Tag Archives: Ramadan

by Guestspeaker | 2026/02/18 · 7:56 pm

The Lunar Effect

Today a holy period starts for two of the world’s major religions, as Muslims mark the first day of Ramadan and Roman Catholics observe Ash Wednesday, which kicks off Lent, a 40-day period of penitential preparation for Easter —a coincidence that occurs only about every 33 years.

Today is also the second of the 15-day festival of Chinese New Year, which began on the same day as Mardi Gras, often called “Fat Tuesday. Its traditions emerged in Europe within the broader pre-Lenten festival known as Carnival (or Carnaval), incorporating elements of earlier seasonal festivities associated with the coming of spring.

That these diverse events occur about the same time is no accident. Ramadan commences with the sighting of the waxing crescent moon, Chinese New Year begins with the new moon, and Lent is determined by counting backward from Easter, the timing of which is tied to the lunar calendar.

The Myth Behind the Chinese Zodiac

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Did You Know? Ramadan. Learn about the customs and significance of Ramadan.

Why Ramadan Is So Significant for Muslims

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Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus, oil on canvas by Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, 1896-97; in the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa. 198 x 281 cm.

From Ashes to Resurrection: The Story of Easter

Photograph by Moira Burke. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa., gift of Henry Clay Frick, 98.5

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Tagged as Ash Wednesday, Carnaval, Carnival, Chinese New Year, Chinese zodiac, Lent, Lunar calendar, Lunar effect, Mardi Gras, Muslims, New moon, Ramadan, Roman Catholics

by Guestspeaker | 2024/03/22 · 9:36 pm

Lent, Holi, Purim, and Palm Sunday observed, and Ramadan entering its third week

Religious Experience

This weekend holds significance for a few of the world’s major religions, as Holi, Purim, and Palm Sunday are observed, and Ramadan enters its third week.

The timing may be coincidental, but the holidays couldn’t be more different. Holi and Purim are celebratory, the former welcoming spring, and the latter marking a victory. But Palm Sunday and Ramadan are more solemn, commemorating the final week of Jesus’ life, and the Qurʾān’s creation, respectively.

History and observance of Holi, Hindu festival celebrated in February-March. Participants throw colored water and powder on each other. Hinduism, Krishna. Holiday.

The Colorful Story of Holi

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

History and observance of Purim, a festival in Judaism commerating the survival of Jewish people in the 5th century BCE against Persian persecution, related to the biblical book of Esther. The story features figures including King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther, Haman, and Mordecai. Ta?anit Esther (Fast of Esther) begins the holiday.

The History and Observance of Purim

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History and observance of Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week in Christian tradition, celebrated the Sunday before Easter. Palm Sunday commorates Jesus Christ's entry in Jerusalem. Holiday.

What Do Palm Leaves Have to Do With Jesus?

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Tagged as Final week of Jesus' life, Holi, Holiday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Purim, Ramadan, Spring

by Guestspeaker | 2023/04/06 · 5:23 pm

About fasting by monotheists

The previous days found many people fasting. There were Christians, Jews and Muslims abstaining from certain things, be it sweets to full meals. Some people find spring a time to fully purify themselves and therefore proceed to a certain time of “eating nothing” but drinking only pure water.

By Catholics, the fast period strangely enough begins with a day that they go for letting a little cross being placed on their forehead as a sign that they are just dust and ashes, though the majority believes that they will go to heaven after death, instead of deteriorating to dust. In the previous century in several Catholic countries, Catholics tried to eat less and did not eat meat on Wednesday and Friday (as if that would really be doing shortage to them) Today there is not really much fasting in most Catholic families.

In the Scriptures (Old and New Testament) we find several examples of people who thought about the fact that they are just human beings who shall end up dead, to decay in the grave (sheol/hell). Even the sent one from God took time to think about his mortality and after his death landed up in sheol. Though several people who call themselves Christian say Sheol or Hell is a place where sinners would be placed to be burned eternally. Jesus did not get burned. He even did no sin, so there would have been no reason to land up in hell or to be tortured by hellfire for his sins. Indeed, Jesus is the only human being who remained without blemish and therefore deserved to go straight to heaven. But he too did not go directly to heaven after his death. First, he was laid in a tomb, where he stayed for three days. Then he was raised from the dead by his heavenly Father and came to roam the earth for a few more days, before being exalted by God to sit beside Him and act as high priest and mediator between God and man.

Like many Jews did before him, Jesus went for forty days in the desert, to think about his mortality and his relationship with God. The Hebrew people before him, after they were liberated from the slavery of the Egyptians, also came to wander for a very long time in the wilderness. In moments, they had not enough food and were starving. After they had complained to God, they received food from heaven (manna).

Thousands of men and women before us took some time in their life to think about the Divine Creator and His Plan. Moses and Elijah, went without food in their respective fasts.

Fasting has been promoted and practiced from antiquity worldwide by physicians, by the founders and followers of many religions, by culturally designated individuals (e.g., hunters or candidates for initiation rites), and by individuals or groups as an expression of protest against what they believe are violations of social, ethical, or political principles. {Encyc. Brit. Fasting}

The essence of fasting is to clean the body, giving it time to get rid of the damaging things. Letting the body purify itself, one can give it time to heal. Fasting is an important natural part of the recovery process of one’s health.

Fasting for special purposes or before or during special sacred times remains a characteristic of major religions of the world. For Jesus and his disciples, there were many dietary laws and customs. They hold on to those traditions and observed several annual fast days, primarily on days of penitence (such as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement) when they sought to expiate their sins and achieve reconciliation with God.
The Bible refers to Yom Kippur as Shabbat Shabbaton (“Sabbath of Solemn Rest,” or “Sabbath of Sabbaths”) because, even though the holy day may fall on a weekday, it is on Yom Kippur that solemnity and cessation of work are most complete.

Like on Yom Kippur the past few days certain of our brethren and sisters made an effort to purify their bodies in the hope that could also help by the individual and collective purification by the practice of forgiveness of the sins of others and by sincere repentance for one’s own sins against God. This year the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy month of fasting felt together with the period before Passover. The same as for the Jews and Jeshuaist for Muslims is their Ramadan a period of introspection, communal prayer (ṣalāt) in the mosque, and reading of the Qurʾān. Instead of earthly food, Jews, Jeshuaists, Messianics and Muslims those people trying to go throughout the day without that earthly food, use a lot of time to read their Holy Scriptures trusting God shall provide them with the proper spiritual food that will bring them much further than what the earthly food can give them.

By fasting, they give themselves to their God.

Photo by Thirdman on Pexels.com

For all adult Muslims who are not acutely or chronically ill, travelling, elderly, breastfeeding, diabetic, or menstruating, there is the is fard or the religious duty to have the daily prayer (salat) so that purification of the heart can take place. According Muslims the spiritual rewards (thawab) of fasting are believed to be multiplied during Ramadan.

Iftar serving for fasting people in the Imam Reza shrine

The method of fasting adopted by the Islamists is to be taken with a grain of salt though, and actually not a healthy way of fasting as they then start eating copious amounts of sweet things after sunset, which is very bad and actually counteracts purification. Though the ifṭār, the fast-breaking evening meal has some good aspects when it is really a gathering of friends and extended family. For those gathered it is also a time for taking spiritual food by additional prayers offered at night( called the tawarīḥ prayers), during which they also recite the entire Qurʾān over the course of the month of Ramadan.

If one wants to fast solidly, one is best to build it up by moving from solid to liquid food and then to teas and finally to just drinking water for several days, without eating anything else. Then, after not eating anything at all, it’s back to liquid food, via teas, to return to solid food. Such a real and efficient fast period should only be done under medical supervision

Preceding

All Scripture Has Its Point of Origin In God’s Mind

9 Adar and bickering or loving followers of the Torah preparing for Pesach

Coming days to indulge in good food

A bird’s eye and reflecting from within

For those who would go to eat a lot tonight for Passover

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Tagged as 10 Tishrei (Yom Kippur), Abstaining from food, Cessation of work, Earthly food, Fard or or farīḍah = wājib = religious duty, Hell, Ifṭār = fast-breaking evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan, Introspection, Jeshuaist(s), Jesus exalted by God, Jesus in the desert, Jesus raised from the dead, Jesus without sin, Jews, Liquid food, Manna, Messianic(s), Mortality, Muslims, Raised up from the dead, Ramadan, Reconciliation with God, Salat = salah = namāz = daily prayer, Sent one from God, Sheol - Gehenna - Hell - Grave, Solemnity, Solid food, Spring, Thawab = Sawab = Suwob = spiritual merit or reward, Time to purify, Yom Kippur

by Guestspeaker | 2022/03/30 · 8:06 pm

Saudi Arabia Calls On Muslims To Sight Ramadan Crescent Moon On Friday Evening

Belgium is one of the European countries with the highest number of Muslims. According to a demographic study carried out in 2010, Belgium has 623,780 Muslims, i.e. 5.8% of the population. Islam is thus the second religion in the country after Christianity.
Ramadan is therefore part of multicultural Belgium, and Belgian Muslims look forward to it every year and celebrate it with the same joy as Muslims around the world.

Ramadan 2022/1443 will begin in Belgium on Sunday 3/4/2022, according to astronomical calculations. For the year 2022, the night of doubt will be on Saturday 2/4, based on an astronomical calculation.

Another “night of doubt” is observed at the end of the month to define the last of the fasting month. Although in recent years astrological calculation has gradually replaced the sight of the crescent moon.

AMRAH

PARIS, France – Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has called on all Muslims through the Kingdom to sight the crescent moon of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday evening, state news agency (SPA) reported on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court called on Whoever sight the crescent moon by naked eyes or through binoculars to report to the nearest court and register their their testimony, or to contact the nearest relevant department to guide them to the nearest court.

Muslims follow a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days. Sighting a crescent moon heralds the start of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

More than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world will mark the month, during which believers abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, and having marital relations from dawn until sunset. They also try to avoid evil thoughts and deeds.

Ramadan is sacred…

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Tagged as Belgian Muslims, Belgium, Crescent moon, Eid al-Adha or Eid-ul-Fitr (Eid = Sugar festival), Islam, Islamic calendar, Muslims, Night of doubt, Ramadan, Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court

by Marcus Ampe | 2016/07/06 · 1:05 pm

“Muslims Are Terrorists!”

As-Salam-u-Alaikum,

In the world lovers of the Only One True God also could say As-Salam-u-Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” (“Peace be unto you and so may the mercy of Allah and his blessings”).

Though we find angry people who say the are true lovers of Allah, and followers of the prophet Muhammad, they do not mind to go in against the ideas of that prophet and the prescriptions of the holy book he presented to mankind.

The world should recognise the difference of those terrorists who even do not mind to bomb sacred places, burn Qurans, rape and kill children and young women.

Though they often shout “La il laha il Allah, Muhammad a rasool Allah.” (There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger) they often take on an attitude that they are the (new) messengers of God to whom the whole world has to listen.

They themselves may say with conviction “Bismika Allahumma amutu wa ahyaa” (oh Allah in your name I live and die) and enjoy taking the lives of others, they clearly have forgotten that it only belongs to Allah ta ala (Allah The most high), the Most High God of gods, to give and take life. Human beings should leave it to God to judge others and to decide over their life.

Already too many faithful Muslims lost their lives by the aggressive terrorist acts of those criminals, of whom many spend more time in the battlefields, prison, or ungodly places than in the mosque or reading the Quran.

Best the Muslim community shows the world where those terrorist go wrong and why they are not real faithful Muslims. Only by coming out showing the world what a real Muslim has to believe and to do and what he or she may not do, other religious and non-religious can come to see this Daesh or ISIS matter has nothing to do with religion, but all with power and expansion drift.

Ramadan coming to an end the British Nazrin Miah, who is proud of her South Asian pillars, looks at all lives that matter. She has full faith in her God.

My faith has allowed me to believe that whatever is willed for me is already written, and there is very little I can do about it. If I didn’t get what I wanted from one experience then there is a better plan for me. I am convinced that I will be taken on a journey that is more rewarding than the experiences I missed out on. {Are Second Chances Worth It?}

Though “Change evokes fear” for her and makes her feel vulnerable, she will notice that she shall have to conquer change though they make her feel lost.

The sense of having no control over a situation due to its change puts me at great unease. I like knowing what is going to happen, I like predicting the end of a circumstance, and most of the time being right about it. But change isn’t just black and white, its grey. There never is a right or wrong time for change to happen, it doesn’t wait for my invitation as I’d like it to. It’s evitable, and the more I want to take the reins of my life into my hands, I’m faced with more change. {I hate change}

Our world needs lots of changes and weary citizens shall have to help to bring those changes to a good end.

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The Existence of Evil

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From the Ramadan into the eid

This year once more Daesh (IS-ISIS-ISIL) proved how much they take the mickey of the holy writings and how they drag their feet at the Koran/Quran and Islam teaching.

Daesh calls for attacks on the West during Ramadan The Ramadan did not seem to be a sacred period for them. They did not mind even to go stronger and to bomb even more places where many Muslims were together.

Normally the ninth lunar month of the Islamic year brings a period of reflection and a period of ṣawm (fasting). In that period abstinence from food, liquids, smoking, and sexual intercourse between the hours of sunrise and sunset should be on the minds of every faithful Muslim. According to the holy scriptures of Islam fasting must be undertaken with spiritual intent (niyyah ), and this intent must be renewed each day before dawn. Mean-spirited words, and thoughts and deeds such as slander, lying, and covetousness negate the value of fasting. So we can wonder what has gone on in the minds of those jihad fighters who did not mind killing many innocent people in this last month.

In May ISIS had announced plans for a series of deadly attacks in Europe and America during this year holy Islamic holiday of Ramadan.

“Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready… to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers…especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America,”

said the message in a 31-minute audio clip distributed on Twitter via accounts that usually post the terrorists’ updates, suggesting attacks on military and civilian targets.

“If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night,”

al Adnani said. He also acknowledged that the terrorist group had suffered a severe hit in recent attacks from the anti-IS coalition but assured viewers that in the end, the group would prevail.

“Defeat is the loss of will and the desire to fight,”

the video announced, explaining that the group would not be deterred even if they lose their strongholds Raqqa and Mosul.

Members loyal to the Islamic State wave flags as they drive around Raqqa (Reuters)

Four days before the football festival Euro 2016 Europe was warned and took the alert serious, after the attacks in Paris and Brussels. Though Jews and Christians were particularly singled out as targets for lone wolf attacks during the holiday, which took place from June 6 to July 5 we could imagine the fighters also looking for targets in Islamic countries and in those which sought to co-operate with Europe.

Only if there is a threat to health the fast may be broken. But he jihad fighters don’t give a rip to the prescriptions fo their so called prophet. They couldn’t care less if with their actions in this holy moth several religious Muslims were killed. Probably they are very much convinced that they do not need an observance of the fast because they do not need receiving pardon for past sins. For them there seems to be no reason to create empathy with the plight of the hungry, and it looks like they find they need no self-control and endurance of deprivation.

As usual that what they themselves do not keep, they do not others to do and as such they frightened all those who even would try not to keep the Ramadan. They crucified and flogged “a number of civilians” in Deir ez-Zor province for breaking the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Local media activist Yassir al-Farhan told ARA News:

The ISIS-led Hisba Police arrested 11 people in Mayadeen for breaking the Ramadan fast. They were flogged with 50 lashes each, and then crucified in the market square downtown. Hundreds of people witnessed the brutal punishment. ISIS is trying to terrorise the people through conducting such punishments in public.

The godless agents of chaos known as Daesh have killed hundreds this week across the world.

Fifty dead in Istanbul;
twenty in Dhaka, Bangladesh;
a horrifying two hundred killed in Baghdad on Friday
and now an unknown number in Saudi Arabia.

They just continued to spread their spurs of cruelty and destruction in the week leading up to the end of Ramadan, when the festival of Eid is celebrated around the world. Many of the victims in Baghdad’s marketplace bombings were women and children, buying gifts for their families to be given on Eid.

Al-Masjid an-Nabawī (Arabic: المسجد النبوي‎‎; Prophet’s Mosque)

Before the end of Ramadan whilst many were preparing the three-day festival of prayer and feasting known as ʿAl Id-Fitr or Eid-ul-Fitr. ISIS had a very weird idea about the sweets to be offered to the Muslim community. On July the 4th the terrorists of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL/IS) have proven once and for all that they are nothing but nihilistic sadists with triple bombings in Saudi Arabia. A suicide bomber exploded at the Al-Masjid an-Nabawī – or the Prophet’s Mosque, in the Saudi city of Medina, killing at least four and injuring many more. Bombings also hit mosques in the cities of Qatif and Jeddah. The bombing at the Prophet’s Mosque in the city of Medina was the third attack to hit the kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday, following blasts in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and in the city Qatif. The mosque, which is also known as Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, is located in what was traditionally the centre of Medina, with many hotels and old markets nearby. It is a major pilgrimage site due to its connections to the life of Muhammad and is especially visited by pilgrims from around the world during the final days of the fasting month of Ramadan.

The mosque is considered to be Islam’s second holiest site after the Sacred Mosque, or Masjid-al-Haram, which surrounds the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, so you could wonder why those who claim to fight in name of Allah and his prophet brought ravage to this sacred site.

“There are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. Sunnis, Shiites [Shias] will both remain victims unless we stand united as one.”

wrote Iran’s Foreign Minister Javed Zarif on Twitter.

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, tweeted:

“It’s time we work together to save our religion from these deadly criminal gangs.”

Many who went doing their shopping in the mainly Shia area of Bagdad, for the sugar feast, did find an end between the 165 dead and more than 200 injured, some being badly burned.

The death toll is expected to rise after blasts

Bomb blasts in Baghdad, Iraq, having killed at least 165

The bombing in Karrada is the deadliest in Iraq this year and comes a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured the city of Falluja from Islamic State (IS) militants.

Families were out shopping when the bomb blasted

Police confirmed at least 15 children and six policemen are among the dead after the blast, which struck close to midnight, from a ‘refrigerator van’ packed with explosives.

The explosion caused sparked a huge fire on the main street in which several buildings, including the popular al-Hadi Centre, were badly damaged. It followed a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured the city of Fallujah from Daesh, leaving Mosul as the only Iraqi city under the control of the extremists.

Ramzan – the holy month for Muslims around the world has finally ended and we are just as excited to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr or Feast of Fast-Breaking or the Lesser Feast as everyone else. In Belgium for many Tuesday the 5th was the day of feast, whilst the Gulf Arab countries have announced that the Eid al-Fitr festival to be celebrated on July 6, after failing to sight the moon that marks the start of the three-day festival. (The starting day of Eid varies every year and from country to country depending on geographical location.)

In a fresh alert issued by PIB, Government has announced that all Central Government Administrative Offices will not remain closed July the 6th, on account of Eid-ul-Fitr. Instead, the holiday would be observed on July 7. The decision has been taken by the government after several Muslim clerics and geographical experts have predicted that the Eid moon will not be sighted today.

Since Indian Muslims follow the lunar calendar, the sighting of monsoon determines the end of Ramadan. If the monsoon is sighted today, then it would be a 29-day Ramadan, else the 30th fast would be kept tomorrow. The state of Kerala is expected to observe the most important festival for the Muslim community tomorrow.

In Belgium there is no problem for people getting free on this religious holiday. In the United States many Islamic businesses and organizations may alter their business hours during on Eid al-Fitr. Some Muslim groups in the United States campaign for schools in some parts of the country to allocate Eid al-Fitr as a day off without being penalized on Eid al-Fitr. For example, the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays, which is a group of more than 80 religious and ethnic organizations, have been lobbying to have the two Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha designated as days off in New York City schools.

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