RustyNails
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Welcome to Ramadan 2015 OT. Lets start with the FAQ! Here is Colorado State University website to help out with the detailsO ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint - Quran 2:183
What is Ramadan?
Why is Ramadan special?Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. The much-anticipated start of the month is based on a combination of physical sightings of the moon and astronomical calculations. The practice varies from place to place, some places relying heavily on sighting reports and others totally on calculations. In the United States, most communities follow the decision of the Islamic Society of North America, which accepts bonafide sightings of the new moon anywhere in the United States as the start of the new month. The end of the month, marked by the celebration of 'Eid-ul-Fitr, is similarly determined.
Who Fasts in Ramadan?Ramadan is a special month of the year for over one billion Muslims throughout the world. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives. There are as many meanings of Ramadan as there are Muslims.
The third "pillar" or religious obligation of Islam, fasting has many special benefits. Among these, the most important is that it is a means of learning self-control. Due to the lack of preoccupation with the satisfaction of bodily appetites during the daylight hours of fasting, a measure of ascendancy is given to one's spiritual nature, which becomes a means of coming closer to God. Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur'an, giving charity, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds.
As a secondary goal, fasting is a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate, and learning to thankfulness and appreciation for all of God's bounties. Fasting is also beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.
What are the requirements of fasting during Ramadan?While voluntary fasting is recommended for Muslims, during Ramadan fasting becomes obligatory. Sick people, travelers, and women in certain conditions are exempted from the fast but must make it up as they are able. Perhaps fasting in Ramadan is the most widely practiced of all the Muslim forms of worship.
Last 10 days of RamadanThe daily period of fasting starts at the breaking of dawn and ends at the setting of the sun. In between -- that is, during the daylight hours -- Muslims totally abstain from food, drink, smoking, and marital sex. The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal (suhoor) before dawn and a post-fast meal (iftar) after sunset.
Food!!The last ten days of Ramadan are a time of special spiritual power as everyone tries to come closer to God through devotions and good deeds. The night on which the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet, known as the Night of Power (Lailat ul-Qadr), is generally taken to be the 27th night of the month. The Qur'an states that this night is better than a thousand months. Therefore many Muslims spend the entire night in prayer.
During the month, Muslims try to read as much of the Qur'an as they can. Most try to read the whole book at least once. Some spend part of their day listening to the recitation of the Qur'an in a mosque.
Here we are once again at the doorstep of Ramadan bringing our gluttonous, unkempt, heedless selves but with a will to transform our mind and body once more. Food does not control us. Neither does water, nor sex or desire. We prove to God that we hear and we obey. Ramadan is scheduled to begin tomorrow in some countries, whereas in US it is either tomorrow or Thursday. It all depends if the moon is sighted in the region. Some groups base the dates on astronomical calculations, and this has caused some conflict in the west (moon wars!)Since Ramadan is a special time, Muslims in many parts of the world prepare certain favorite foods during this month.
It is a common practice for Muslims to break their fast at sunset with dates (iftar), following the custom of Prophet Muhammad. This is followed by the sunset prayer, which is followed by dinner. Since Ramadan emphasizes community aspects and since everyone eats dinner at the same time, Muslims often invite one another to share in the Ramadan evening meal.
Some Muslims find that they eat less for dinner during Ramadan than at other times due to stomach contraction. However, as a rule, most Muslims experience little fatigue during the day since the body becomes used to the altered routine during the first week of Ramadan.
In the spirit of brotherhood, I invite non-Muslims to fast for a day or two and see how it works! Check out your local mosques. Some will host community iftar (fast breaking). Prove to yourself that you can do it as well.
In most of the US, the fast will begin sometime around 4 AM and end around 8:30 PM. Let the journey begin.
Ramadan 2014
Ramadan 2013
Moon Wars:
My local Hilal Committee put this message regarding moon sighting
Commitment to Qur’ān: Allāh, Most High, says, “Therefore, whoever of you sights (shahida, lit. eye-witnesses) the month, let him fast it.”(Qur’ān, 2: 185)
Commitment to the Sunnah: Bukhari narrates that the messenger of Allāh said “Fast for its [the new moon] sighting (ru’yah, lit. its naked-eye sighting) and break for its sighting, and if it is covered under cloud then complete the count of Shaʿbān as thirty days.” Note the clear and unambiguous directive in this hadith that the new moon must actually be seen in order to start the new month. Moreover, the Messenger of Allāh states that we must observe 30 days of the month of Shaʿbān if vision of the new moon is obscured by clouds, even if we know that the new moon is present behind the cloud cover.
Commitment to Unity on the Sunnah and Abstaining from Reprehensible Innovations in Matters of Religion: Abu Dawūd and Tirmidhī narrate that the messenger of Allāh said “I command you to fear Allāh, and to listen to and obey your legitimate leaders. Whosoever of you should live after me, shall see much strife, so incumbent upon you is my sunnah and the sunnah of my rightly-guided successors. Hold fast to it, and bite down on it with your molar teeth. Beware of newly invented matters, for every innovation in religion is misguidance.” Note that the messenger of Allāh, and all four of his rightly guided successors, may Allāh be pleased with them, observed the sunnah of moonsighting.
Fourteen Centuries of Scholarship: The above-mentioned four successors of the Messenger of Allāh, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar,‘Uthmān and ʿAlī, the rest of the companions, and reputable scholars of the Muslim Ummah from all four orthodox sunnī schools of thought throughout the past fourteen centuries have by scholarly consensus, or Ijmaʿ accepted moonsighting as the way to keep the sacred calendar of Islām, and have consistently rejected calculations as a public methodology for the keeping of the sacred calendar. Note that this is despite the fact that scientific calculation methods for the timing of the birth of the new moon have been known to Muslims for many centuries, as astronomical calculation is an ancient knowledge known to ancient peoples from at least the time of the Babylonians, who practiced calculations as early as the 18th century BC.
Disparate Nature of Prayer and Ramadan Timings: The fact that it is permissible to rely on calculations for prayer times has no bearing on the issue of crescent sightings as they are based on completely different phenomena. The prayer times are established solely on the position of the sun relative to the earth and can be calculated with 100% accuracy while not a single prediction algorithm has been developed that accounts for the several factors that affect crescent visibility. Moreover, they carry completely different legal rulings. There is no verse of the Qur’ān or ḥadīth of the messenger of Allāh that unambiguously command the naked eye sighting of the prayer times; from the point of view of a specialist in the law of the sacred sharīʿah, the two matters are completely disparate and cannot be compared with one another.
New Position: The ISNA Fiqh Council made an unprecedented and significant change in their Ramadan and ʿĪd policy in June 2006. They have decided, without any precedent in the sunnah, that there is no requirement of moon sighting at all. Preemptive declarations of Ramadan and the two ʿĪds have been made for the next ten years based solely on calculations, while Chicago Hilal in actuality maintains the same position that ISNA itself had up to this point held.
Inconsistent Policy with regards to Eid Dates: The official position of the Fiqh Council of ISNA is to go with astronomical calculations for ʿĪd al-Fiṭr, whereas they adopt the Saudi sighting for ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā. They do not apply a consistent methodology for the keeping of the sacred calendar, which can lead to the distortion of the sacred Islamic calendar resulting in either 28 or 31 day months.
Strident Opposition From Scholars in North America and Around the World: Even all the members of ISNA’s Fiqh Council itself did not agree on this major change, including Shaykh Mokhtar Maghraoui who, in fact, submitted his resignation over this issue and wrote a 27 page scholarly rebuttal of the new policy. Many other scholars and Islamic Sharīʿah Councils have also denounced this decision including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf of the Zaytuna College who wrote a detailed 75 page refutation of the ISNA’s Fiqh Council’s decision as well as Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia of Darul Qasim.
Commitment to Islam before convenience: It may appear that ISNA’s Fiqh Council is attempting to unite the Ummah but such an appearance is arbitrary; in fact they are causing more fragmentation in the ummah all over North America. It is therefore our view that while unity is of paramount importance and every attempt should be made to make the practice of Islām easy for the people, unity and ease have to be achieved within the framework of the sunnah and not outside of it.
Image source 1, 2
7/16/2015 Edit: Eid Saeed Gaf!