RAMADAN

[Dr. Goodword]

• Ramadan •

Pronunciation: rah-mah-dahn • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun proper

Meaning: The ninth month of the Muslim calendar is devoted to the Fast of Ramadan. One night around 610 AD, according to Muslim faith, the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed, a caravan trader, in the vicinity of Mecca, and told him that he had been chosen to hear the word of God (Allah). Over the following days, Mohammed began reciting the verses that ultimately became the Qur'an (Koran).

Notes: Ramadan begins the day after the lunar crescent and ends with the next new crescent. During the Fast of Ramadan Muslims do not eat or drink during the daylight hours. Neither smoking nor sexual relations are allowed. The fast may be broken at the end of the day with prayer and a modest meal of dates called the iftar. The fast is resumed the next morning.

In Play: The end of the fast is celebrated as 'Eid ul-Fitr, the Festival of Fast-Breaking which this year is today, October 23 according to the Gregorian calendar. On Eid ul-Fitr, Muslims universally greet each other with 'Eid mubarak "a blessed Eid". We wish all our Muslim friends around the world a blessed Eid, and happiness and prosperity in the days to come.

Word History: Ramadan comes from the Semitic root *rmd which appears in Arabic as ramida and ar-ramad, meaning "intense scorching, heat, and dryness". From the same root there is ramdaa "sunbaked sand" and the famous idiom: kal mustajeer minar ramadaa binnar "to jump out of the frying pan into the fire."

[Perry]

The Muslim lunar calendar doesn't have leap years to recalibrate, so Ramadan moves through the seasons. Some years it occurs in the hottest part of the summer; hard for the fasting, but pleasant for holding the late evening meals out on the veranda.

I'm not sure how many Muslims stick to the modest meal of dates, as described above. Hopefully for them, they are eating the more substantial madjhool dates rather than the dekel noor variety.