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Ramadan

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 12:20 am
by 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. That fast is taking place around the world today. One night around 610 AD, according to the 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).
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Notes: A Blessed Ramadan Ramadan begins the day after the lunar crescent and ends with the next new crescent. During the Fast of Ramadan observant 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 meal that usually begins with dates called the iftar. The fast is resumed the next morning after a predawn meal, the suhoor, which usually is prepared from the leftovers of the iftar the night before.

In Play: The end of the fast is celebrated as Eid ul-Fitr, the Festival of Fast-Breaking. On Eid ul-Fitr Muslims universally greet each other by saying, "Eid mubarak" (a blessed Eid). In 2016 Ramadan began around June 6 and ends around July 6. We hope all our Muslim readers around the world have had a blessed and happy Ramadan.

Word History: Ramadan comes from the Semitic root *rmd which appears in Arabic as ramida and ar-ramad, meaning "intense scorching, heat, and dryness". (Semitic roots usually contain only consonants. Different sets of vowels are inserted between them to convey the same meanings that suffixes convey in Indo-European languages.) The same root produced ramdaa "sunbaked sand" and the famous idiom: kal mustajeer minar ramadaa binnar "to jump out of the frying pan into the fire." Hebrew remetz "embers" is another member of this Semitic root.

Re: Ramadan

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:42 pm
by Slava
A couple of comments at a later repeat date here. Feel free to add more here or there. :D

Re: Ramadan

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:17 pm
by Dr. Goodword
I’m giving myself a break on weekends, so I run repeats Saturday and Sunday. I rerun words initially run ten years before. I justify this with the justifications that (1) those who have subscribed within the past 10 years haven’t seen them and (2) those who subscribed before then probably need a refresher.

Re: Ramadan

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 5:48 am
by Slava
No aspersions cast, I was just adding a comment to an unanswered post. There remain over 950 such, so there may be other cross references in the future. Thank you for all your work and Good Words. :mrgreen:

Re: Ramadan

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:35 am
by LukeJavan8
I’m giving myself a break on weekends, so I run repeats Saturday and Sunday. I rerun words initially run ten years before. I justify this with the justifications that (1) those who have subscribed within the past 10 years haven’t seen them and (2) those who subscribed before then probably need a refresher.

Having been a high school teacher for over 30 years I can attest
that 'refresher' is a mild word for what is really needed. Scarcely
can some remember from day to day, much less ten years.
Good one, Doc.

Re: Ramadan

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 8:55 pm
by Dr. Goodword
According to my count, I have written 3485 Good Words since 2004, coming up on 3500. It catches up with you.

I cast no aspersions, just wanted yall who remember the repeats, why I'm doing them.

Re: Ramadan

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:39 am
by David Myer
Enjoy your weekends, Doc. Well-earned,