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Month of fasting, reverence begins for Islamic world

Muslims pray at a mosque in New Delhi yesterday on the eve of Ramadan. PHOTO: AP

Muslims around the world began Ramadan yesterday against the background of the US war in Afghanistan, which has heightened sensitivities in the run-up to the fasting month.

Top clerics in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, spotted the new moon, which traditionally marks the start of the month, on Thursday night.

Saudi Arabia, many countries in the Arab world and Afghanistan itself officially began Ramadan yesterday.

"For my family, and probably for many people, every day of our lives is like Ramadan, because we have been living for years on tea and bread," one elderly man said in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Speaking through loudspeakers, the voices of mullahs rang out across the war-weary city late on Thursday after the sighting of the first pale crescent of the new moon of the ninth month of the lunar calendar.

Afghanistan's Supreme Court declared the start of Ramadan -- the first of the post-Taliban era following the fall of Kabul on Tuesday to the fundamentalist militia's US-backed civil war foes.

"For my family, and probably for many people, every day of our lives is like Ramadan, because we have been living for years on tea and bread."

An elderly Kabul man

The precise timing of the onset of Ramadan depends on the sighting of the new moon and varies slightly across the Islamic world.

For a month, Muslims will fast from dawn to sunset, abstaining from all food and drink, smoking and sexual relations.

In Southeast Asia, monsoon season clouds obscured the crescent moon as it has done for several years.

Islamic scholars in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and other countries in Southeast Asia decreed a Saturday start based on their own calculations.

This year, the US-led war against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and their guest Osama bin Laden has preoccupied the world's 1.2 billion Muslims in the run-up to Ramadan.

Some Muslim commentators say Ramadan bombing raids could reinforce a perception of the Afghan war as a Christian attack on Islam.

But religious scholars and political analysts say battles during Ramadan have been common throughout the ages. They point to the first major victory of Islam at Badr in 624 AD and the conquest of the Mecca, both conducted during Ramadan.

Egypt and Syria launched the 1973 war against Israel during Ramadan, while Iran and Iraq did not stop fighting during Ramadan in their 1980 through 1988 war.

In the Middle East, Israeli police deployed in force in Jerusalem for the first Friday Muslim prayers of Ramadan.

The holiday brings little cheer to Palestinian Muslims this year, with no end in sight to Israeli-Palestinian violence in which nearly 900 people have died.

Israeli blockades were in place even before a Palestinian uprising against occupation erupted more than a year ago.

"The presence of police outside the gates causes provocation," said Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the mufti of Jerusalem. "To reduce the tension, the [police] should stay away."

Around one-fifth of the world's Muslims live in Southeast Asia. There is an agreement between Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei to begin Ramadan on the same day.

In Indonesia, the Religious Ministry declared Ramadan begins today, but it gave permission to Muslims to begin fasting if they believe yesterday marked the start.

In predominantly Muslim Malaysia, the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal, Ibrahim Engku Ngah, announced late on Thursday over radio and television that the fasting month would begin today.

Visibility in the Philippines, Asia's only Roman Catholic nation, was no better than in the rest of Southeast Asia but the Muslim minority there began Ramadan yesterday.

"The majority of Muslims in the Philippines start observing Ramadan today," said Ronie Pusaca, the secretary of the Golden Mosque in the capital Manila.
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