Ask Mehmet: Ramazan

  • Published
  • By By Mehmet Birbiri
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  

Starting Monday, June 6,  you will notice most of your Turkish friends will stop eating and drinking during day time. Your gardner working in your yard under summer sun and soaked with sweat will refuses to accept any food or drink during day time; don’t get upset. That means they are fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, Ramazan in Turkish.

 

More than one billion of the world’s population will change their way of doing things overnight. It is the work of God. The Islamic month of fasting, called Ramazan, begins. This is the month where Muslims commemorate the revalation of God’s gift to humanity, the Holy Koran.

 

Being guests, it is important to respect the beliefs of our hosts, do not eat and/or drink anything in public or on the streets during fasting hours in the month of Ramazan. Smoking is also prohibited while fasting.  

 

Ramazan ends on July 4 and the Moslem world observe a three-day Ramazan Festival starting on July 5-7.

 

Ramazan is considered to be the, “Sultan of the Eleven Months” since Prophet Mohammed started to receive the Holy Koran in this month. It’s the month of great spiritual and material blessings Muslims all over the world look forward to.

 

 The religion of Islam based on five principles:

  • Belief in one God and Prophet Mohammed as his messenger

  • Prayer, five times daily

  • Giving alms to poor and needy people

  • Fasting during the holy month of Ramazan

  • Pilgrimage to Mecca and other holy sites in Saudi Arabia at least once in a lifetime.

     

    Ramazan is the ninth month on the Islamic lunar calendar. The months on the lunar calendar begin and end with the sighting of the new moon.

     

    The lunar calendar is 10-11 days shorter than solar calendar and because of this, from year-to-year, Ramazan rotates throughout the four seasons and rotates throughout every month of the solar calendar.

     

    Every Moslem should observe the fast of Ramazan, but children, pregnant women, sick people, travelers and soldiers at war are exempted from fasting. The fast starts daily from almost one hour before sunrise to immediately after sunset.

     

    During the daylight hours one should abstain from food, drink and intimacy between husband and wife. The fasting ones should not let anything go through their throat. They should abstain from smoking as well. After the sunset, Muslims are permitted to break the fast for the day.

     

    However, one is not to over eat, over drink or over indulge in any self-gratifying activities as this can take away from the spirit of the fast.

     

    The Ramazan fast is not just a fast of physical food, or a fast for spiritual benefits, it’s a fast for the benefit of the total person physically, spiritually and mentally. Muslims reciate and respect both man and outer world as a creation of the almighty God. The fasting Muslims also get a better understanding for the needy ones who cannot find food to eat.

     

    Things to avoid during the fast are the tendency to be spiritually idle or morally absentminded, and the lazy tendency to miss daily prayers with no acceptable excuse.

     

    The time one would spend watching television, listening to music or playing sports should be spent in prayer, contemplation and religious study. Muslims should read one- thirtieth of the Holy Koran each day so as to complete the reading over this 30 day fast period. The time spent in devotion to God will help keep one in tune with the spirit of the fast.

     

    Your Turkish co-workers, maids, and gardeners might be fasting.  As a result of that, mainly in the afternoons, their sugar level might drop, they might become nervous, less conscientious and weak, and some might feel dizzy. For that reason, you should be more aware of safety. Pay more attention to the ones who operate machines and vehicles. Drivers on base might be very nervous and drive more offensively, especially right before fast breaking time in the evenings. Everybody has a tendancy to rush and they become impatient, so drive carefully. Keep those facts in mind and think of your own and the others’ safety during Ramazan.