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Ramad The Five Pillars Of Islam

Decent Essays

Ramadan is a holiday celebrated by Muslims of the Islamic faith. It is month long fast that symbolizes the Quran revealing itself to the prophet Muhammad. Ramadan is observed in accordance with the moon phase of the crescent. The fast is from dawn to sunset each day. It is a fasting of food, beverages, sexual activity, smoking, cursing and overall engaging in what the Quran deems as sinful behavior. During this there is more praying and recitation of the Quran in Muslim communities. A unique feature of Ramadan is that in relation to the Five Pillars of Islam, many individuals giving more to charity, the less fortunate and back to their community. They are practicing Zakat or alms as it is known in laymen’s. Ramadan can be explained using the terms “sacred time and space” coined by Mircea Eliade in his novel “The Sacred and the Profane”. …show more content…

we could say the experience of sacred space makes possible the ‘founding of the world’: where the sacred manifests itself in space, the real unveils itself, the world comes into existence” (Eliade 63). Eliade is saying that since the sacred is meaning or being, when it breaks through daily lives it is in essence creating reality. It’s as if another realm or dimension has opened and people begin to feel closer to a bigger presence such as God or a specific religion. This relates to Ramadan because the holiday itself celebrates when the holy Quran exposed itself to Muhammad. One could argue that this is when the world came into existence for Muslims because there was a hierophany, or a break in reality. It is during this time that those of the Islamic faith do more praying to connect with Allah, commonly the whole Quran is read by the end of Ramadan. This is because Muslims want to build a deeper connection with the sacred, and work hard to have a good moral compass. Finally, sacred space is when the sacred breaks through to our world and gives meaning and

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