Word: fasts
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...While on such a fast-paced schedule, the working groups’ success may hinge on their chairs’ management skills...
...defying athletes are all impressive. But they've got nothing on Randy Couture, the mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter who will take on heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Saturday night in the 102nd Ultimate Fighting Championship event. A five-time champion in the UFC, the premier promoter in the fast-growing sport of mixed martial arts, Couture, 46, is an aging man in a sport that can obliterate even young, healthy bones. As such, he amounts to a litmus test for the next wave of young MMA athletes, who have to wonder, how long can we hang around this grueling sport...
...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...
...Ramadan is signaled by the sighting of the new moon that signals the start of the next lunar month; it's celebrated by a huge festival called 'Id al-Fitr (the Feast of Fast-Breaking) where entire villages celebrate together. While Muslim leaders in Italy who criticized Mourinho's decision to pull his player argued that the "mental and psychological stability" achieved through the discipline of Ramadan outweighs the physical strain of the fast, for Muntari, 'Id probably can't come soon enough...