Invited to write an essay on spirituality in Ramadan, I felt hard-pressed to capture the breadth of Ramadans transcendent lessons or portray its significance to those unfamiliar with the religious tradition. <\/p>\n
Beloved in the collective consciousness of Muslims around the world, fasting the month of Ramadan remains a consistently adhered to religious practice in Islam today. <\/p>\n
A 2011 survey on work productivity by Dinar Standard found that 98 percent of a sample of more than 1,500 Muslims from Muslim majority countries and Muslim minority countries, including the United States said they planned to fast the whole month. <\/p>\n
When reduced to its rules, Ramadan may sound unusually harsh to an observer. Able-bodied adult Muslims are required to abstain from all eating, drinking and marital sexual relations between dawn and sunset each day for a full month. <\/p>\n
Recommended night prayers and charitable acts further tax ones sleep and primary focus. Yet by altering daily schedules and adopting these ascetic practices for 30 days, Muslims collectively seek to control physical appetites in order to review and improve their spiritual condition, an exercise in faith. <\/p>\n
Interestingly, a similar psychology and timeline are used for quitting bad habits or adopting healthy ones in the popular press today. <\/p>\n
Although the purpose of Ramadan is to cultivate and review ones faith annually, the scope of its impact is as diverse as its practitioners. <\/p>\n
Sampling the popular social media network Twitter illustrates this neatly. Under the topic #Ramadan- Reflection the following tweets were sent between July 20 and 28: <\/p>\n
aayloush _@aayloush: <\/p>\n
One may think food is extremely important but its amazing how little food we need for living and how grateful we become. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Follow this link:<\/p>\n
Column | Twitter captures the spirit of Ramadan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Invited to write an essay on spirituality in Ramadan, I felt hard-pressed to capture the breadth of Ramadans transcendent lessons or portray its significance to those unfamiliar with the religious tradition. Beloved in the collective consciousness of Muslims around the world, fasting the month of Ramadan remains a consistently adhered to religious practice in Islam today. A 2011 survey on work productivity by Dinar Standard found that 98 percent of a sample of more than 1,500 Muslims from Muslim majority countries and Muslim minority countries, including the United States said they planned to fast the whole month Continue reading