Ramadan!

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Ramadan starts tomorrow!

Muslims fast during daylight hours. Once the fast for each day ends, they are allowed to eat again. The reason Muslims fast is to discipline their body and mind. The absence of food and drink and other pleasures provides a perfect opportunity to concentrate on prayer and worship. Not having the luxuries of life to hand makes it easier to reflect on life and be grateful for what we do have. Muslims use this month to start afresh and give their life a new direction

Search function reveals no threads specifically about the festival. Good luck to any ilxor muslims

Non muslims; could you do it? I could go without food between sunrise and sunest (i never eat breakfast and rarely eat lunch), but smoking and drinking fasts would break me ( i need a glass of wine after lunch!)

Further, is there an appropriate phrase you can say to a muslim friend about to begin their fast? i don't want top say "happy ramadan!", because it may sound ridiculous!

Happy Ramadan!

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Saturday, 23 September 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

Season's Greetings?

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 23 September 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

a solemn and ddignified ramadan to you all

― Jimmy Mod's Champion Erotic Fantasy Team 2006 (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Saturday, 23 September 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

I heard somewhere that you're supposed to wish people an easy fast, no idea if that's true or not.

― 31g (31g), Saturday, 23 September 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

When I was in college I went to the feast part, though I skipped the fast.

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 24 September 2006 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

im in istanbul today. i think i will walk down the street munching a kebab, and making yummy sounds.

― phil-two (phil-two), Sunday, 24 September 2006 06:31 (nineteen years ago)

A blessed and Happy Autumnal Equinox to you as well..

A blessed and Happy Mabon to All.

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 24 September 2006 06:54 (nineteen years ago)

a blessed and happy banning to you

― estela (estela), Sunday, 24 September 2006 07:05 (nineteen years ago)

Is that where you put banners all over that say, "Yay! Butt Dickass is great and I don't really know what my problem is but there it is and I obviously have it, so YAY!"

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 24 September 2006 07:20 (nineteen years ago)

Or are you trying to say, "don't fudge up my holiday with all your other holidays celebrating the same thing in different languages, you bastard?"

Because, if so, lighten up. An equinox is an equinox, friend.

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 24 September 2006 07:30 (nineteen years ago)

Saying "Happy Ramadhan" is fine! Or "Have a good Ramadhan".. whichever.

Just finished eating (at sunset). It's not hard at all, actually.

― Roz (Roz), Sunday, 24 September 2006 09:03 (nineteen years ago)

Are you muslim roz? for some reason I have been wondering why we don't seem to have any muslim ilxors. although we're a fairly areligous bunch, eh.

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 24 September 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

I have a Ramadan lantern that I bought in Egypt which plays a traditional Ramadan song (allegedly). I was there for Ramadan one year, and remember thinking how shit it must be to work in the tourist industry when you're trying to fast, because tourists sure as hell don't fast.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Sunday, 24 September 2006 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

Teeny: yep I am but I'm obviously not particularly religious else I'd probably not be posting on here. :P

Seriously though, I like all the religion discussions on ilx and wish i posted more. they're usually the ones that are simultaneously enlightening, depressing, hilarious and rage-inducing.

accentmonkey, I find that most Muslims are fairly used to not eating even when everyone else around them are. Most of us start fasting at a young age so it's not really a big deal. It's actually really weird how easy it is not to have to think about eating or drinking.

But it starts getting tough around two minutes to sunset, I admit heh.

― Roz (Roz), Sunday, 24 September 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

Since when does Ramadan have anything to do with the equinox? The muslim calendar is determined by lunar months, unless I'm wrong. If I am wrong, the next paragraph will make no sense at all.

Anyway, my question has always been: since Ramadan begins about 11 days earlier every year, sooner or later it's going to end up around the time of a solstice. What if, at that time, an observant muslim is living close enough to the appropriate pole that the sun doesn't set? Do they just starve, or would there me a special dispensation to fast for say, no more than 18 hours a day? I know that the requirement to fast is forgiven for people who's medical condition would mean that they'd endanger themselves by observing it. I guess that might apply.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 24 September 2006 14:22 (nineteen years ago)

It is an interesting question. A friend of mine used to say that she found it much harder to observe her fast in Ireland than she had done in Algeria, because we were further north and so at this time of year the days were a couple of hours longer. I don't know what happens if you're a Muslim in Norway, though.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Sunday, 24 September 2006 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

we were told in st petersburg, that they had the most northerly mosque in the world, which seems ridiculuous. tromso also lays claim to that, which seems more reasonable.

― Tommy Woodry (tommywoodry), Sunday, 24 September 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

good question. I can't be sure but I think the rule is that you have to fast from sunrise to sunset - so if you're somewhere with no sunlight/sunlight all the time, you approximate the fasting times according to the nearest country where night can be distinguished from day. Or, if this is still too hard, then just make up for it by fasting during another month in the year.

It's not just people who are sick who don't have to fast: travellers, menstruating and pregnant women, and anyone else who are unnecessarily burdened by the act of fasting don't have to.

xpost

― Roz (Roz), Sunday, 24 September 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

> menstruating and pregnant women, and anyone else who are unnecessarily burdened by the act of fasting

Yeah, it was this I was thinking of when I referred to medical conditions. "My medical condition is 'alive' and it would be unneccisarly burdensome to not eat or drink at all for a month, because it would kill me."

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 24 September 2006 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

A friend of mine used to say that she found it much harder to observe her fast in Ireland than she had done in Algeria, because we were further north and so at this time of year the days were a couple of hours longer.

I bet she will suffer when the Islamic year precedes such that Ramadan is falling in June.

At the end of Ramadan the Muslims celebrate something, I think it's called Eid, and it might be to do with when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac. Rener was looking for an online Eid card, and they all feature incredibly cute looking little lambs, because traditionally on Eid people eat a lamb.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 24 September 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

Last Ramadan (which I was aware of because a lot of my work clients are in Dubai and Baghdad) I was talking about the fasting to a taxi driver taking me home. He chuckled and said in some places, they black out the windows of cafes/restaurants and invite people in (somewhat surreptitiously I imagine) earlier than sunset, so they can "technically" break fast in the dark. I dont know how true this is, but I kinda liked the idea of cheating like that =)

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 24 September 2006 22:56 (nineteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

Tomorrow.

The one month of the year where I abstain entirely from alcohol. I'm starting to think that's actually harder than not eating/drinking during the day.

― Roz, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 09:57 (eighteen years ago)

I contemplated doing Ramadan one year, just to see if it was possible. then I realised that everyone at work would think I was weird so I decided not to bother.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 11:33 (eighteen years ago)

The no water would be really hard for me.

One of my friends decided to have "Ask-a-Muslim Month" on her blog, where she answers random questions she accumulates throughout the week. It's cute, and a good idea.

― Maria, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 12:11 (eighteen years ago)

roz i think you're doing it wrong

― sanskrit, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

oh i know i'm doing it wrong.

― Roz, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 12:15 (eighteen years ago)

oh ok

― sanskrit, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 12:17 (eighteen years ago)

see if it were me i would just not drink alcohol during daylight hours

― sanskrit, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 12:20 (eighteen years ago)

Religious guilt, yada yada...

On the upside, one of the best things about Ramadan is that I'm much more enthusiastic about cooking. So much easier to cook just one big meal a day. I'm making scalloped potatoes right now for tomorrow's superduper early breakfast. mmmmm.

― Roz, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 12:27 (eighteen years ago)

On a similar note:

The High Holy Days thread

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 14:38 (eighteen years ago)

TS - apples with honey vs. nothing

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

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