An explanation of Ramadan

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Generally speaking, consuming any food, drinking any liquid & sexual activity, all invalidate one’s fast. Whilst other acts that are considered sinful when not fasting (backbiting, swearing, lustful thoughts, etc.), do not invalidate one’s fast, the magnitude of these sinful acts are considered even greater if commited whilst fasting.
 
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Oh yea, I miswrote that. Sorry. Wasn’t there an Imam Hassan as well? Imam Hussein’s brother. Grandchildren of the Prophet.
 
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So it is about a month long then. I forgot how long it lasts too.
Wouldn’t the date be the same everywhere? I realize in Christianity the West and the East celebrate Christmas and Easter days apart, but
what about Ramadan.
 
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In my country, Sunnis and Shias each have a different grand sheikh who announces the start of the fasting month.
 
Thanks for sharing this information.
So Malta was not always Catholic?
How did their conversion come about?
 
7_Sorrows said:
So it is about a month long then. I forgot how long it lasts too.
Wouldn’t the date be the same everywhere? I realize in Christianity the West and the East celebrate Christmas and Easter days apart, but
what about Ramadan.
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I ought to have made it clearer. In the UK Ramadan began at midnight on the 5th. The first prayers were on the 6th. As far as I can tell, this was the same everywhere.
 
Malta was part of an old Arab Empire, I believe. Their language is a descendant of Arabic, actually.
 
SalamKhan said:
I could be wrong, but a certain amount of days were added to the Hebrew calendar so that the days are fixed like the solar calendar.
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We get a ‘leap month’ (“Adar II”) every couple or so years (it varies, it’s 7 times in a 19 year cycle).

There’s still some drift, in a few thousand years, Passover will be a Summer rather than Spring festival.
 
That sacrifice of Abraham and his son Isaac is a prefiguration of the Passion and death of Christ.
 
Neither Muslims nor Jews see it that way, so the sacrifice for Eid al Adha is not based on Easter. Again, Eid al Adha does not follow Ramadan in the way Easter follows Lent, as you claimed. Again, Eid al Fitr follows Ramadan.
 
Wa Alaikum as-Salam, and Ramadan Kareem!

There is no need to apologise at all dear brother.
 
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I am interested to know about the restrictions placed on Muslims during Ramadan. I know you mentioned food, drink and sex. Does it also apply to smoking? If it does is the rule you can’t smoke during daylight or you can’t smoke at all during the month of Ramadan?

With respect to food is there any restriction on the amount you can eat? There’s a large Muslim community where I live and there have been quite a few TV programmes about Ramadan. Some of these have been documentaries following Muslim families fasting during Ramadan. From what I have observed it seems that once it is dark there is no restriction on the quantity of food you can eat.
 
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“TomH1 said:
Does it also apply to smoking
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My Muslim friends say smoking invalidates their fast.
TomH1 said:
From what I have observed it seems that once it is dark there is no restriction on the quantity of food you can eat.
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The Muslims of my country have a saying: “Baad al aasha’, ef’aal kama tasha’”. This translates to “after dinnertime (at sundown), do whatever you want”. They have no restrictions on eating, smoking, having sex,etc… but only after sundown.
 
That is where I get somewhat confused about it being a fast. In the Catholic Church ‘fast’ means a reduction in the quantity you eat.

For the avoidance of doubt, I’m not criticisng Ramadan. But, if you can eat whatever you want after dark that is not a reduction of amount. I often wonder if it would be better to refer to it as an abstinence from food, drink, sex, etc. during daylight.

I realise very much my question is more about semantics than the actual practice. It would be interesting to know what the Arabic term is and what that term usually gets translated into English as.
 
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