[anne666]

Originally Posted by Salman!

This ramadan I'll be fasting (no eating, drinking or even deeply inhaling the smell of food) from 4am to around 9pm, before going to the hot crowded mosque for a 1h 45m 'taraweeh' prayer (specific prayer during Ramadan) at 10pm, every single day. Muslim prayer is like this btw http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._positions.jpg and in Taraweeh the prayer lasts for about 7 minutes, and we do 20 prayers in total. The Imaam leads the prayer and recites the Qur'an. Taraweeh prayer is so exhausting, you're legs ache. And we don't just do taraweeh prayer we have to do the usual daily 5 prayers too (one at sunrise, one at midday, one in the afternoon, one in sunset and one prayed in conjunction with taraweh) which you have to make an effort to go mosque each time to do. Women get it easy tbh they're not obliged to go to mosque so all of their prayers are shorter and from the comfort of their own home. In Ramadan you should also regularly read the Qur'an, and although masturbation is regarded as a sin anyway it completely breaks your fast during Ramadan so you absolutely cannot do it under any circumstances during that time. You can't have sex either when fasting and stuff like swearing makes your fast 'weak" so you should avoid that too. There's a load of other things you need to avoid too. This is all for one month straight

It probably sounds like torture to you all but most Muslims are really committed during the month so it soon enough just becomes routine, some even feel at peace and enjoy it. The hours spent fasting sound harsh but that's just because this particular Ramadan takes place in July where the day is much longer.. eventually Ramadan will be in the winter months again where the fast ends at around 4pm but there's a loooong way to go til that happens (to give you an idea of how long it takes, Ramadan 2006 began in late September. so it took eight years for it to get to early June, only like 2-3 months). Here's a link to the dates actually (scroll down) http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/ramadan-begins

I admit it's hard, but it goes pretty quick and I really love how you gather with all your extended family on loads of days to break fast, it's always fun

soz for the essay

Thank you it was worth the effort IMO. It's fascinating to read about other faiths.