Observing Ramadan

by Ataullah Amir
(Kabul)

Learn How to Observe the Ramazan (Ramadan)

1- Ramadan, which can also be spelled as (Ramazan) is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is an obligation for Muslims fast in this month. Muslims must start observing the fasting ritual upon reaching the age of puberty; as long as they are healthy, and have no disability or illness. The elderly, the chronic and mental illness are exceptions. Whoever is sick or on journey, pregnant women if they believe it would harm them or their unborn baby, women during the period of their menstruation and women nursing their infants, are allowed to make up the missing days of the fast at a later date.

2- During the Ramadan month Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset; eating, drinking, and intercourse are prohibited and one is encouraged to resist all temptations. Ramadan would probably start in July 19 or 20, 2012 for one month (30 or 29 days).

3- Ramadan is intended to teach Muslims about patience, humility, and spirituality. Muslims believe Ramadan to be an auspicious month for the revelations of God to human kind, being the month in which the first verses of the holy Qur’an were revealed to the Islamic prophet Mohammad. Ramadan is the month of reflecting, believing and worshiping God. Muslims are encouraged to recite the entire Qur’an, do the Tarawih (Prayer) and practice many other aspects related to Ramadan.

Following are some answers for the questions about Ramadan and the related prayers and occasions during the month of Ramadan:

Q-1: What is the best behavior for a person who has no fast in an Islamic community in the moth of Ramadan?
A-1: Ramadan encourage people to practice self discipline Allah says that Ramadan is obligatory on every one some people obey but some don’t and Allah (God) is aware of all actions and every thing that a person do, there is no one assigned to control all the people around and it is a good practice not to eat, drink or smoke when you are near to those who make fast.
Q-2: What is the proper time to eat or drink in Ramadan, is there any name for that time?
A-2: The time to eat and drink in Ramadan is from dusk to dawn. The name for the time to start eating is Iftar and the last time to have food in Ramadan is called Pas-shawi or Sahari, before dawn. The month of Ramadan is the month for more prayer and worship than the other months of the year, night time is considered as a proper time for worshiping Allah, and most of the people stay awake to read the holy Qur’an or perform other prayers in the time between Iftar and Pas-shawi.
Q-3: Do the people go to sleep after having Pas-shawi?
A-3: Pas-shawi is followed by the Morning Prayer and all the Mulahs (priests) in the mosques call for the morning prayers, and the men go to the Mosque and women do their prayer at home. Mostly the official working hours in this month gets open and close early than the other months and then is the time for the Midday Prayer, it is followed by preparing the dusk or evening food.


Q-4: What is next to the afternoon prayer or what do the Muslim people do at this time?
A-4: Next to the afternoon prayer is the time for the fast break and the sunset prayer, as soon as the Mulah reads Auzon (verses for sunset) at this time everybody start eating before the prayer and eating dates is mostly preferred and after completing the prayer is the time for the night time meal and next to that is the time for the evening prayer and connected to that is the time for Tarawih and Khatem-e- Qur’an prayer.
Q-5: What kind of prayer is Trawih and how long does it take?
A-5: Trawih is a special prayer for the month of Ramadan and most of the people performs the recitation of the entire Qur’an by means of Qary-e- Qur’an and it takes hours, and every body is awake almost for the whole night in this month (it is hard for the security and patrol teams to know about the movements of the people and to figure out who is doing what.)
Q-6: At what time of the night would Tarawih and The Qur’an recitation prayer be completed in Ramadan?
A-6: The holy Qur’an is 6666 verses and 114 chapters and the blind Muslim people completely memorize and read part of it in Trawih prayer every night and time to complete it from the first to the end of the month and every night is not the same in all mosques it is because some people are fast and some are slow in reading the holy Qur’an.
Q-7: Do the people who make fasting for the whole day have any special rituals for breaking the fast?
A-7: The time for breaking fast as it was said is called IFTAR and every sun set in the month of Ramadan is a very nice and a happy time, the rich families and some of the organizations prepare food for Iftar and distribute it to the poor people and families. Some one can see lots of concentration points where the food distribution is performed and the security forces control the situation.
Q-8: Are there any nights or days with more crowd than the others in Ramadan month?
A-8: The last ten days and nights of Ramadan are the ALWIDA (goodbye) days to Ramadan, some people try to do more prayers than the last 20 days and most of the people give FITR ROZAH to the poor people and someone can see lots of people in the night and in the day times and so on every Fridays.
Q-9: What is FITR ROZAH?
A-9: FITR ROZAH is a special amount of food or money given by any one who is fasting or not, young or old, male or female who has enough money to survive should pay to the most poor once of the community and this is another crowded time in the month of Ramadan which to be aware of.
Q-10: When does the Ramadan end and what do the people do at that time?

A-10: As it was said before the month of Ramadan is 29 or 30 days and whenever it is over the EID ALFITIR starts and there is a 3 days holiday every one is happy and it is really a festival, every body put on new cloths and early in the morning the men go to the Eid prayer which is a communal prayer after finishing and exchanges of the greetings, they go home and after the celebrating they go and buy some gifts, go to visit the elders or the patient in the houses or at the hospital and go to the neighbor houses and visit the families and speak and eat together, the second day is the picnics day and the 3rd day is the resting day and next is the work starting day.