{"id":1626,"date":"2009-08-24T16:58:18","date_gmt":"2009-08-24T16:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra.php"},"modified":"2009-08-24T16:58:18","modified_gmt":"2009-08-24T16:58:18","slug":"muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra","title":{"rendered":"Muslims Begin Holy Month of Ramadan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aug. 24–Imam Mujahid Ramos wasn’t surprised to see more people show up this weekend for the daily prayers at the Masjid At-Tawheed mosque in York City.
\nThe same thing happens every year during Ramadan, a time of religious rejuvenation for Muslims, said Ramos, the mosque’s spiritual leader.
\n“It’s just an amazing time of the year,” Ramos said. “People are reading the Quran. They are fasting. They are focused. They feel very near to their religion.”
\nSaturday marked the beginning of Ramadan, the holiest month of Islam’s calendar. It includes 30 days of fasting that commemorates the divine revelation of the Quran, Islam’s sacred text, to the prophet Muhammad.
\nDevotion: Followers of Islam — which began in Arabia about 1,400 years ago — are expected to surrender entirely to the will of God, while living according to the rules of the Quran and performing five main duties called the Five Pillars of Faith: affirmation, prayer, almsgiving, fasting and pilgrimage.
\nDuring Ramadan, Muslims are required to abstain from food, smoking, liquids and sex from dawn to dusk as a sign of purification and sacrifice. The fasting period includes being more charitable and refraining from arguing.
\nThe fast is broken after the sun sets, when Muslims gather for prayer and a special meal, a practice called Iftar. Eating is allowed until the morning prayer, when fasting resumes.
\nRamadan observers also commit to spending time in reflection and to reading the entire Quran.
\nAt the end of Ramadan, a joyous celebration of the three-day holiday Eid al-Fitr is traditionally held. This year, the holiday begins on Saturday, Sept. 19.
\nTest: Ramos said Ramadan is a test of strength for Muslims because they are forced to forgo permissible activities such as eating or drinking. The test helps followers gain strength to deny improper temptations that may arise the rest of the year, he said.
\nHe said about triple the number of worshippers showed up Saturday for the generally most popular of the five daily prayers at the Masjid At-Tawheed mosque, 9 S. Belvidere Ave. in York City.
\nThe goal is to carry the energy and focus of Ramadan through until next year, he said, when another injection of enthusiasm is injected courtesy of the next Ramadan.
\n“You’re really just building up all this momentum,” he said.
\nKnight Ridder\/Tribune Business News – August 24, 2009
\nTo see more of The York Dispatch or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http:\/\/www.yorkdispatch.com\/.
\nCopyright (c) 2009, The York Dispatch, Pa.
\nDistributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
\nFor reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aug. 24–Imam Mujahid Ramos wasn’t surprised to see more people show up this weekend for the daily prayers at the Masjid At-Tawheed mosque in York City. The same thing happens every year during Ramadan, a time of religious rejuvenation for Muslims, said Ramos, the mosque’s spiritual leader. “It’s just an amazing time of the year,”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMuslims Begin Holy Month of Ramadan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muslims Begin Holy Month of Ramadan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aug. 24–Imam Mujahid Ramos wasn’t surprised to see more people show up this weekend for the daily prayers at the Masjid At-Tawheed mosque in York City. The same thing happens every year during Ramadan, a time of religious rejuvenation for Muslims, said Ramos, the mosque’s spiritual leader. “It’s just an amazing time of the year,”…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-24T16:58:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mconsoli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Muslims Begin Holy Month of Ramadan","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Muslims Begin Holy Month of Ramadan","og_description":"Aug. 24–Imam Mujahid Ramos wasn’t surprised to see more people show up this weekend for the daily prayers at the Masjid At-Tawheed mosque in York City. The same thing happens every year during Ramadan, a time of religious rejuvenation for Muslims, said Ramos, the mosque’s spiritual leader. “It’s just an amazing time of the year,”…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2009-08-24T16:58:18+00:00","author":"mconsoli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra","name":"Muslims Begin Holy Month of Ramadan","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-24T16:58:18+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-24T16:58:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9cadc277e135f295b85f71137e2447a6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/08\/muslims-begin-holy-month-of-ra#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Muslims Begin Holy Month of Ramadan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9cadc277e135f295b85f71137e2447a6","name":"mconsoli","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/2ad\/2ad44a0d65de6022a5c619dffa5e7fddx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/2ad\/2ad44a0d65de6022a5c619dffa5e7fddx96.jpg","caption":"mconsoli"},"description":"\"Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d -Benjamin Disraeli","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/mconsoli"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}