What the fasting month of ramadan means for muslims

adminonNovember 12, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

For Muslims begins the fasting month Ramadan 2019 on 5. May and ends on 4. June. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, as are the profession of faith, daily prayers, the tax on the poor and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The month of Ramadan, the ninth in the Islamic lunar year, wanders through the calendar year. Ramadan begins and ends when the crescent moon is visible again for the first time after new moon. The start may vary from country to country.

In Germany, the Islamic associations have agreed on common data since 2008. Saudi Arabia and many other Arab countries are waiting for the sighting of the crescent moon. During Ramadan, believers are called upon to abstain from food, drink, smoking and sexual intercourse from sunrise to sunset. The fasting commandment applies equally to men and women. Exempt from fasting are the old and sick, children, pregnant women and travelers, as well as soldiers at war.

Highlight is "Night of Destiny

Ramadan is also the month of good deeds and the Purification of body and soul. Humanity and reconciliation are at the center, the faithful pay the Tax on the poor Zakat Or support those in need.

However, the month of fasting is not one of the four months in the Islamic calendar in which war is expressly forbidden. Because also the Prophet Mohammed Has fought battles in Ramadan and even conquered the holy city of Mecca.

The climax of the last third of the fasting month is the "Lailat al-Qadr", the "Night of Destiny", in which, according to tradition, the Prophet Muhammad was for the first time Verses of the Koran have been revealed. Many Muslims then pray through the night as they hope for forgiveness of their sins.

Ramadan is followed by the festival of breaking the fast

Mosques host Quranic teachings throughout the month. In the evening, Muslims gather with relatives and friends for a sumptuous meal. In many Islamic countries, stores and authorities shorten working hours during the month of fasting. In some countries, fasting in public is even strictly supervised.

Ramadan is followed by the festival of breaking the fast, which outwardly resembles the Christian celebration of Christmas. Read here how Muslims celebrate Eid at the end of Ramadan. Most religions know about fasting periods.Christians fast from Ash Wednesday to Easter. (epd)

Will criminal trial take place at Vatican? © Cristian Gennari (CBA)

In the case of a priest twice legally convicted of abuse, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has begun a criminal trial. The retired chaplain A. was active as a chaplain in three dioceses despite the convictions.

It was not until 2019 that Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki banned the now 87-year-old from priestly services. This was communicated by the Archdiocese of Cologne on Wednesday in response to a request from the Catholic News Agency (KNA).

The priest, who had been working in Cologne since 1960 and then in Essen-Kettwig, was sentenced to prison in 1972 for "continued fornication with children and addicts," according to the statements. Since 1973, he was assigned to various places in the diocese of Munster, until he was sentenced to probation in 1988 for sexual acts with minors. A year later, he returned to Cologne as a chaplain in an old people's home.

As a retired chaplain, he was in Bochum-Wattenscheid from 2002 to 2015. The case had caused heavy criticism at the end of last year.

Special report commissioned

Now the Archdiocese of Cologne confirmed media reports that it and the dioceses of Munster and Essen had commissioned a special report on the case. The expertise, which was completed in August 2019 and has not yet been published, had been prepared by the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, which was also to present an independent investigation for the archdiocese of Cologne on the handling of abuse cases by diocesan officials.

Because of alleged shortcomings, the archdiocese has since stopped the publication. With this investigation, the special report should also have been commissioned to A. should be presented, so the archdiocese.

The special report had been important "in order to be able to decide on the basis of a timely evaluation under aspects of criminal law and canon law how to deal with the facts quickly and decisively," it said. It should be investigated who, and to what extent, had knowledge of the sexual assaults of A. had and whether the measures taken met the legal requirements.

According to a media report, the Hamburg archbishop Stefan Hebe is also accused of misconduct in the special report. In 2008, the former head of personnel in the archdiocese of Cologne had been presented with an alleged victim of "massive sexual assaults" by A. reported in a kindergarten in the early 1960s. Hebe had not informed the person concerned about the past of the clergyman. The archbishop denies that.

Structural reform and god question belong together

According to theologian Magnus Striet, the Catholic Church must face the question of freedom and self-determination. "Longing for freedom and faith in God cannot be played off against each other," concludes Striet.

However, he said, the church still has "considerable difficulties in finding an appropriate relationship to the modern age of freedom. It constructs its identity through a tradition that it calls eternal and traces back to God Himself in the disputed points," writes the theologian in a guest article on katholisch.de on Wednesday.

At the moment, some are arguing for structural reforms in the church, while others are saying that Germany is facing a crisis of faith, says Striet. Those who call for structural reforms "quickly run the risk of being portrayed as theologically superficial". Questions of gender justice or questions of sexual orientation, however, are not purely structural ies, "but reach into the center of the faith in God".

Structural reform and the question of God

In this respect, a separation between structural reforms and the question of God "simply misses the point," the scientist warns: The question of God "cannot be posed without the question of man.". Conversely, the question of God "must not remain without consequences for the structure of the church".

The church must take a stand on the question of "whether freedom – thought of as the right of self-determination – should be or not," Striet explains. In those regions of the world where "the idea of self-determination has become the normative yardstick – and: where there is a prevailing awareness that organizational contexts did not fall from the sky, it will remain uneasy if conditions are experienced as repressive and insufficient."

In this respect, there is a need to address the question of "how the God who is to become visible from the church thinks about freedom and dignity". Otherwise, the church is threatened with socio-political sideline, the theologian said. "But a positive decision then also has internal church consequences. And these must be pulled, if one does not want to become untrustworthy again."

Highlight is "Night of Destiny

Ramadan is followed by the festival of breaking the fast

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