With Ramadan occurring in one of the hottest months of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere, and the one of the coldest times of the year for those in the southern hemisphere, our physical ability to handle weather extremes becomes an interesting topic to reflect upon.
Ramadan is the month which signifies self-reform and abstention from one's basic desires which in particular helps to understand ourselves in terms of patience, tolerance and our threshold levels from the worldly desires.
Fasting isn't a new concept for people adhering to Islam. Food fasting is a common practice in many human cultures, as a part of religious practices. Ramadan is a Hijri month that requires daytime fasting; being one of the five pillars of Islam.
Many studies tout the health benefits of fasting. We now know that when we refrain from giving our bodies food, the body will heal itself.
Islam enjoys a firm tradition of fasting diet as Muslims observe an annual obligatory fast for 29 or 30 days during the holy month of Ramadan.
Hats off to all mothers-to-be undertaking the fast during Ramadan.
A red bag of grain droops from his sheathed head as light sweat beads gently run down the ageing face of Hamisi bin Omar, a porter in Kenya’s Swahili port city of Mombasa.
Your nose is stuffy or it is expectantly running, your head is heavy and aching and you know like the back of your hand that you are suffering from a common cold or perhaps that malevolent flu. Your Ramadan is in jeopardy.
Each year, more than 1.6 billion Muslims all over the world await the announcement of the first day of the holiest month of Ramadan.
"Fast [the month of Ramadan] so that to heal your bodies from diseases," says a Hadith, or saying of the Prophet Mohammad (SAAW).
Some nutritional specialists believe that man isn't motivated to eat by his knowledge of the benefits and functions of food but rather by his pressing feeling of hunger as well as his appetite, i.e. desire, for food.
It is yet another holy month of fasting for Ahmed Abdi, a Muslim who is bracing for fasting Ramadan during a hot, dry summer.
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