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the year in the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar cycle. Muslims believe it was the month God revealed the Quran to the Prophet Mohammed. During daylight hours for 30 days, observant Muslims fast, taking neither food nor drink. They also can't smoke or have sex and are discouraged from cursing and speaking ill of others. Most Muslims here began observing Ramadan on Aug. 11. But some Muslim groups began fasting a day earlier or later, depending on when Islamic leaders in their country see the first sliver of the crescent moon to mark the beginning of the month.

NABIH ASID stood in the sweltering kitchen of his Queen Village Pizza shop, chopping a large block of cheese into tiny shreds. Perspiration began to bead lightly on his forehead. The kitchen was stifling last week, with heat blasting from the pizza oven inside while a steamy August afternoon blazed outside. But Asid couldn't slake his thirst with a sip of water, or draw strength from any of his tempting treats because he's among the thousands of area Muslims - and hundreds of millions worldwide - fasting for the holy month of Ramadan.

Eight-hundred seventy-five thousand homes washed away or badly damaged. Twenty million people displaced. Monsoon rains that swelled the mile-wide Indus River to 12 miles in places. Disease and famine that will last for months. The worst floods in Pakistan's history have done damage of immense proportions, necessitating an international relief effort of equal scope, says Zaheer Chaudhry, a Bryn Mawr dentist who, along with three friends, is sponsoring a fund-raising dinner Saturday in Villanova to aid victims of the raging waters.