Month of Ramadan for Arab Muslims

Every year, Muslims welcome a very dear guest and this guest just come once a year, this guest is the month of Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed. It is the month where the heavens’ doors are opened and the hells’ doors are closed where also evils are chained. It is the month that the Night of Qadr (Laylat al-Qadr) is better than a thousand months as the Quran explained and also the prophet Mohammed talked about this night. In this month, it is preferred not to delay breakfast, but to delay Suhoor.

Month of Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and comes after Shaaban. This month is special for Muslims more than the other Islamic months because it is the fasting month.

At Ramadan, Muslims don’t eat, drink or have sex from daybreak and till sunset. This month also has special position in the history of the Muslims as they believe that the revelation came first and revealed the Quran to prophet Mohammed at Laylat al-Qadr at year 610 where the prophet Mohammed was Hiraa when the angel Gabriel came and told him “Read: In the Name of your Lord Who created” and it was the first to come in Quran then Gabriel delivered to prophet Mohammed the rest of the Quran over 23 years that helps people to know what is right for them and what is not

What Prophet Mohammed told Muslims about the virtues of the month of Ramadan?

There are a lot of virtues of Ramadan as the heavens’ doors are opened and the hells’ doors are closed, Allah forgives people’s sins when they fast the month of Ramadan, evils are chained, fasting Muslim’s prayers are answered and that’s what Prophet Mohammed told the Muslims about the month of Ramadan.

Most of Muslims get up early before daybreak and eat a light meal and drink water (This meal called Suhoor) getting ready to fast. Muslims shouldn’t say abusive words and should stop bad habits while fasting and in this month they all should do good habits and don’t forget the remembrance of Allah, ask for forgiveness and read the Quran.

How Muslims know the beginning of the month of Ramadan?

Sighting of the moon: It is the way of seeing the born of the new moon that sets the beginning of the new month and it is very important to identify the months of the Islamic calendar.

New moon of the lunar month: The observation starts after the sunset of the twenty nine of the lunar month directly and the observation doesn’t take more than one hour till the crescent disappears once again.
The observation is located at the west side slightly to the south. Sometimes it is hard to see the moon in most cases because the moon becomes too close to the sun and as a result, it got affected with its light in addition to that the lighten part of the moon is too small.
It is preferred that the observation should be in open spaces that has no obstacles to the sky such as hills, mountains or buildings. The observer should be away from disturbing illumination and also the climate matters, humidity, dust and clouds affect the vision, and the observation.
The crescent being observed is the crescent of the new month not the end of the current month; that’s why the observer is being asked about the specifications of the crescent to know if this is the crescent that they are looking for.

Crescent characteristics:

The crescent of the first month is located in the south at the place where the sun dives in after the sunset. Regarding the crescent of the last month, it is impossible to be seen after the sunset, and it dives before the sun slightly to the north from the location where the sun is going to dive in.

The horns of the first month’s crescent are facing the top side and goes to the south, but the last month’s crescent, if it can be seen before sunset, is at the west side and its horns are located at the bottom and north.

To assure seeing Ramadan’s crescent, Muslim scientists inform all Muslims about the beginning of Ramadan month.

Laylat-Al-Qadr:

It is one Ramadan’s nights and it is the greatest among all nights. It is better than thousand months as the Quraan says and it is the night where the Quraan was revealed. The explanation about that night according to some sources: It Is the night when Allah asked Gabriel to reveal the Quraan from the “Saved board” to someplace in the sky that is called “House of glory” then Gabriel went to Mohammed respectively according to the events and reasons. The first part of the Quraan that was revealed to Mohammed was at Laylat-Al-Qadr where the first five verses of “Surat Al-`Alaq”.

Muslims believe that Allah glorified Laylat-Al-Qadr as it was said in the Noble Quraan because it has a great matter and because it is better than thousand months. Good works will have values that are better than working for thousand months. Who see a dream about the features regarding Laylat-Al-Qadr awake, so he already saw it. One of the most indications is that the sun appears in the morning without rays or it get seen red or the night would be temperate and who initiates for diligence and obedience and it was in Laylat-Al-Qadr gained a lot of pros and who ask Allah for something at that time then his request is going to be accepted as many people were glad when they had their requests when they asked Allah for it at that night.

Al Laylat-Al-Qadr, Gabriel and all Angels come to the earth with goodness, blessing, mercy and forgiveness. They pray and greet all the Muslims who are praying or remembering Allah as they come from the sunset till sunrise and they apply all what Allah says as distributing livings and also shows who is going to die or be born at this period in addition to a lot of details, where all of matters happen for people are delivered such as health and illness, poor and richness and so may as these matters.

Laylat-Al-Qadr is peace goodness for believers that evils can’t hurt then and this peaceful continues till sunrise.

There is no specific date for that night but Prophet Mohammed told Muslims that it is one of the last ten nights of Ramadan.

Prayers that Muslims pray:

In addition to the five prayers that Muslims should pray, there is another prayer that is Sunnah and it is called Taraweeh prayers. It is after Isha prayers till Fajr prayers. It is two by two then one which means that Muslims pray two Rak’ahs then pray one Rak’ah to ask anything he wants from Allah including peaceful, goodness and so on. Prophet Mohammed didn’t pray it in a group except three nights because he didn’t want Muslims to consider it as a duty, but he prayed it at all Ramadan months that he lived and he didn’t miss any except in case he was traveling.

Cultural habits that appeared in the Arab society in Ramadan only:
- Ramadan Cannon: aka breakfast cannon is one of the habits that people used to do in Ramadan and it is lined with month of Ramadan and all of its characteristics and it has a lot of historical stories that people share sometimes.
  Arab societies inherited the habit of cannon at the breakfast time at sunset since hundreds of years. It is considered one of the common habits among so many Islamic countries. Historians say that Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is the first city to use the breakfast cannon coincidence at the first day of Ramadan at Islamic year 865.
  There are a lot of historical stories about who was the first country or city to use the breakfast cannon, but most of them agreed that it happened by coincidence then the idea was spread among all the Islamic countries. It was spread at Quds and other Damascus countries then to Baghdad then last to all the Arab gulf state such as Bahrain.
- Storyteller: It is a popular tradition where a person tells stories in houses, shops, coffee shops and streets but mostly at coffee shops and in the past many people got crowded around him. He didn’t only tell the stories but sometimes he acted as the character of the stories because of the enthusiasm that people gave to him.
- Fawazir Ramadan: It is similar to a small quizzes and it is streams at Egyptian channels everyday on Ramadan and it is like a riddle that gives awards to actors and actresses. It has started since the sixties and continued till the beginning of the new millennium.