Ramadhan Kareem
Away from politics today, some of might know it, and some might not know it, but we Muslims, have our own calendar, although it is also made of 12 months, but each month is either 29 or 30 days long. The first year of this calendar was made the date the prophet Muhammad traveled from Mecca to Al-Madena Al-Monawara. So the date today is Sha`ban 25 1426. This calendar is Hijri, sometimes it is tricky to switch between those two calendars, but I use this site to make those switches. In this calendar we don't depend on the sun like the Gregorian calendar, we depend on the sightings of the moon. So depending on these sightings, next Tuesday or Wednesday is going to be the next month, Ramadhan.
Ramadhan is the holiest month of the Higri calendar. In Ramadhan fighting is Haram, meaning that a Muslim may not carry his weapon and go to war, because Ramadhan is a peaceful month (but we don't get our hopes on that). Also in Ramadhan Muslims fast (this might be a tricky expression). It means that a Muslim will not eat or drink anything between dawn and sunset. It is a tradition for the Iraqis to wake up at 3 Am roughly, and eat a big breakfast, which we call "Sohor", before the war, some men used to go out to the street at 3 Am with drums, they would drum there way around, waking people up. I remember when I was a child, I used to stand by the window, watching the neighborhood coming alive, darkness changing into Leigh. I remember that one neighbor would open the windows out of her room and yell at another neighbor; "What are you having for Sohor". The other one would reply, and ask the same question, then another reply, and the two women would close the windows and go back inside to prepare the meal.
During Ramadhan the city is different, and the people are different, restaurants would hang curtains on their windows. When sunset come, the streets are almost empty, some people might be moving around, but most of them would be home, with their families, having a well earned meal.
Sunshine also posted about Ramadhan.
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posted by Hassan | 12:07 AM
4 Comments:
..my ex husband used to be in the air force.. He used to go to Saudi Arabia when he was in the service.
He used to tell me alot about your different religious days..
I am so glad to be able to hear it first hand
Libby,
Well, before the war we used (Ittehad Al-Matale'), because all Iraq would fast depending on a single sighting. After the war, each group of Muslims started using is't own observations to decide, meaning we are using (Ikhtilaf Al-Matale') now. For a single country Ittehad Al-Matale' is the better one, because right now, Sunnis would begin fasting on a day, and the Shittes would begin fasting the day after, last year the Shittes were divided too, because AL-Sadr fasted on a day even later...
my parents tell me bout those guys who use the drums to wake people up for suhur, i thik as a kid it would be fun to watch...its like a piece of iraqi tradition thats somehow gotten lost
Ramadan karim Hassan!
I hope this Ramadan will be like the old Ramadan when we really enjoyed fasting and gathering with firends and relatives. May God help us!
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