Ramadan Coursework GCSE Reliogious Studies Education

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When the new moon is sighted to signal the start of the month of Ramadan, there is great excitement. People call Mecca as it is announced on the radio, or in some countries cannons are fired. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and is very significant for Muslims. This essay will illustrate its importance and purpose as being the single most important month in Islam.

One of the most noticeable things about the month of Ramadan is the fact that Muslims all embark on a customary fast (Saum). This not only means the refraining from food and drink for certain amounts of time, but also includes refraining from smoking, sex and all other types of comfort, and they must abstain from bad thoughts such as greed, lust, and anger. Muslims also use the time of Ramadan to read more of the Qur’an and to get a deeper understanding of its meaning. Some very devout Muslims will read the Qur’an from beginning to end.

All Muslims must fast during the month of Ramadan, but there are exceptions for those who it would either be unwise to fast, or those for which fasting would have no benefit. These are the exceptions:

• Women who are menstruating, pregnant or breast feeding
• People who are ill
• Children under 12 years of age
• The aged
• Those on a tiring journey
• The insane

Those who are excused are required to make up for it later. If they still are unable to fast, they are required to give some form of charity, usually the cost of two meals to the poor for each day of fasting that they miss. Those who purposefully break the fast and are unable to resist temptation are expected to pay for 60 meals for poor people. Children may fast for only half a day at first, just to get them used to the effects of fasting. But once they become twelve years old, they are expected to fast along with the adults.

Fasting occurs during the daylight hours on every day of the 29/30 days of the month of Ramadan. This is from dawn (two hours before sunrise) until sunset. The fact that the Islamic lunar calendar is eleven days shorter than the western solar one means that the month of Ramadan moves backwards and falls in different seasons for different years. This means that Ramadan could, and has, occurred during the hot months of the summer where the ays are longer and in some countries hotter making it a very strenuous experience.

After sunset, Muslims are allowed to break their fasts. They usually break their fasts with a small amount of food called ‘Iftar’. This helps to reintroduce food to their digestive systems. It is traditional to eat dates or ‘stars of the moons’ (dried apricots soaked in sugar water) to break their fast, but otherwise a Muslim would break their fast with water. Muslims will then have a main meal with the rest of the family usually late at night, and the poor are invited to eat with them. The special ‘Mahgrib’ prayer is said before this meal is eaten. In the morning, if there is time before sunrise, Muslims may be able to eat a small predawn meal called ‘Suhur’. In countries such as Bangladesh men and women get up just after midnight in order for the women to prepare the meal whilst the men read the Qur’an and recite prayers. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) described Suhur as being a blessed meal and so many Muslims try to have the meal during Ramadan.

Suhur is a special feature of the month of fasting, but there are also three more significant aspects of the month. These are Tarawih prayers, Lailat al-Qadr, and I’tikaf. Tarawih prayers are only ever recited during Ramadan. At the Mosque, the Huffaz will start with the ‘isha’ (night prayer) and then recite the Tarawih prayer before moving onto the reciting of the whole Qur’an from beginning to end. This is done this way because it was the way the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did it many years ago. Lailat al-Qadr is the ‘Night of Power’. People usually crowd into Mosques on this night as it is written in the Qur’an that anyone who stays awake praying and meditating on this special night gets the notification of having kept awake and prayed for one thousand nights. I’tikaf is when someone secludes themselves for a few days in order to attain Allah’s blessings. Usually males go to stay at the mosque for a few days during the last ten days of Ramadan.

Id-ul-Fitr is the festival which marks the end of the Ramadan month and occurs on the first day of the tenth Islamic month ‘Shawal’. It is a time of great joy and achievement as Muslims look back on the previous month and celebrate their endurance and accomplishment of being able to give up food, drink, and other luxuries for 30 days. Before Id begins, Muslims observe the Third Pillar of Islam, Zakah. Zakah is the giving of a fixed percentage of their spare income, to those in need. People gather in the streets to watch the rising of the new moon which signals the beginning of the festival. People then crowd into Mosques to hear a sermon given by the ‘imam’ (leader) particularly illustrating their responsibility towards the poor. After the service, families gather at home to enjoy food together, and to exchange gifts. Then families travel to the cemeteries in order to remember those who have been separated from them.

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amadan and Saum are very important for Muslims for many reasons. The main reason that Ramadan is so important is because Ramadan was the month in which Muhammad (pbuh) got his first revelation of the Qur’an on the Night of Power (Lailat-al-Qadr). Muslims use this as a time to commemorate the revelation by Saum mainly as it is required as the Fourth Pillar of Islam:

‘O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may ward off [evil]’
(Qur’an 2:183)

Saum is a way for a Muslim to show their devotion ...

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