First of all there is no such thing as "billions of muslims", there are only 1.5 billion muslims. Second of all, not all muslims fast during Ramadan. I've seen plenty of them eat down here and it's basically not even necessary for pregnant women or people who are sick. Last but not least I think it's better to give money to poor people than to "not eat" because not eating doesn't solve any of the problems. I bet most people don't even think about how their fasting is going to help anyone. They probably just do it because all their friends and relatives do it and they don't want to look strange.

Fasting means giving up eating, drinking and other pleasures (sex, smoking...). By giving them up, we begin to appreciate their value, recognize them and feel grateful for them. They are the blessings of Allah. Also, fasting teaches us discipline as it means giving up bad habits and "Haram" things (to please Allah and avoid his torment). It shows people how poor peoeple feel and motivates them to help, feel compassion and give "Zakah" to them. Finally, it makes the Muslims get used to doing a great deal of acts of worship, because the fasting person usually does more acts of worship and gets used to that.

Still doesn't make sense to me. Do you really need to vast for that? And smoking? Why would you want to appreciate the value of smoking? Last but not least it doesn't show how poor people feel. It shows you how hungry people feel. Hungry and poor aren't the same. Being poor often holds very different issues than food, because most poor people actually have enough food.

If you really want to be a good muslim, or good person, you should refrain from buying expensive things to show off your wealth. It's not about food, it's about showing off which makes poor people feel like they're less human than others. Most of the poverty isn't real poverty, it's relative poverty. Relative poverty is a degrading situation though if the richer people use their money not to enjoy things modestly but in an extravagant way.

In other words, instead of fasting you should stop buying expensive products.

Harregarre: You have answer your own question; If a person realizes what is the value of food, he or she wouldn't waste it anyways.

Go to Africa and see how kids die of hunger and you'll realize how many people in the world have plenty of food.

Its easy to be critical than to be correct.

You're so incredibly wrong, Aly. It's not about personal waste. Africa has its own share of problems that do not correlate to the situation we have in the west and "ramadan" isn't going to change one bit of it. Ramadan is one of those obligations for muslims, they do it and they can feel proud about themselves. And what will happen in the end? Muslims just buy lots of sweets and presents to celebrate how good they are. That's not really helping anyone but yourself, now is it? Why don't you guys, instead of fasting, send money or engineers to Africa to build lots of schools, wells, irrigation systems etc. Why do the western countries have to do everything, while you just sit on your ass, don't eat for a month and claim that it's helping the world? Helping the world is something you can only do by taking action, not by waiting to eat a lot when the sun's down. Tell me how exactly is it different when you eat all of the food you'd normally eat in a shorter amount of time? Do you think poor people just eat themselves to death during the night? Don't think so. Perhaps you should think about what you're doing before you just blindly follow the rest.

I think you didn't understand what I have written. I said Musilms fast not in order to help the poor and needy people but to feel nearness to God and consciousness of Him. We obey the orders of God who asks us to fast and I'm sure that you know that fasting is one of the five pillars in Islam and it contains another important pillar which is "Zakah" (giving money to the poor). I've said it before that if we fast simply to help the poor, then fasting has no meaning at all. Fasting means in Arabic to give up what is forbidden and what is "haram", and it teaches us discipline and how to control ourselves since we give up many pleasures like eating and drinking. When we give them up, we begin to feel their value and we appreciate them. I talked abt "smoking" and i didn't mean to say that Muslim men appreciate it when they give it up in Ramadan. "Smoking" like some other bad habits (being bad-tempered or angry) are given up in Ramadan so this great month teaches us many things like patience, love, compassion (as it shows to many people how those who are deprived of many things like food feel), it's the month of mercy and forgiveness as ma

Concerning "Iftar", which is the evening meal that breaks the fast, it's usually a time of congregating with friends and family; we invite friends to our house or go over to someone else's house. we also receive invitations from people we haven't seen for a long time. So, it's a time of increased friendship, brotherhood and love. In fact, fasting together (all Muslim people) affirms the brotherhood and that we are (Muslims) all equal before Allah. Concerning "El Eid", it's a thanksgiving day where Muslims assemble in a happy and joyful atmosphere to offer thei gratitude to Allah for helping them to fulfill their spiritual obligations during the holy month (Ramadan). It's also a day of victory because we (Muslims) feel that we have achieved the greatest victory when we controlled ourselves, disciplined our desires, gave up bad habits, offered help and did a great deal of acts of worship. So, there's no need to talk abt helping the world cuss this is not the purpose of fasting. Yet, what I have talked abt are the true reasons or purposes of fasting.

And that's my whole point. It serves no purpose at all and by eating lots of stuff in the night you can hardly even call it fasting. I'd call it, night-eating or late dinner but not fasting. Also, what good is it to smoke, drink, fuck around and steal all year long just to stop doing those things for one month? Be good all the time or don't be good at all.