Ramadhan

12.02.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 13th Sep 2007

For many Muslims today is the first day of Ramadhan. Ramadhan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is most well known by people as the month in which Muslims fast. According to Islam Ramadhan is the most religious month of the year and God increases the rewards people receive for good deeds.

For Muslims fasting during the month of Ramadhan is compulsory as long you are sane and mature. This means that Muslims will stop eating before dawn and will only start eating again after sunset. Fasting in Islam means preventing yourself from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse.

I should point out that there are a number of different Muslim groups, their views on Islam and the way Muslims should live their lives are very different in some cases. There is also the fact that the different cultures Muslims come from also influence the way in which people follow Islam, therefore others beliefs, opinions and views of Ramadhan may vary from what you have read above.

The major impact that Ramadhan has on my life is that rather then having breakfast at a normal time of 6/7 am during Ramadhan I have a breakfast like meal before dawn which at the moment is about 5am and then rather then having lunch and junk during the day I don't eat till after sunset which at the moment will be around 7:30pm. Also in Ramadhan many Muslims perform a special prayer later in the evening at a mosque therefore rather then spending the evenings watching TV or catching up on my work for the next month I will be at the mosque for about ninety minutes each evening.

With today being the first day of Ramadhan, Eid will be on either Friday 12th or Saturday 13th October depending on the sighting of the new moon on Thursday 11th October.