Islamic Calendar & Ramadhan.

The month of Ramadhan are the prescribed days in a year when each of us receive God's Direct Guidance in our lives with clear Proof and distinguishment The above observation is based on 2185. If you feel there is sense in it, then the day one of Ramadhan could be this day, for an example. And prayerfully wait for such other days so that you will find and complete the month scattered through 365 days. whoever witnesses the days of the month shall fast there in at the appointed time. Allah only simplifies for you and does not want to put you to hardship by forcing you to fast for 30 consecutive days. Peace, Respectfully. 2183 O you who believe, fasting has been decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you, perhaps you may be righteous. 2184 A few number of days; however, if any of you is ill or traveling, then the same number from different days; and as for those who can do so but with difficulty, they may redeem by feeding the needy. And whoever does good voluntarily, then it is better for him. And if you fast it is better for you if you knew. 2185 The month of Ramadhan, in which the Qur?an was revealed; as a guide to the people and a clarification of the guidance and the criterion. Therefore, whoever of you witnesses the month, then let him fast therein. And whoever is ill or traveling, then the same number from different days. God wants to bring you ease and not to bring you hardship; and so that you may complete the count, and glorify God for what He has guided you, that you may be thankful. Glory be to our God. Peace.

Peace, As for the poll. I think it means ramadanun means extreme or constant heat and I think the verse can be clearly referring to a month during a season of extreme or constant heat. However, I do not agree with the logic of most who take this stance, as they totally disregard case endings. The only way this works is if we double up the raa of ramadan (which indicates a shaddah being over that ra, however such written tajweed indications are often left out on more obviously known cases so there is really no issue) and if we understand the ending a of ramadaana as a fathatain indicating the condition of of the shah-run (nasbul-haalati). The interchanging of fathah tanween (written as both alif and single fath-hah within the Quranic text) with fat-hatain is common and can easily be understood. There is however a clear and reasonable interpretation of ramadaan as a name which can only be Quranically reconciled by using a luni-solar calendar that does not add an extra month. There was supposedly one in use before the one used by the Arabs which added in an extra month per year. It apparently just added 11 days but I have not figured out how that mechanism would correctly align with the lunar cycles. Godbless, Anwar

Thank you for your comments. The title christ was used in reference to Jesus and not in reference to his followers. In any case, I have replaced the word in the article with Messiah since it is more Quranically correct as you have pointed out. Peace Layth, Well thank-you. The relation between the words christ and christian seeds the cult of a person. The use of messiah doesn't nourish such error. Believing in Jesus Christ and believing Jesus was the messiah are indeed expressions of different faiths. I appreciate your correction. adjwi

Peace to all, Absolutely not Nerspi, God would not approve, he will not accept your fast unless you do it when your told by the traditionalists, how dare you think for yourself. K

Peace Responsibility to carry out the duty is the hard part. I agree that no one should be insulting another person's beliefs. Joe

Peace Ashraf, Ahillah here as deduced by Ayman mean "endtimes" marker. Thus ahillat also signify a cosmic marker for "out of the prescribed timing" for the mankind. When the earlier people see the crescents (ahillat) up on the sky, it signify that they had already completed their time frame for eg Siyam/Hajj/Divorce I'ddah (for departing husband/menopause women), which started from full moon marker and ends at the crescents marker. For them (1400 year before), waxing or waning crescent concept does not relevant because it is just a recent astronomy terminology. They might not understood the concept of northern/southern hemisphere where waning and waxing is interchangeably. In short, those are not important concepts to be made known by God to the common people at that time. So as long as it is crescent emerged over the head, it means "endtimes/out of the prescribed times". God usually give something easier to work out definitely. The waning crescent is left visible and the waxing is right visible in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere. So they are very easy to distinguish since even ancient common people were intelligent enough to know their left from their right. The only place where they are not distinguishable easily is on the equator where the crescent is pointing straight up. However, even on the equator, they can be distinguished because from the full moon you have to go through the waning crescent first and this takes 10 days. Peace, Ayman

Absolutely...my point is that you need both.

i was fasting 10 days in the summer.. lost 5 kg-s then. summer days are so long in my country. sunset was around 9.50pm! just had one meal of normal size.. but since my stomach shrunk, they got smaller every day.. and drank a lot. wasnt eating anything in the morning, because sunrise was also very early and after praying went back to sleep.. i don't like sleeping with my stomach full. and i felt great.. i also had to walk a lot at that time.. after fasting took care not to eat too much - just as normal. now i've been fasting the whole ramadan and lost about 2 kilos - just eating a bit more in the evenings i guess.. and sweets also. didn't do that in the summer.. oh, and i'm not moving that much anymore.. but it is realistic to loose about half kilo a day, if a lot of physical activities are involved and enough fat in the body to get rid of.. it is not necessarily unhealthy.. overweight is worse!

Peace, Theres nothing wrong with holding a girl IMO, but you cant have sexual intercourse at all during the day. The whole point of Ramadan is to teach you self restraint, appreciation, etc. so that you can emulate it in your everyday life. You are right about how it doesn't make sense to practice Ramadan if you are a hypocrite the other 11 months of the year. I have friends that dont do Ramadan anymore as they are adults now. Whether they do it or not doesnt bother me, its what Wakas says, its your own personal relationship with God. Why should I care about someone else when I should focus on my own being? Seasonal Muslims. Matter of fact, I'll go one up and say that they arent even Muslims at all. Its all tradition, it has no value at all in their life. Was Salaam

haha you got it sis!

Peace Br Anwar, A great thanks for your many suggestions for my food intake I will InshaAllah try them out for the sake of my health. Sugar in my tea? no no never ever hehe Maria

Genteel isn't everything from "God"

Greetings mz, I know what you mean. To me, a fasting 'month' (i.e. 'ramadan&#039 imposed on ALL the people at the exact same time, is very stressful--physically and mentally In addition, as it stands now - with the 'month' moving around the solar year -it is even harder. The human body is part and parcel of all of creation. The rest of creation moves in set sequences, at set periods of time. In this way, the organism is able to perform regular functions at regular times. A month of fasting that changes in its relation in time to the solar patterns does not allow the organism (namely us) to adequately prepare for it. It is always a bit out of balance with the rest of creation.

Salam. Ooops, i just opened a new topic, also saying when i started fasting. Can you imagine if all of us did that? I mean, opened a topic saying, i started fasting? That would be .... weird. Peace.

Peace, Well that is word for word what Yusef Ali says. The only changes I would make to this translation is to translate &abada as to serve, not to worship, and there is not need for (many times), it is just worse. Also I would use 'as' instead of a literal transformation, as the qiradatAN and khanaazeerA can mean 'as' As well, t'he 'abada ataaghoot' is like 'man abada taaghoot' Some of them he made just as apes and pigs are. Those who serve evil & wrong are in the worse of estimations. They have strayed from the evenness of the path (or the even path). Godbless, Anwar

Peace, If you live in a tropic region then I'm sure you have a season where it is hotter than other seasons. If it is the the same all year long then just pick one month out of the year to fast in. Peace, I used to disagree with the extreme heat idea. But now I do agree with it. However, there had to be some reconciliation with grammatical features. The only way it works is if shah-ru ramadaana is read s shahru-rramadaana and understood as shah-run ramadaanan, which would equal shah-run saifan, and the alladhee has to refer to the Quran, and the hi in feehi to God/ in it(referring to the month). Therefore shahruramadaana (A month of during heat (literally heat-wise) alladhee unzila feehi al-quraanu (what was revealed in it, was this reading (the Quran). So definitely I agree that we should fast for 30 days during our summer (extremely/consistently hot) seasons. And if we have to suffer through this to complete this task then we can make it up by feeding someone in need for each day of fasting we miss. As for a month being 30 days I've discussed this in other posts and shown how the Quran consistenly relates a month (shahrun) to 30 days. The one case where it would seem it doesn't is not equalling the daily fasting to it's compensation but mentioning compensation for another act (being when separate from out wives out of enmity and animosity, even violently) For a site with this info you can go to www.quranists.com and go to the link "Times for hajj and Ramadan" Godbless, Anwar P.S. Shahru ramadaana is not possesive. Seconly shahrun does not mean full moon. This is not a definition of the word to be found in any dictionary. Lastly 1 full moon to another full moon is not a shahr if shahr just means full moon, which it doesn't. The only way to understand sharu ramadaan is as a pronunciation of shahrun ramadanan which would equal shah-run saifan. or A month in summer (time of constant or extreme heat).

For the dates of Ramadan & Hajj go to www.quranists.com/HajjandRamadan.html Godbless, Anwar

Peace, Are you still of the idea that we should not use the harakaat in Classical Arabic and when reading the Quran? Are you still of the idea that you can combine the meanings of full/prominent for shahr and moon for shahr to make it full moon? Are you still of the idea that the one passage in the Quran that would seem to contradict shah-r = 30 days buth which is really not equalling the fasts to feeding people but equaling the crime commited to either feeding 10 people or fasting 3 days, so that there is not compensation for the fasting there or for feeding the 10 people but from the wrong of breaking up with our wives violently and in enmity and then wanting reconciliation, contradicts the clear dictum that to make up one day of fasting equals feeding one person? Godbless, ANwar

Peace, Well you said they were from the country-side. They probably have feet washers over there that resemble the toilets and that is why they use the toilets here. They probably see them as just water bowls in the end as well. It's probably alot harder for them to get their feet up to the sinks. In French Africa they usually have these aparatuses like toilets they you use to wash your privates. You would never see that in the US or other places. The issue about them being on menstruation is true for the Sunnis. The Quran just only says not to have sex with women when on their menstruation, like Boost said. That is it. Godbless, Anwar

peace thanks. still curious about when it starts though.