Ramadan | October 14, 2004

Ramadan is a time of personal and communal abstention and religious discipline. Moreover, it is a period of self-examination and forgiveness and thus in some measure parallels the Jewish Yom Kippur. Fasting is believed to be effective in cleansing the believer's heart, especially when abstention extends beyond refraining from food and drink and is accompanied by increased religious devotion as shown by reading the Qur'an and supererogatory prayers. Ramadan ends with the sighting of the new moon signaling the end of the lunar month. There follows immediately the id al-Saghir or id al-fitr festival which lasts several days.