Ramadan

“ Its sanctity became henceforth a potent reminder for the Muslim of his special duties towards Allah, of the reverence meet to be accorded to the Divine Upholder of Islam. During all the days of Ramadan, no food or drink might pass a Muslim lip, nor might he touch a woman, but the moment the sun's rim dipped below the horizon he was absolved from the fast until dawn. No institution in Islam is so peculiarly sacred as Ramadan, and none so scrupulously observed, even when, by the revolution of the lunar year, the fast falls during the bitter heat of summer. ”

“ For Moslems the month of Ramadan is the month of prayer. There are a certain few people who have a special account with God, that is, in eleven months out of a year they do whatever they wish to do: drink wine, gamble, commit adultery, etc.; but when the month of Ramadan comes they put away all their bad acts and not only fast but pray as often as they find free time from their business. ”

“ How I missed the aid of Toto one day when—he being far away in Kent, and we living near Tangier—I was at my wits' end for a dinner, and trying my hardest to catch a fowl! It was Ramadan—that terrible time when everything goes wrong and everybody is cross—and no wonder; the cruel fast, more strictly kept in orthodox Morocco than it is in most Oriental lands, forbidding the votaries of Islam, from sunrise to sunset, not only to touch food, but even to moisten their parched lips with water—and this in hot weather too! ”

“ Fasts are also observed, and the big fast of the year is that of Ramadan, which lasts for a month, during which time not a morsel of food nor a drop of liquid may be taken between sunrise and sunset. When Ramadan falls in the hot weather, the pious undergo real sufferings from thirst.
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Wine is forbidden to a Moslem, but this prohibition is now often set aside, especially amongst the younger generation. Probably the drinking of coffee took its place, for the Arab swallows innumerable tiny cups of it during the day. ”

“ The great fast of Ramadan is under full headway, and all true Mussulmans neither eat nor drink a particle of anything throughout the day until the booming of cannon at eight in the evening announces that the fast is ended, when the scene quickly changes into a general rush for eatables and drink. Between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, during Ramadan, certain streets and bazaars present their liveliest appearance, and from the highest-classed restaurant patronized by bey and pasha to the venders of eatables on the streets, all do a rushing business ”

“ On the Turkish frontiers they keep up an appearance of respect for the name of the Prophet and his doctrines; but, in answer to all reproaches for their unfaithfulness, they say in words worthy a better taught and more civilized race, "The religion of Mohammed could never have been intended for us. We have no water in the desert. How, then, can we make the prescribed ablutions? We have no money. How, then, can we give alms? The fast of Ramadan is a useless command to persons who fast all the year round; and, if God be everywhere, why should we go to Mecca to adore him?" ”

“ You know that the fast, which begins at dawn and ends at twilight, at the moment when the eye can no longer distinguish a black from a white thread, is followed every evening by small, friendly entertainments, at which eating is kept up until the morning, and the result is that for such of the natives as are not very scrupulous, Ramadan consists of turning day into night, and night into day. But Allouma carried her delicacy of conscience further than this. ”

“ Ramazan (or Ramadan) is the ninth month of the Muhammadan year, which is observed as a month of fasting and penance, during which rigid Moslems may neither eat, drink, wash, nor caress their wives, excepting so far as is necessary to support life. Sha'ban is the month immediately preceding it. Shawwal is the month that follows it, which begins with the great feast of Bairam, the festival referred to in line 4. ”

“ The month of Ramadan is spent by the faithful followers of the Prophet in a long fast, and the night before it is broken, called Lailatul-Kadr, or "night of power," is celebrated in rejoicing, because it is the night on which the Koran is supposed to have come down from heaven. In the morning following, which is as much a day of rejoicing as our Christmas, the men of Islam gather at the mosques and engage in a service of thanksgiving to Allah for the blessings they and their families have enjoyed during the year past, and pray for a repetition of the same mercies for the year to come. ”

“ While Ramazan is the sole month of the Mohammedan calendar generally known to the infidel world, the infidel world has never been very sure whether to spell its last syllable with a d or with a z. Let the infidel world accordingly know that either is right in its own domain. The Arabs say Ramadan, the Persians and the Turks say Ramazan. And they all observe throughout the month a species of fast that has no precise counterpart in the West. So long as the sun is in the sky, food or drink of any kind may not pass the true believer’s lips. He is not even allowed the sweet solace of a cigarette. ”

“ It is a matter of congratulation to every one in Mohammedan countries, whether he be a follower of the Prophet or not, when the festivities of Shauwâl announce that the fast of Ramadan is over.
The streets are full of colour during the first days of the month of Shauwâl. Parents take their children from house to house to show them off in their new garments; for all who can possibly afford it cast off their old clothes at the end of the fast and appear in new ones to enjoy the feast. ”

“ We are in Ramadan now, and Omar really enjoys a good opportunity of ‘making his soul.’ He fasts and washes vigorously, prays his five times a day, goes to mosque on Fridays, and is quite merry over it, and ready to cook infidels’ dinners with exemplary good-humour. It is a great merit in Muslims that they are not at all grumpy over their piety. ”

“ Abdullah, the Shillook, arrived. The natives have not forwarded my letter to the governor of Fashoda, as they fear to pass certain villages with which they have been lately quarrelling. To-day is the close of the Ramadan fast, and the first of the Bairam, therefore it is kept as a holiday. All my people have turned out in new clothes. ”

“ Men and women pray separately in the mosque, with a women's section off to one side or on a balcony. The Quran does not obligate women to pray five times each day if their household or motherly duties intercede, and women are encouraged to pray at home rather than at the mosque on Fridays.
Ramadan commemorates the month when the angel Gabriel dictated the Quran to Muhammad. Observant Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke, or have sexual relations during the daylight hours of Ramadan. ”

“ In the European quarter too the younger renegades are flocking, consuming excessive quantities of forbidden wine and beer. As the night draws on, voices are raised, some in laughter, some in song, others in anger, and it is rare for the feast to pass without several nasty knife wounds, while broken heads are numerous. After all, the fast has lasted long enough, the Ramadan must be celebrated, and he who can not contain his emotions must suffer the quick flash of the dagger or the clenched fist of the followers of the Prophet liberated from the fast. ”

“ Coming home through the cemetery one evening, Ali Hassan was anxious to know if I had read the Koran, and begged me to carry one about with me; “it would protect you greatly.” I asked him if the Fast of Ramadan was kept very strictly in Kairouan. He said yes, “except that there are always some who do not follow their religion seriously. They do not pray regularly, neither do they fast carefully for a month at Ramadan. But they will find the difference when they reach the other world. For every Ramadan they have broken here, they will have to fast a year hereafter. ”

“ During the holy Islamic month of Ramadan whether to close or open halal (Muslim food) restaurants is completely determined by the owners themselves without interference. There are mosques with a tradition of having iftar (the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset) and a number of religious believers provide free iftar to fasting people. Local governments ensure that all religious activities during Ramadan go on in an orderly manner. ”

“ As we remember those who we have lost since last Ramadan, we are hopeful for brighter days ahead. The Holy Qur’an reminds us that “God is the light of the heavens and earth,” who leads us out of darkness to the light. ”

“ We remembered that Ramadan, the month when the followers of Mohammed fast by day and feast by night, had commenced on the previous Sunday; so we hastened on, that Hadj Ali might prepare his evening meal, and be ready to eat it at the moment of the firing of the "mogarib," the signal gun at sunset—the sound so welcome to hungering and thirsty Moslems. Poor Hadj Ali had not taken food or even smoked a pipe since sunrise. This fast, which lasts for thirty days, is observed with extra ordinary fidelity by people of all classes. ”

“ It may be noted that the Mohammedan Fast of Ramadan is observed on the same principle and in a similar manner. The fast begins with the dawn of the sun and continues until sunset, being complete for that space of time. With the setting of the sun, however, every person is at liberty to eat as he may please. ”

“ In a certain year, when the holy month of the fast of Ramadan was approaching, Khoja Nasr-ed-Deen took counsel with himself and resolved not to observe it.
"Truly," said he, "there is no necessity that I should fast like the common people. ”

“ As the Mohammedan year is a lunar one, the months rotate through the different seasons, and the fast of Ramadan becomes a severe affliction upon the faithful when the month happens to fall in the hot days of the summer. The sick, travelers, and soldiers in time of war are temporarily released from this duty, though it must subsequently be performed during an equal number of days. Nursing and pregnant women, and those to whom it might prove really injurious, are exempted from fasting. ”

“ In Hums, some Moslems saw a dog eating a bone in Ramadan, and killed him because he would not keep the fast. They fast all day, and feast all night. Ramadan is really a great nocturnal feast, but it is hard for the working people to wait until night before beginning the feast. During that fast of 1866, a Maronite fellah came into Beirût driving a herd of swine to the market. Now of all sights in the world, the sight of swine is to an orthodox Moslem the most intolerable, and especially in the holy month of Ramadan. ”

“ How is your health, my dearest mother? If Allah wills, you are well and your morale is good to, if He wills. What is your news? Try to write and get everyone else to write me more letters. All praise is due to Allah, I receive them via the Red Cross.
There is only one week remaining until the blessed month of Ramadan starts. May Allah make it a month full of blessings for all of us and may He make us resolute in fasting and obeying Him and may He reunite us soon, if He wills.
As for me, mother, I am in good health; health is from Allah. My morale is very high and I am happy. ”

“ Mahommedan Fasts.—Among the Mahommedans, the month Ramadan, in which the first part of the Koran is said to have been received, is by command of the prophet observed as a fast with extraordinary rigour. No food or drink of any kind is permitted to be taken from daybreak until the appearance of the stars at nightfall. ”

“ Not a Moor would dare to eat or even [121] touch a drop of water in the sight of another during Ramadan; though under our window overlooking the river it was the custom of an old beggar to come daily at noon, to roll himself into a ball on the ground as if sleeping, and under the cover of his ragged jeleba make his lunch. Had he been caught at this he would probably have been stoned out of town.
One day during Ramadan we were taken by a Jewish merchant, a British subject, to the house of a wealthy Moor with whom he traded in goods from Manchester. ”

“ The next point of practice is alms-giving, which is frequently enjoined in the Koran, and looked upon as highly meritorious. Many of them have been very exemplary in the performance of this duty. The third point of practical religion is fasting the whole month Ramadan, during which they are every day to abstain from eating, or drinking, or touching a woman, from day-break to sunset; after that they are at liberty to enjoy themselves as at other times. From this fast an exception is made in favour of old persons and children. Those also that are sick, or on a journey ”

“ We became very tired of Sheher before we finally left, having to stay a week, while arrangements were made for our onward way, and on account of Ramadan no communications could be held with anyone, or business be done [207] till sunset. We seemed all day to be the only people alive, and then at night we could hardly sleep for the noise.
Our only pleasures were walks at sunset along the sand, picking up lovely shells and watching the crabs, and we used to sneak out as quietly as we could for fear of being pursued by soldiers. ”

“ The law of fasting is not applied to infants, idiots, the sick and the aged. It is considered an act of great merit to spend much time during the nights of Ramadan reading the Koran and the Traditions. ”

“ It is a great time for the Jews and rich Arab merchants, who buy up all they can at low prices to resell to the tourists.
If by any chance the fast is not observed according to letter it does not count, and it must be caught up after the Ramadan. For instance, during this period a man may not touch his wife; if he sees a woman and she creates in his mind any sort of emotion, it is sufficient for the day’s fast to be considered as unaccomplished. If he touches the palm of a woman’s hand, he can not go to the mosque until he has washed all over. ”