Ramadan

WE are in the midst of the holiest month for the second-largest religion in America. But you might not know it, because it goes virtually unnoticed by much of the country.Ramadan, which started at the end of December, is the Muslim commemoration of God's first revelation of the holy book, the Koran, to the Prophet Mohammed.Hate crimeThis year the observance was marred when a star and a crescent, symbols of Islam, placed near the White House to recognize Ramadan were defaced on Dec. 26, 1996, with a Nazi swastika.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton chose this moment to attack Iraq to exploit a brief window between the end of a futile series of United Nations inspections and the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, officials said yesterday.The timing also was influenced by the need for tactical surprise, officials said, and by an apparent desire to prevent the kind of last-minute diplomatic interference that caused Clinton to abort a planned series of strikes against Iraq a month ago.Coming on the eve of what was supposed to be a House debate leading to his impeachment, the attack generated strong suspicion yesterday that Clinton was acting to delay congressional action and thus preserve his job.Former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, while saying that military action against Iraq is "the right thing to do" and in fact overdue, charged that "the whole process of getting here after wasting six months smells to high heaven."

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The men of the Takwa'a Mosque climbed the minaret in search of a crescent moon that would signal the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.It had been said the beginning of Ramadan might signal the end of the bombing of Iraq.They scanned the sky over Baghdad yesterday as it darkened from a dusty blue to the dove gray of evening. Below them lay the bombed-out remnants of a stone villa, a casualty of the U.S. military confrontation with Iraq.The five men fixed their gaze to the west, hunting in vain for a sliver of light.

Khalil Azmi's transition from outdoor soccer -- he was a World Cup goalie for Morocco -- to the indoor game appears to be complete. During the past month, he has hit his stride with the Spirit, his goals-against average dropping from 14 to 11.He has also spent most of January adhering to the dictates of the Muslim religion's Ramadan that require a total fast (no food or water) from sunrise to sunset. Ramadan ended last night.How is a body able to carry on practicing hard and playing games on a daily basis with the barest minimum of sustenance?

In a rare convergence of lunar and solar calendars, the three great monotheistic religions will mark important religious holidays within eight days.The celebration of Christmas on Thursday will be preceded one day by the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. And a week later, Dec. 31, begins the month of Ramadan, a time of fasting and spiritual renewal for the world's Muslims.The coincidence of holidays, which occurs only three times a century, highlights the religious diversity common in many communities.

An item in The Sun yesterday erroneously stated the fasting period for Ramadan. It is between dawn and dusk.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 1/11/97

At a Westview mosque called Masjid-al-Rahmah, it's not just the adults who are fasting this month for Ramadan, but many of the 83 children attending the adjacent school.Muslim adults must fast during daylight all month to receive forgiveness and blessings from Allah. The children at the private, Muslim Al-Rahmah School school next door fast voluntarily.Ramadan, which falls this year in February, marks the revelation of Islam's holy book, the Koran, to the Prophet Mohammed -- a process that began in 610 and took 23 years.

CAIRO, Egypt -- Rageb Hassen was ready. His left hand held his spoon aloft, poised at mouth level. His right hand clutched the bowl of beans, preparing to raise it to the same altitude.As soon as a cannon signaled the sun had set, his spoon, bowl and mouth reached a happy convergence, ending Rageb's third day of fasting for Ramadan.The Islamic holy month began this week, starting 28 days of abstinence from food and drink between sunrise and sundown for the world's Muslims."It's not so hard," Mr. Hassen, a 20-year-old clothing vendor, said of the daily fast.

The new crescent moon on Feb. 10 marked the beginning of the Muslim observance of Ramadan.For a month, Muslims around the world abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset. An exercise of empathy and compassion, Ramadan helps people identify with the problems of the less fortunate.Refraining from all foods and liquids, including water, is a challenge to the body. The evening meal after each day of fasting should be filling, without putting a strain on the digestive system.

An estimated 15,000 Muslims in the Baltimore area are preparing for celebrations Monday that will conclude Ramadan, the monthlong period of fasting and spiritual exercises.One of the local mosques with a schedule of observances Monday morning for men, women and children is Masjid Walter TC Omar at 3401 W. North Ave. The Eid prayer will begin there at 10 a.m. The worship will be followed by the traditional Eidel-Fitr feast, masjid spokesman Emmanuel Karim announced."Eidul-Fitr is the celebration to commemorate the completion of Ramadan and represents a personal victory of one's spirituality over one's physical and worldly desires," Mr. Karim said.

BAGHDAD - Bombs and gunfire ripped through the end of Ramadan here yesterday, killing at least 24 worshipers and Iraqi soldiers near two Shiite mosques in a worrisome reminder that the drop in violence in recent months can be shattered by successive explosions. The blasts struck in the early morning of Eid al-Fitr, the feast that ends the holy month of fasting. Fourteen people, including three soldiers, were killed and 28 injured when a sedan blew up outside a mosque in the Zafaraniya neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A militia chief's brother, kidnapped last week in an act of vengeance that sparked a two-day battle over control of a southern Iraq city, was found dead yesterday amid signs of simmering unrest between rival Shiite Muslim groups that is undermining security in the relatively stable south. At least 50 other Iraqis were killed or found dead around the country yesterday as part of a relentless wave of political violence that has marked the just-ending Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen bombed and shot families shopping for food and gifts, executed dozens in sectarian killings and ambushed a group of Iraqi police recruits yesterday during the closing hours of Ramadan. The violence left scores of Iraqis dead and further marred the Muslim holy month, which has been a time of incessant violence against Iraqis and American troops. The military announced yesterday that five U.S. troops had been killed in four combat incidents around Iraq, bringing the number of Americans killed over the weekend to 10. At least 83 U.S. troops were killed in the first 22 days of October, making the month the deadliest for Americans in Iraq since November 2005.

LOS ANGELES -- As the sun slowly descended toward the Pacific Ocean, Amin Momand watched it, and his teammates watched him watching it. It was an October team dinner the night before a Palos Verdes High School football game. But Momand, a starting defensive end for the Sea Kings and a Muslim, couldn't eat - couldn't even sip water - until the sun disappeared, according to the rules of Ramadan. When darkness finally came and he took a drink, there was a communal sigh of relief. Some teammates applauded.

Since two major religious observances for Islam and Judaism coincide this year, the Jewish Student Union at Howard Community College played host for a joint Ramadan/Rosh Hashanah event.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A bomb exploded yesterday in an alleyway of a vast Shiite slum where women and children had gathered to collect fuel rations on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, peppering victims with ball bearings and engulfing them in an inferno that killed at least 35. Rescuers entering the alley, which is squeezed between two walls, wrapped themselves in wet blankets as they attempted to reach victims whose clothes had been set ablaze. "We were choosing those who we thought were still alive to carry them out," said Hassan Moosawi, 26, one of the rescuers.

.. For Sam Chester, a Jewish student at the Johns Hopkins University, the holiest time of his spiritual year begins tonight at sundown. His Muslim classmate, Nadia Khan, will also start observing the most important season of her faith this weekend. Because Judaism and Islam both rely on a lunar calendar, approximately every three decades the month of Ramadan coincides with the Jewish month of Tishri, which includes the high holy days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. For Muslim and Jewish groups on college campuses and elsewhere across the nation, the overlap offers an opportunity this year to learn about each other's faith practices and similarities, particularly important given the tensions from Iran to Lebanon to the Vatican.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- When Israel evacuated its settlements in the Gaza Strip one year ago, Ayed Abu Ramadan dreamed that Gaza's new independence would fuel an economic revival. Abu Ramadan led a Palestinian project that used greenhouses left by departing Jewish settlers to grow cherry tomatoes, strawberries and peppers for export to European markets. The government project, which employed more than 4,000 Palestinians, was expected to inject $20 million into Gaza's battered economy.

As the Dar al-Taqwa mosque nears completion in Ellicott City, Muslims in Howard County are looking forward to having a place of their own to practice their faith. Until now, about 350 Muslim families in the county have been using a combination of public and private spaces for prayer, education and fellowship. Ramadan prayer services attract so many worshippers that they spill into the halls in Owen Brown Interfaith Center. Evening meals, which break the fast after sundown, are served in a school cafeteria.

The call to prayer echoed through the packed room. While River Hill High School senior Khalid Shourbaji sang in Arabic, Sayeed Hassan translated. "Allahu akbar," repeated Hassan, president of the Dar al-Taqwa mosque, for the public school administrators at his table. "God is the greatest. Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa'llah. I bear witness that there is no god but God." The sun had fallen over Columbia, and members of the local Muslim community were settling down to iftar, the meal that breaks the daylight fast during the month of Ramadan.