Word: fasts
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Fast Facts...
...bodied Muslims over the age of 12 are forbidden to eat or drink from sunup to sundown. Muslims believe that during this month the gates of hell close - meaning the devil is unable to tempt them during a month of discipline, charity and self-control. The objective of the fast, which also prohibits participating in "sensual pleasures" such as smoking, sex and even listening to music during daylight hours, is to diminish believers' dependence on material goods, purify their hearts and establish solidarity with the poor to encourage charitable works during the year. It's as much a period...
...long, foodless day. The rest of the day is spent reciting prayers, abstaining from bad deeds and reading the Koran. Fasters are expected to read the entire holy book within the month, and many mosques have taken to splitting it into 30 even portions recited in daily sermons. The fast lasts until sundown - or until it's too dark to "distinguish a white thread from a black thread," according to the Koran - and is broken with a small meal called an iftar which is followed by the Magrib prayer before the fasters join their families and invite the poor...
...breaking of the fast is often a decadent affair in wealthier Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates, where well-to-do Muslims gather in air-conditioned tents, cruise ships or five-star hotels to feast on meals with multiple courses. In some countries, the fast carries the force of law: in Algeria, six people were jailed last year for failing to observe the fast, while in Iran authorities have shut down restaurants for not closing during the day. Other places have their own unique requirements: when Ramadan falls during the summer months, as it does this year, Muslims living...
...Italian journalist Massimo Donaddio noted in the daily Il Sole 24 Ore that Saudi Arabia's coach, at the recent World Athletics Championships in Berlin, declared that his athletes would strictly follow the Ramadan fast during the competition. The Saudis won exactly zero medals, writes Donaddio - but then, so did the Italians...