Today is exactly day 15 from ramadan. I haven't really explained what this is and what it means to me. All the major religions have some sort of fasting involved, whether it be giving up something for lent, or some of the hardcore fasting done by the Jains (no food or drink except boiled water for 5 days solid), its considered to be quite an important part of religion or faith.
So Islam is no different. And this comes in the form of ramadan, absence of food or water or drink from sunrise to sunset for a month. There is a catch though - islam goes by the lunar year, which is 11 days sorter than the solar one. So if you think that ramadan is coming round earlier every year, you're right.
I believe that this makes islam a fair religion and there is no bias where you live in the world, because although several years ago, ramadan was in december and it was quite easy, I distinctly and painfully remember ramadan being in June and that was very tough. So unless you immigrate to the other side of the world every 35 years or so, you'll get a taste of it all.
Fasting for muslims is not just simply the absence of food and drink for several hours, it also involves not swearing, being kind and patient to people, giving money to charity, and trying in general to be the best person you can. In a physical sense, I love ramadan because it gives me my annual detox, the body has a chance to recover from the continuous flow of food throughout the year. But fasting has more spiritual levels, when you are without a basic necessity like food, you go into some sort of meditation where you get to appreciate every scrap of food you have. SO the reason why muslims do it is a spiritual and physical cleansing, but its also a reminder that there really are people in this day and age that go without and how hard that must be for them. At the end of ramadan its compulsory to give enough money to charity to feed a family of 4, and you'll want to do that after seeing how hard going without food is. I recommend it.
