5 Things Everyone Should Know About Ramadan

@ Jenn:

No hon, a pregnant woman should not fast :)
and people start to fast when they reach puberty :)

@Rabea....
why should we pay if we break our fast?
so I should pay now?
how much?
and
when?

Ms. Sunshine, those pictures looked delicious : ) I can see why it would be hard to fast, especially if you're smelling that food cooking for hours before you eat it!

Food always tastes better if you have to abstain from it for a while... : )

I have kind of a silly question. I'm guessing when you are fasting, it is to take time to wholly focus your attentions on God. But does fasting actually make you think about food MORE? I know that's not the goal, but I feel like I would be guilty of that. Or maybe you ARE supposed to think about the food, because that makes you better able to appreciate your blessings. I don't know! I'd like to hear more about the philosophy behind it.

-Sibyllene

Lol Sibi I can get you yet pics that are way more and moreeeee deliicious, the plates are countless.. and look I can't talk in the name of everyone else.. but I will talk from my personal point of view, you are not supposed to think of food and torture yourself lol but thinking of food itself is a challenge for those who have patience, like challenging your faith and ability to continue your fasting without feeding your hunger, instincts etc.. to be able to have control on what you should do, rather than going for what you wanna do or feel like doing.. (I hope I am not losing you here).

However on a side note, during this month, ones usually focus on God, more prayers, thinking of your path, your life, standing back on the right path and getting closer to the creator, if you know what I mean :)

So it might make some people think of Food more ofcourse, when not used to eat nothing during the whole day, but it can be called as I already said a self challenge... not to respond to what is going at the back of our mind ... is that your question ?or I went somewhere else here ?

I thought fasting was a way of sacrificing oneself to the creator? Starve yourself to prove your faith and fealty? That sort of thing, not so much, "don't eat because eating distracts you from worship." Hmm.

But who said its like that??

i hope what i said did not give that impression?

As said in number two, fasting is supposed to teach self discpline...patience..and spirituality :]

not in the sense of dont eat cause it distracts you from religion, since ppl continue their daily life normally somehow...but its a time of the year were as a muslim you would tend to focus on your faith!

Sib, nothing wrong to think about the food, but it would make the fasting more challenging, the whole point out of Ramdan is to feel with the poor people of the world,because they go for days without eating or drinking anything! thereby, enhancing your relationship with god, so to answer your question it forsure goes both ways, I for one seem to think about my cigarette and my glass of water before thinking about food,

And Jane, to answer your question,
It depends, a pregnant woman can fast if it"s no harm for her or the baby! Yet if it harms the baby or her in anyway she should not fast at all, depending on the amount of nuitresion she's having I'd assume, that also goes for a women who's breast feeding,
Poetss. I have to ask for you Cuz I'm not rly sure, and I don't wana give false information :)

Nana, I must've misunderstood what Sib or you said, my mistake. What I understand now makes much more sense!
I wish I was a devout participant in some meaningful religion with very old, powerful traditions. Fasting is a concept that appeals to me.

Lol :)
and am Glad things are clear now XD

Back before some of you were born Houston's basketball team, the Rockets, was headed up by Hakeem Olajuwon, who was originally from Nigeria. Hakeem was not very religious in his youth and had good, but not great play. In the early 1990s he rededicated himself to his Muslim roots and his game dramatically improved. He observed Ramadan faithfully, despite playing NBA basketball two games every three days. In fact, his play during Ramadan was the best he'd ever had up to that point. He led Houston to back-to-back National Championships & was the MVP hands down.

Now that's very very interesting Dear Godfather :D
Thanks for sharing!!!

Hellon, only some people fast the wholeyear, my grandma fasts the whole year, not only in Ramadan :) but answering to your question.. when we feel those poor people for a whole month, that will motivate us to give alms to them..:)

feeling hungry or thirsty really changes the human-being, makes him more giving and generous, tell me about it ;)

But you've missed the whole point, noura answerd you with what i would ha ve said,

feeling hungry or thirsty really changes the human-being, makes him more giving and generous.
^^^^

and who said we forget about them, unless you're chosing to think we do, but nope, we don't.

muslims fast throughout the year btw, not only in ramadan, but a huge portion of the people fast on sundays and thursdays. in ramadan, its a must to fast, but Sundays and thursday is totally voulnteering and you do get rewarded for it,
Or @ least, i hope we do.

LOL forget them at the rest of the year ? lmao and its more than changing your eating habits, more like our "money giving" habits. Let me explain a bit regarding your reply which I ofcourse respect but regarding what Nano has replied, I personally didn't hear yet of people fasting the whole year, but did hear of those who fast for few days in different months (out of their own will ofcourse).

However what Rabea has mentioned Hellon, about the whole point of Ramadan is to feel with the poor people, is just ONE, trust me, just one of the endless and way countless points of this holly month cause if you read what the 1st post started by, you'd see that this month holds some of the most important standards and occasions for Muslims and Islam itself.

But to feel with the poor, isn't just why we fast since no car is going to hit our brains after the end of this month to forget about them, it doesn't remind us of the poor cause if you are a real Muslim, not a pretender you don't even forget about the poor and the needy. If you are a real person at heart following the Islamic beliefs you would have to always give and give as long as you have, because thinking of the poor and feeling gratitude stands as the most important standard of being a Muslim.

But this time of the year comes, with all its virtues to remind those who started to be ignorant that there are people around this world who spend the whole day searching for something to eat and IF you already forgot about them, remind yourself of what you are supposed to do..Although Hellon you are free to believe it or not, no real Muslim would ever forget! But their are youths who you need to teach about responsibly and patience and to think of the other, and that's just one method during the year in a Muslims life how you raise these youngsters to have self control and selflessness ... I hope you can understand a little bit more the importance of fasting which goes way more deeper beyond just thinking of a hungry man. :)

I agree^^^

Fasting in Ramadan is way deeper than feeling hungry or thinking of hungry men all over the world, no, it is to teach lots of those youths (including me) to be responsable and patient, I so agree with what Ms Sunshine said.

But let me add something..
that the money we give isn't only in Ramadan..for my part, I give poor people money, whenever I see them, sometimes those homeless children who work in disgusting jobs....you know. those need our help not only in Ramadan, so I have to say that we (the muslims) don't give money only if we had to break our fast, no....we give money because Ramadan is the month of wellfare....(Shahr Al 5ayr) and everyone should think of each other..

and about those people who fast the whole year, my aunt, grandma and some friends of mine fast the whole year! and I wonder how some people volunteer to do that....to feel hungry and thirsty everyday till they see the sunset...it is something really hard, but really useful, because for your information..fasting is a treatment to lots of illnesses, not only mentally but physically too, you can google if you want the benefits of fasting, or I can link you, but you should know that fasting isn't only worship but also a benefit for us :) God ordered us to fast for He knows what's good for us and what's bad....and if being hungry for a whole month would be forgotten once the month ends lol then God will order us to fast for the whole year ;)

^^^ well said, for the most part!

..we give money because Ramadan is the month of wellfare....(Shahr Al 5ayr) and everyone should think of each other..

^
likes! forgot to mention it, thanksss.

edit: just so I dont be taken wrong, I do not mean only a Muslim would give out money or help a poor, I know that some people who dont even believe in God, believe in good deeds and feel with others and of the needy better than anyone else, I was just saying it is a Standard and a very very important virtue for a Muslim person to do through his daily life. (somehow)

I only have one question......

they say in Ramadan.....the muslims who fast..their mistakes will be forgiven and their sins will be replaced with merits. Ok...and what about those who lie and steal, gossip and sometimes kill,,,those who take the money of the poor and pay alms in Ramadan......what about them? are they and those who treat people very well, alike???

for example...
I have my own sins, and I sometimes do things and people wrong, I confess since everyone is vulnerable to make mistakes, but I fast in Ramadan, I skip some prayers but I pray, I don't go to a mosque or something but I still am considered as a believer in God.....so am I and those who can't leave the mosque alike?? and to what degree I'm worse than them??
haha forgive me if I am asking too much, I'm really curious and interested in knowing more about my religion..:/

EDITED:
and I just have read what Rabea said... Rabea..really? a pregnant should fast?? :/ but it will hurt her so much, she needs lots of food and water,,, and even more than the food she used to have before her pregnancy...then how should she fast? I think I disagree with this a bit.. andd how can she know if it will hurt her baby or not? you know...I don't know as much as you do, but I believe that God is way more tender than commanding a woman to fast while she's pregnant...

I actually asked my aunt oneday and she is so religious, she knows lots of things about our religion, and she answered me that boys and girls in age 10 should fast even if they didn't reach puberty yet..is that true? and are they considered sinful if they don't fast in this age?

Hellon...ain't we all? :)
ain't we all doing what God ordered us to buy a place in Heaven??:)

and another thing..

Compassion in our lives is way different than that in Heaven or Hell....
Rabea wasn't telling you
we volunteer to do so TO get rewarded for it, no, he was saying we do so AND God rewards us :)

hope this is clear now!

EDITED: andddd
I don't know if I have mentioned this before or not..but our prophet used to volunteer, hon, and we are following his path, so we give the poor and fast:)

Well, it depends on what you believe in :) we believe in God and only in God...so we follow what he ordered us...
you believe in yourself, so you do what YOURself orders you, and if you have compassion on people, on the poor, on the children, if you are good, honest, kind and helpful then God bless you! :)

but let me disagree with you on something..

"It's just something most of us appreciate as we get older...no religion can teach it...IMO"

^^^

no, Hellon, you're wrong here, I guess :)
what you feel within, only God has created, the compassion and love and care you have for people was brought by God....you should keep this in mind. Though religions differ from each other but still there is one god and we believe in him whatever our religion is, don't you agree with me? :)
and..
all religions "order" us to be like this, not only Islam. :)

This has been a very eye opening thread so thank you for starting it. A lot of the questions I'd have were asked by both Hellon and Britt. I too wondered about the 'strictness' of the fasting.

I guess when the sun goes down people really try to hydrate themselves?

"what you feel within, only God has created, the compassion and love and care you have for people was brought by God....you should keep this in mind."

But then again not everyone has a religion so in essences doesn't believe that 'god' created us and who we are. Perhaps that should be kept in mind as well. Tolerance of others faiths/faithlessness is a huge asset. I mean I could be wrong but I felt like Hellon was stating she doesn't follow a religion, and lives her life according to her rules and her own consequences. Which is how I live as well, but welcome faiths and love to read up on various religions. But nothing beats first hand knowledge.

So thank you again to all who helped us understand.

Amanda, yes I agree with you that this thread is so useful. Thanks to Ms Sunshine, she started it. :)

Answering to your question...

I didn't really understand what you mean by "hydrating" themselves. Pardon me, my English sucks sometimes xD. :)

EDITED:

"But then again not everyone has a religion so in essences doesn't believe that 'god' created us and who we are. Perhaps that should be kept in mind as well. Tolerance of others faiths/faithlessness is a huge asset."

- Yeah, sure! :)

ok, let's speak about the human soul, now, and let's pretend there's no God, when your soul orders you to have that compassion and faith of people, then there must be something deeper than you, within you, something that motivates you to believe in people, believe in wellfare and good deeds, and it is your soul :) as Ms Sunshine has said... not only muslims and\or believers have faith and do people well, no, but there are plenty of people who have no religion and they deserve a place in Heaven. :)

your soul is what we mean by "God" :)

Hydrating = Have enough water in your system so you don't become 'dehydrated'

Dehydration is when you are "suffering from excessive loss of water from the body; wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn" Dehydration can cause some pretty serious problems. When you become dehydrated and don't replenish the lost water that you've lost in your body you become dehydrated. Get headaches, don't urinate as much because your water is being lost through sweat. Cause people to faint.

"With severe dehydration, confusion and weakness will occur as the brain and other body organs receive less blood. Finally, coma, organ failure, and death eventually will occur if the dehydration remains untreated." http://www.medicinenet.com/dehydration/page2.htm

Essentially it means that you ensure that you have enough 'fluids' in you.

"Yeah, sure! :)

ok, let's speak about the human soul, now, and let's pretend there's no God, when your soul orders you to have that compassion and faith of people, then there must be something deeper than you, within you, something that motivates you to believe in people, believe in wellfare and good deeds, and it is your soul :) as Ms Sunshine has said... not only muslims and\or believers have faith and do people well, no, but there are plenty of people who have no religion and they deserve a place in Heaven. :)"

But see that is your belief not mine. I feel I am in control of myself and who I am, how I act and how I 'feel'.

That's something that needs to be accepted about other people and their faiths. Is learning to tolerate that others may not agree/ feel the same way you do about things. This doesn't make them right or wrong, it simply makes it a matter of opinion.

I'm not sure about all religions and ordering you do to things. my God does not order, but gives opportunity to do the right thing. We are free to do as we choose, though He hopes we would do what He says and wishes. My Bible is not about orders and rules to live by, but a way of happiness.

Oh, thanks Amanda for the explanation! :)

Now I can answer your question. xD

so, yes, we should be "hydrated" (lol) enough, and that is why we have something called "Al Sohor" it is after midnight, at 3:00 A.M. we wake up to have some food and drink some water, I'm not sure if someone has told you this, though.:)
and in this way, we won't die...though we feel thirsty :)

and Yup, I want to say something else, this Ramadan happened to be in Summer ughh, so we sweat so much, we feel weak and such, and especially those who have to study and go to summer classes like me, it is so tiresome :) but in the end, it is a must to fast.

"But see that is your belief not mine. I feel I am in control of myself and who I am, how I act and how I 'feel'."

^^^

and that's what I was trying to say! :)

"That's something that needs to be accepted about other people and their faiths. Is learning to tolerate that others may not agree/ feel the same way you do about things. This doesn't make them right or wrong, it simply makes it a matter of opinion."

^^^

sure, I do accept the idea that lots of people have their own beliefs and opinions, I respect them as well, all I was saying is that when you set yourself free, you may act wrong, the pleasures of this world are too many, and we should "control" ourselves, if you dislike the word "order" :)

I'm not saying that a group of people is wrong just because they have their own beliefs, no, I'm saying that there IS something within us that controls us, if not God, then it is our soul. :)
got what I mean? :)

"I'm not sure about all religions and ordering you do to things. my God does not order, but gives opportunity to do the right thing. We are free to do as we choose, though He hopes we would do what He says and wishes. My Bible is not about orders and rules to live by, but a way of happiness."

Yeah, Britt, but in the end of the day, there is a day that is called "doomsday", right? and everyone will be resposable of what he used to do in his life, don't you agree on this? :) and that is what I meant by "God orders us" I used the word "orders" to refer to how small we are, regarding God and His greatness, I am not sure if I'm wrong or right, but that is what I meant by it :)

By rewarded I simply meant merits. Is that what they are called? Idk

Helion dear, its just about perspective, and how you chose to look at things :)
I have to disagree with your statment thought, compassion can be learned through religion, I fail to see why not,

In my humble opinion, this is what I think, since we all belive in god, I belive that we're here for a reason, else, why would he create us anyways? That would be troublesome. And the reason obviously is to obey the one that have created you, very fair if
You ask me, and quite honestly to me it doesn't
Matter what religion you are since we all obey the same god.
If you look at Judaism, Islam, Christianity, you'd be surprised at how similar they are, after all, all of their books are written by the same god and somehow are related and do continue each other.

So yes at the bottom of the day, I obey my god, in order to get a one way ticket to heaven. Is there anything that doesn't make sense about that?

I don't think we all have the same God. If we did, the Arab/Israeli conflict wouldn't be there. My God and my Bible says Israel is the holy land for Jews, they are sacred. Ive heard very different from people in this very thread.

Compassion is not learned through religion, otherwise there wouldn't be rewards as motivation to some. To me, it is either there or isn't (compassion that is), but it is not learned... not through written texts at least no matter how holy.

Ramadan Kareem!

EDIT:

Regarding the holy lands, Can you post the proverb, Britt? There was someone saying that it was residency and not ownership promised, but I'm clueless really. So can you post it?

Nooo, Britt. We all do have the same God but not the same religion!

and the differences between those religions aren't that important when it comes to whom we worship...we worship only that God, even if in our Koran, Israel is described as an enemy and in your Bible, Israel is sacred or their land is holy... :)

"Compassion is not learned through religion, otherwise there wouldn't be rewards as motivation to some. To me, it is either there or isn't (compassion that is), but it is not learned... not through written texts at least no matter how holy."
^^^
OMG Nor, I have this same thought as well! I think compassion is in our souls not learned by a religion, BECAUSE religions differ but the human soul doesn't. That is what I think. :)

So the same God told you to hate the same people He told us to love? I can't see that being true, not one bit.

Well, Britt, then you have to be convinced that some holy books have been forged, edited and incomplete, I'm not going into details, unless you want me to, but I believe that we only have one God.

And yes, btw, can you show us the proverb as Nor has said? :)

Bitt, every single human being is entitled to do whatever they feel like doing, provided they Can suffer the consequences, hence why we have
Heaven or hell, your religon and mine, tells us what we should do and if we do, we get rewarded, if we don't, we get punished. Its not rocket science.

And then, to answer your concerns
As a Christian ? Don't you belive in Moses? Now grab any jew and ask them if they belive in Jesus, or Mohhamed, and grab a Muslim, ask them if they don't acknowledge any of these prophets. We've acknowledged the same prophets all claiming to have the same god spoken to them no?

Idk about the Jews. Having the right of the state of Israel, common sence speaking that would be a bit excluding, in our relgion, Palestine is for everyone alike, let's not forget that Jerusalem is the city of Your religon's birth , along with being the 3ed most important city in Islam.

But in all fairness, I know that the bible has been written by a few diffrent students of the Christ!? 4 if I'm not mistaken? Between Matthew and Joseph and the others? Which version are you referring to? I have a couple of few diffrent bibles downstairs and I'd like to check that personally.

Yup, my Bible is forged and yours is the only correct one. How dare I think or believe otherwise. :)

It's in the book of Joshua if I recall correctly. I have three minutes before I have to get ready for work, so I will take the time to look later. I don't remember each scripture or where they were at.

I think it'd be rather insulting for someone to tell me / others who their 'god' is. What about Greek gods, Wicca there are so many religions out there. And unless someone is a religious expert how can someone truly say that everyone speaks to the same god? Saying everyone has the same god is a farce, if everyone believed in one god there would only be one religion WITHOUT question. Where is the respect of others religions and what they have learned?

I think we should get back on topic before this really spirals out of hand. I think Britt had a right to defend her religion, it's what she practices. It's rather smug to try to tell her differently and a slap to the face. At least that's how I'd feel if I was in your position Britt. Can this be dropped now?

I didn't say your bible is forged and my holy book Al Koran is correct, Britt, many will disagree with me if I say this but I will say it, even in my religion, there are many beliefs and many groups, and I can say that some Prophetic traditions have been forged too, because of the wars and such.

"I think we should get back on topic before this really spirals out of hand. I think Britt had a right to defend her religion, it's what she practices. It's rather smug to try to tell her differently and a slap to the face. At least that's how I'd feel if I was in your position Britt. Can this be dropped now?"

It wasn't me who talked about non-believers at first, and I don't remember I tried to convince Britt differently, Amanda, she's free to think or believe whatever she wants, I only was answering to her questions about the one God existed.
This can be dropped for sure, but remember it wasn't me who started it.

Thank you Amanda.

poetess, I'm not talking about that at all.

Well now you've edited so what I just said makes no sense. Off to get ready for work, bye all!

Actually, truth be said, the Quran itself was written after the prophet's death from people who recognized the proverbs. The only reason that we do not have many versions is because they took what people agreed on and removed anything that a reasonable number didn't agree on or wasn't confirmed by more than one. But we do have many versions when it comes to interpretation of the words. I don't see how it's different from the Bible? At least everything said is written there.

I kind of disagree with most posts in this thread to be honest. Post trying to explain the religion that is.

"It wasn't me who talked about non-believers at first, and I don't remember I tried to convince Britt differently, Amanda, she's free to think or believe whatever she wants, I only was answering to her questions about the one God existed.

This can be dropped for sure, but remember it wasn't me who started it."
I wasn't referring to you.

"I kind of disagree with most posts in this thread to be honest. Post trying to explain the religion that is."
Just read your edit :)

Britt and Amanda, I don't get why you're attacking me! it wasn't my intention to insult anyone! read my posts and see how respectful I was. :|

I told you both many times, that I so respect others beliefs and everything, I was only saying my opinion, nothing else, if someone has a problem with this, then make it clear.

"Actually, truth be said, the Quran itself was written after the prophet's death from people who recognized the proverbs. The only reason that we do not have many versions is because they took what people agreed on and removed anything that a reasonable number didn't agree on or wasn't confirmed by more than one."

^^
True and true and true.
The Koran was forged, by those people who rule the Arabic world after the Prophet Mohammad has passed away.

Why are you getting defensive over posts that weren't directed at you? I even made a point to let you know it wasn't in reference to you. Yet here you go getting defensive over something you don't need to be defensive about.

Amanda, 1st off, let me specify that i'm talking about the 3 most common religons in the worlds
jew's, muslims's and christain's

i speak of these 3, not greek gods, i know nothing about them.

britt.
on two accounts,
drop the forging thing, no1 is claiming that our book is right and urs is wrong and vice versa,
it's truelly insulting to say that to sum1 who ever it brought it up

So the same God told you to hate the same people He told us to love? I can't see that being true, not one bit
^^^^^^^^^
for the millionth time, not every zionest is a jew, and not every jew is a zionest

we don't hate jews, we love jews, they are our 1st counsins, unless ofcourse u'd no better.?

its beyond me why would you say that god told us to hate someone, unless you're chosing to put words in my mouth that is.