Hawzah News Agency – Ramadan is just around the corner and Muslims around the world are looking forward to welcoming this holy and spiritual month. Muslims are bound to fast during the day before sunrise to after sunset during the month of Ramadan, that means, they are not permitted to eat, drink whatsoever.

Moon sighting is considered to be one of the joyful moments in Pakistan. As soon as moon sight, people of Pakistan gives their best wishes to their loved ones, feels spirituals gladness and hoping that this Ramadan will bring lots of happiness and prosperity throughout the year.

In Pakistan, the month of Ramadan is specially celebrated by performing extra prayers, reciting daily Quran and rituals. People make special arrangements for prayers and two special means of the day, that is, Sahari and Iftar.

Muslims men specially tend to visit mosques for performing prayers with Jamaat every day and then they gather for communal meals, while women pray at home.

As Pakistan is a Muslim country, official timings are changed during the holy month of Ramadan, offices usually open earlier than normal i.e. 8AM or 8:30 and close at 2:30 or 3PM same is the case for banks and government departments.

Similarly, markets are opened late and usually have a break during the evening prayers and they re-open again till 10PM and even till midnight.

Women make special foods which are completely unique and linked to this holy month in the Sahari. For Iftar, making special refreshing drinks made of rose water lemon, and many different kinds of deep-fried dishes which are rich in oil and nutrients to energies people for the day long fasting.

Every morning, for Sahari Women make unique and special food to delight their family. They try every possible recipe they should know for their Iftar meal and also the special recipes are being used for this festival. The food shops remain open for Sahar people even restaurants to eat for Sahari. Few popular foods that are popular in Sahari include Paratha, Tea, Green tea, Halwa puri, Puri Channay (cholay) and yogurt.

During this month all restaurants, food stalls in the streets and food shops are closed, except there may be some food shops are open for travelers. It is illegal to eat in the public although not as enforced by law but people observe this law to respect and to avoid criticism from the people.

In big cities this rule is very strictly followed and so are the fasts kept while in the villages this rule is a bit relaxed and many people also skip day of fasts.

There are lots of TV shows and transmissions where Islamic scholars discuss about Islam and humanity.

An interesting scene that is seen in the streets of big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Multan etc., is that, 30-20 minutes prior to opening of the fast there is usually very fast-moving traffic which suddenly stops resulting in heavy traffic jam. But, at the same time, one can observe that almost all roads are seen nearly empty just before the Azan (call to prayer) when all people start eating at same time.

Usually first food that is eaten is date as it is said that it was the favorite food of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and he also opened his fast with a date. Some people also prefer opening fast with a pinch of salt.

As the whole country goes into fasting mode, the environment changes, one would experience much more sense of brotherhood amongst people, charity work start to grow, people become more patient and there is a boost spiritually. During last ten days of Ramadan, thousands of the worshipers go into mosques or separate places in their own homes to observe “Itikaf, a practice consisting of a period of staying in a mosque for a certain number of days, devoting oneself to worship and staying away from worldly affairs.

During the Holy month of Ramadan along with other Blessings of Almighty of Alllah, people have sufficient time to spend with our families and to thank God for his uncountable blessings.

End.