Ramadan Kareem

Today is Ramadan, Ramadan is the 9th month in the Islamic calender which is called Hijri calender. In the Islamic calender we don't have fixed dates, so the month starts and ends according to the moon. So there are two ways to announce that Ramadan has started, some by sight and others use astrological to mark the new month. As for me and my family we relay on modern technology because it is capable to give the exact birth of the moon. But others relay on their sight to mark Ramadan just like the days of the prophet (peace be upon him). So there are always some people who start Ramadan earlier and others later, this is very sad because it would be beautiful if all Muslims would start together on the same day. But those slight differences of one or two days don't matter because in the end Ramadan is Ramadan.

To none muslims Ramadan is just a month where muslims don't eat during the day and make up for it in the night. Let me explain what Ramadan really is. In this month over 1400 years A.C the holy book the Quran was reveled to mankind. In this month we fast from sunrise to sunset, to remember the poor and hungry and learn to know how lucky we are and start to appreciate the little things that are so easy to forget. In this month we try to use less bad language, even though we should do it everyday all the year. In this moth we can see and feel how people are caseous about their actions and slowly see what they were doing and how it effects them and others. In this month people start thinking about the things that really matter in life and try to step away of all the material things that keep us in chains. During fasting hours people don't have sexual activities, to learn that humans don't just have physical, emotional and humanitarian needs but we have spiritual needs and needs for our minds and our souls.

So this months is so holy for us for many reasons not just because the Holy Quran was reveled this very month and not just because we don't eat all day. This month is to start thinking with our brains and most importantly listening to our hearts. To start thinking about what we did, what we do and what we could do, not just for us but for others. To start listening to our heart, because always at some point of a persons life sooner or later, we start questioning where we came from and how come this world is they way it is. People start asking these questions if they never gave much thought to it, but also people who have been practicing their religion all their life. Because at the beginning you just copy what you are taught but one day you will have to find your own way to make it your religion not your parent's that you follow. This month is to build up a relationship with your creator, to build up a relationship with your inner self, and to begin fresh with not only phyiscal strength but also mental & spiritual strength.

P.S: Children, people who are sick and elderly people who are not able to fast, don't need to fast. As for the sick people if they can they must pay an amount of money to feed poor people. This helps them feel that they are doing something unselfish in Ramadan and share this holy month with us.