Happy Ramadan to our members who are celebrating this holy month of fasting in the Islamic calendar. Ramadan is a holy month of fasting, prayer and introspection for followers of Islam.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, during which Muslims pray, reflect, give to community, and fast between sunrise and sunset. Muslims partake in suhur, a breakfast before dawn, and iftar, a meal to break their fast at sunset, but otherwise abstain from food or drink throughout the day. Children, nursing and pregnant women, the elderly, people who are ill and travelers are exempt from fasting.
The end of the Ramadan fast is celebrated as Eid al-Fitr, the “Feast of Fast-Breaking,” which is one of the two major religious holidays of the Muslim calendar (the other, Eid al-Adha, marks the end of the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims are expected to perform at least once in their lives if they are financially and physically able). In some communities Eid al-Fitr is quite elaborate: children wear new clothes, special pastries are baked, gifts are exchanged, the graves of relatives are visited, and people gather for family meals and to pray in mosques.
