Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, announced it
would start the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Saturday.
“Tomorrow, Saturday will be the first day of the blessed
month of Ramadan,” the kingdom said Friday, in a statement carried by the
official SPA news agency.
Traditionally, many Muslim-majority countries have followed
dates set by Saudi religious authorities, but in recent years, many have used
their own astronomic calculations.
Four other Arab countries of the Gulf, Bahrain, Kuwait,
Qatar, and the UAE, have also announced the Saturday start of Ramadan, while
Oman said it is expected to begin a day later.
The starting date of the dawn-dusk fasting month of Ramadan
is determined by both lunar calculations and physical sightings of a new moon.
Observant Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn
to dusk and traditionally gather with family and friends to break their fast in
the evening.
It is also a time of prayers, during which Muslims converge
in large numbers on mosques, especially at night.
Ramadan is a holy month for the world’s more than 1.5
billion Muslims.
According to tradition, Ramadan marks the time that Prophet
Mohammed started receiving revelations from the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
Ramadan is one of the five “pillars” of Islam.
The others are the profession of faith (“there is no God but
God and Mohammed is his messenger”), the obligation to pray five times a day,
charity, and the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a believer’s lifetime.
AFP
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