Brand New Software To Help Muslims Fast Meaningfully for Ramadan 2004
This year once again millions of Muslims in America and the West will join their fellow Brothers in Islam in fasting in the Holy Month of Ramadan 2004 Islam Digital has designed a Goal-setting software to help Muslim set their Goals for Ramadan 2004...
(PRWEB) October 4, 2004 -- Fast Meaningfully this Ramadhan
Brand New
Software To Help Muslims Fast Meaningfully
for Ramadan 2004
This year
once again millions of Muslims in America and the West
will join their
fellow Brothers in Islam in welcoming the
Holy Month of Ramadan 2004 - the
month of fasting.
From the very beginning of time, people have been
involved
with the great struggle to master their bodies and
emotions.
The urge to eat is one of the most powerful motivations anyone
must face.
Many people fail and overeat or consume unhealthy foods.
Other substances can be abused by our penchant for pleasure:
Drugs,
alcohol, and cigarettes can pull us down just as easily
as too many tubs of
our favorite ice cream.
The Holy month of Ramadan helps Muslim set their
Goals to
change their lives and control this very basic nature of indulging
by fasting.
Islam Digital has designed a Goal-setting software to help
Muslim set their Goals for Ramadan 2004 available at:
http://www.islamdigital.com/fasting/index.html
What is
Ramadan ?
Being the fourth pillar of Islam known as Saum, or fasting,
the
month of Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar
calendar.
Muslims are required to observe a strict fast from dawn until
dusk.
Since a lunar month has about 30 days in it, the benefits achieved
during this time is truly life-changing.
Reform programs such as diet
fads, cold turkey denial, counseling,
and alcohol and drug treatment
programs are often unsuccessful,
leading people to relapse into their
self-destructive overindulgence.
Merely giving these vices up for a short
period won't solve the problem.
Is there no way out of personal
gluttony? The answer lies not in
watching our weight with new pills or
eating plans or in wearing a
nicotine patch, but in the education of our
soul and in curbing its
desires from within.
Islam's cure starts with
defining the problem as a spiritual identity crisis.
When we forget that
God exists and is watching us, when we ignore
our fitrah, or inner nature to
seek God, when we fail to live according to God's good laws and forget the
advice of the prophets, then we can fall prey to any self-destructive impulse.
The solution, then, must begin with strengthening the soul and then
bringing the body along in step.
Islam carries with it a fasting
component for this reason.
We can become better enlightened only when we
rise above the
flesh and recognize the force of our spirit, our very human
will.
The Holy Qur'an explains the purpose of fasting in this
way:
"You who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was
prescribed for those before you, so you can gain more spiritual awareness."
(Holy Quran 2:183)
Because the Quran has given fasting in Ramadan the
status of a
religious duty, whose neglect is sinful, the conscientious
person
resolves to complete the fasting period and this is where the real
transformation takes place.
Read the complete version of this article
at:
http://www.islamdigital.com/fasting/ramadan_2004.html
Welcoming
Month of Ramadan 2004 and When is Ramadan ?
When the new moon is sighted,
signaling the beginning of the month
of Ramadan, Muslims gather and say this
prayer:
"God is Great, God is Great, God is Great.
Praise be to God
Who created me and you and Who decreed
for you the phases [of the moon] and
made you a sign for the universe."
Then a short supplication is quietly
said in which we dedicate
ourselves to fasting in this month.
Night
of Power - the Glory of Ramadan
One particular night of Ramadan has extra
special significance.
It is the exact night when the Qur'anic revelation was
first revealed to Muhammad s.a.w.in the year 610 C.E. It is known as Laylat ul
Qadr,or the Night of Power.
According to the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, it
falls on one of the
odd-numbered nights in the last 10 days of Ramadan.
Many Muslims stay up all night seeking the Lord's forgiveness
and
guidance.
During the last 10 days of Ramadan, some Muslims perform what
is
known as Ihtikaf, or Retreat. This consists of living in the prayer area
of the mosque for up to 10 days, venturing out only for showers and similar
legitimate needs.
Prayer, study, and supplication are the attendant
activities.
The Holy Month of Training in Islam
What are some of
the lessons learned by participating in the Ramadhan fast?
You would be
surprised at the variety. The month of Ramadan
provides a sort of spiritual
and moral "boot camp."
We know that fasting in Ramadan is a duty from
God and that any sins may spoil our record of fasting, so we take great pains to
be on our best behavior. This intense modification of our habits is designed to
help us avoid such sins throughout the rest of the year.
The Blessed
Prophet once remarked, "Whoever doesn't give up lying and acting on lies during
fasting, then God has no need of him giving up food and drink."
On
another occasion he warned, "There are many people who get nothing from fasting
except hunger and thirst." Clearly, the moral dimension is as important as the
physical aspects of fasting.
The lessons learned during Ramadan are many.
We learn what it means
to be hungry, so we feel more compassion for the poor.
We understand
how close we are to leaving this world at any moment and how
much we
depend on food and liquids.
We learn to control our animal
urges and passions, and we clear our
minds and thoughts for serious
remembrance of God. We restrain our
anger, and we train our habits toward
prayer, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and good behavior. By curtailing sex for
the whole day, we force ourselves to train our bodies to obey our will and not
to be licentious.
There is nothing like the Muslim fast of Ramadan in
any other religion for realizing personal reform and self-mastery.
The
reward for a successful Ramadan is no less than the forgiveness
of all our
sins. Imagine wiping the slate clean with God!
So, in addition to all
the improvements Ramadan can make in our
character and health, we get the
slate erased and can start over.
For a complete medical aspects of
fasting read at:
http://www.islamdigital.com/memorise/ramadhan_health.html
(All
our good deeds remain; it's only the bad deeds that disappear!)
With all
these benefits derived from the observance of this blessed
month, is it any
wonder that Ramadan is the best time of the year for every Muslim?
A
surprising number of Christians also observe the Ramadan fast in
North
America. They recognize the disciplining effects of the fast and use their time
to come closer to God.
Every year Islamic centers receive calls from
non-Muslims asking
how the fast is performed and where they can get a
month-long chart
showing the start and end times of each day's
fast.
Employers and schools are also beginning to make accommodations
for the needs of their Muslim workers and students.
As the population
of Muslims continues to grow, the awareness of
Ramadan will undoubtedly have
a positive influence on people of all
faiths in the West.
Renewing
our commitment to God and undergoing a physical and
spiritual training
program to increase our intimacy with our faith is what Ramadan is all
about.
So in Summary:
Greed and gluttony are considered conditions of
the soul and can be cured only with a combination of spiritual advice and a
program of action.
Ramadan is the name of the month in which Muslims fast
from food and
drink from first light until sunset.
Fasting, the
fourth pillar of Islam, teaches Muslims to control their desires and urges for
worldly satisfaction and to feel empathy for the poor. The reward for successful
completion is forgiveness of the individual's sins.
For The Significance,
Benefits and Medical Aspects of Fasting go to:
http://www.islamdigital.com/fasting/ramadan_2004.html
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/10/prweb164229.htm