Ramadan 2009
In Muslim nations and regions
around the globe, this is the first week of the holy month of Ramadan, a
time for followers to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual
activity during the day, breaking their fast each sunset, with traditional
meals and sweets. During this time, Muslims are also encouraged to read the
entire Quran, to give freely to those in need, and strengthen their ties to
God through prayer. The goal of the fast is to teach humility, patience and
sacrifice, and to ask forgiveness, practice self-restraint, and pray for
guidance in the future. This year, Ramadan will continue until Saturday,
September 19th. (39 photos total)
Officers of Malaysia's Islamic authority use a telescope
to perform "rukyah", the sighting of the new moon of Ramadan, in
Teluk Kemang, south of Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia
on August 20, 2009. Muslims scan the sky at dusk in the beginning of the
lunar calendar's ninth month in search of the new moon to proclaim the
start of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month during which observant believers
fast from dawn to dusk. (REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad)
A Musaharati,
dawn awakener, lights up a lantern before touring the streets with his
drums to wake observant Muslims for their overnight 'sahur', last meal,
before the day's fast in Sidon's Old City in south Lebanon just before dawn
August 26, 2009. (REUTERS/ Ali Hashisho)
Muslims attend
prayers on the eve of the first day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan
at Al Akbar mosque in Surabaya, East Java, Indoneisia on August 21, 2009.
(REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas)
A Muslim woman
prays at the Istiqlal mosque on the first day of the holy fasting month of
Ramadan in Jakarta
on August 22, 2009 or Ramadan 1, 1430 in the Hijriah lunar calendar. (ADEK
BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)
A Kenyan child
reads verses from the Quran on the fifth day of the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan in a Madrassa in Nairobi,
Kenya on
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)
A Palestinian boy
plays with a sparkler on the eve of the Muslim holy fasting month of
Ramadan in Gaza
City on August 21,
2009. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)
An Egyptian man
makes a traditional dessert known as "kunava", which is popular
during the fasting month of Ramadan, at a shop in Cairo August 25, 2009. (REUTERS/Asmaa
Waguih)
A Yemeni
therapist applies Kohl to the eyes of a youth, in line with local tradition
on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan at a Zaidi (Shiite) mosque
in Sanaa's Old
City on August 23,
2009. (KHALED FAZAA/AFP/Getty Images)
Muslims attend
Friday prayers on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan at a mosque in
Beijing, China on August 21, 2009.
(REUTERS/Grace Liang)
A Muslim man
arranges bowls of a traditional dessert called kheer for sale outside a
mosque before the evening prayers on the first day of the holy month of
Ramadan, in Jammu, Jammu
and Kashmir, Indian-administered Kashmir
on August 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta)
A child stands
among worshippers attending prayers on the eve of the first day of the
Islamic fasting month of Ramadan at Al Maerkaz Al Islami mosque in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia on August 21,
2009. (REUTERS/Yusuf Ahmad)
A man arrives for
the evening prayers of the first day of the Islamic fasting month of
Ramadan at Merkez mosque in Duisburg,
Germany on
August 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Ina Fassbender)
Muslims shop for
Iftar, the sunset dinner that breaks the fast at Chalk Bazaar, the
traditional Iftar market in Dhaka,
Bangladesh
on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)
Palestinian
vendors prepare trays of sweets for Ramadan, in a shop in the West Bank
city of Nablus,
Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
A cannon fires as
part of the ceremony that ends the second day of the Muslim holy fasting
month of Ramadan, outside Jerusalem's Old City Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. (AP
Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A Muslim man
adjusts his cap in a mirror at a mosque on the first day of the holy month
of Ramadan, in Jammu, Jammu
and Kashmir, Indian-administered Kashmir
on August 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta)
A boy holds candy
in his hand as he reads the Quran in a mosque during Ramadan, in Amman, Jordan
on August 22, 2009. (REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (JORDAN RELIGION SOCIETY IMAGES
OF THE DAY)
A Palestinian
woman walks near the Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's
old city where traditional festive lights are displayed ahead of the start
of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 20, 2009. (MARCO LONGARI/AFP/
Getty Images)
A Muslim boy
takes a nap during evening prayers called "Tarawih" at Mosque of
Gamal Abdel Nasser in Tripoli,
Libya on
August 22, 2009. The mosque was converted from the Catholic Cathedral of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus after a 1969 coup by Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi. (REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
An Iraqi baker
prepares sweets for the holy month of Ramadan in Baghdad, Iraq,
Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A Muslim family
eats, breaking their fast in a giant tent on the first day of the holy
month of Ramadan in Istanbul,
Turkey on
August 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Osman Orsal)
Kashmiri
Muslim offer prayer on a street in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir,
Indian-administered Kashmir on Monday, Aug.24, 2009. (AP Photo/Mukhtar
Khan)
Pakistani women line up for subsidized
sacks of flour provided by the government for the holy month of Ramadan,
Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
A Palestinian
potter engraves the expression in Arabic "Ramadan Karim" as he
puts the final touches to a clay lantern at his workshop in Gaza City on August 17, 2009, ahead of
the start of the holy month of Ramadan. (MARCO LONGARI/AFP/ Getty Images)
A man takes a nap
in between prayers at a mosque in Kabul,
Afghanistan
on August 22, 2009. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
Jordanian workers
make qatayef, a pancake-like shell filled with nuts or sweet cheese, fried
in oil or baked, then dipped in sugary syrup in Amman, Jordan
on Sunday August 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Mohammad abu Ghosh)
Egyptian women
walk past paper lanterns used as decorations during Ramadan, on a street in
downtown Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday, Aug. 19,
2009. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Pakistani
Muslim arranges food stuff for Iftar, a time to break the fast, on the
first day of Ramadan, as a child looks on at a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan
on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
A taxi driver
reaches for a glass of apple juice after sunset in Kabul, Afghanistan
on Sunday Aug. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
Indonesian Muslim
children parade during a ceremony called "Prayer for the Country"
to welcome the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jakarta, Indonesia
on August 21, 2009. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)
Muslim men break
their fast at a mosque in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah
on August 23, 2009. (Omar Salem/AFP/Getty Images)
A Muslim man sits
before breaking his fast on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan at
a mosque in Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of
Tripura on August 24, 2009. (REUTERS/Jayanta Dey)
A crescent moon
is seen behind the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque in Amman, Jordan
on August 23, 2009, during Ramadan. (REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)
Muslim children
pray at a mosque during the month of Ramadan in Manila,
in the Philippines
on August 23, 2009. (JUNIE DOCTOR/AFP/Getty Images)
A boy sells dates
in Amman, Jordan on Saturday August 22
2009. (AP Photo/Mohammad abu Ghosh)
An unidentified
woman helps her son to kiss the iron chain at the entrance of the Naqashband
Sahib shrine in Srinagar, Jammu
and Kashmir, Indian-administered Kashmir
on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A vendor of
headscarfs waits for customers in the 4th day of Ramadan at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 25, 2009.
(Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)
A man prays at a
Sunni mosque in Baghdad,
Iraq,
Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
The Dome of the
Rock, or Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, one of the holiest sites in Islam, is
seen on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
through festive lights for Ramadan on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (AP
Photo/Bernat Armangue)
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