Ramadan Mubarak!

I wrote this as a diary for Street Prophets, and thought I would repost it here. It's more "educational" than what I might normally post on this blog but, then, the intended audience was for non-Muslims who may not know much about Ramadan.

Once again, the fast begins. Today, Monday the First, in case you didn't know, starts the Islamic month of Ramadan. This is the ninth year I've fasted during Ramadan since my reversion to Islam; as a result, the experience isn't anything new to me now. I'm used to the hunger and thirst that can develop (not that it has for me as I write this, nine hours after I began fasting this morning). In fact, Ramadan, for me, isn't really about the fasting; it's about trying to be a better Muslim in my daily life.

Today, I thought I'd give a basic rundown about Ramadan this year and what I and my fellow Muslims will do in the average day.

First, Ramadan runs for an entire lunar month, from the sighting of the first sliver of the new moon (which should have happened yesterday) through the sighting of the first sliver of next month's new moon. That, at least, is how it goes around most of the world. Here in SE Asia, due to the heavy overcast that is frequently a daily occurrence, we rely upon a counting method that predetermines when the moon should be spotted every month. As a result, here in S'pore, Ramadan started today, on the first, and ends on the thirtieth, insha'allah.

Muslims fast all day, from the crack of dawn through sunset, neither eating, drinking, smoking, nor having any sexual activity through that time. In S'pore, we begin fasting an additional ten minutes in the morning, on the theory that any last remaining food or drink in our mouths will be swallowed prior to the official start of the fasting period. Thus, I began fasting at 5:33 am this morning, with the crack of dawn starting ten minutes later, at 5:43. This is the time when the dawn prayers (fajr) starts, so I did my ablutions (wudu) and prayer (salat) before going back to bed. (I had a rough night last night; newborn baby, ya know.) I woke back up this morning to a dry taste in my mouth, but nothing worse than that. Of course, we must take any medicine and brush our teeth before the fasting starts, which I did this morning.

Now it's almost mid-afternoon, but we don't break our fast until sunset tonight; locally, that's 7:09 pm. So, today's fast will be for a total of 13 hours, 36 minutes. One of the joys of living near the equator is that the length of day remains relatively the same from month to month; we don't suffer like some people do in higher latitudes, especially in those times near a solstice (which is what it was like about ten years ago). Because Ramadan falls this year during the time of a solstice, everyone worldwide should have relatively equal fasting periods.

Later tonight, Milady, our maid and I will break our fast, insha'allah, with what is known as the iftar meal. Iftar can be very simple affairs, but can also be sumptuous banquets. It depends upon the family. A lot of people eat prepared meals either because they don't want to cook during the day or perhaps because they've gone to a local masjid and eaten there prior to doing their maghrib (evening) prayers. A lot of people also try to help the needy during this time. Zakat (alms) is required sometime during the year, but many Muslims pay their zakat during Ramadan. Usually, zakat is paid with currency, but some people may also pay their zakat in kind, especially with food. One Muslim blogger has discovered that the price of rice has skyrocketed and worries, quite rightly, about well the poor may be able to support themselves.

Before bed, many Muslims go to additional prayers, done only during the month of Ramadan, known as tarawih (tara-wee). These prayers may be performed at a masjid, or at home. In S'pore, many people do tarawih prayers on the void decks of housing blocks because the masajid are otherwise overflowing with people. During the tarawih prayers, Muslims also listen to a recitation of the Qur'an where one-thirtieth of the Qur'an is recited every day. In this way, the entire Qur'an is recited in the month of Ramadan.