Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. It is during this month that Muslims observe the Fast of Ramadan. Lasting for the entire month, Muslims fast during the daylight hours and in the evening eat small meals and visit with friends and family. It is a time of worship and contemplation. A time to strengthen family and community ties. For very extensive info see http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/pillars/fasting/tajuddin/fast_1.html

Ramadan is the name of the ninth month on the Muslim calendar. It is important to Muslims because we believe that it is the month when God began a series of revelations to Muhammad (pbuh) which form the text of the Qur'an (the holy book of Islam, confirmation of a lot of established Judeo-Christian tradition plus some new stuff). Muslims observe Ramadan by fasting from dawn to dusk on every day of the month. This is not so much decreasing your total food intake as altering the schedule of it. The fast is one of the 5 pillars of faith that all Muslims must try to perform. Exceptions are when you're sick or menstruating (in which case you make up the days you miss) or suffer from long-term poverty and malnutrition (in which case you're exempt). It is also a time to examine your behavior closely, to be mindful of your personal relationship with God and try to feel closer to Him, and to do good deeds for others (almsgiving and its more modern charitable counterparts are another pillar and are traditional during Ramadan). Fasting has many purposes: to teach self-discipline, to bring you closer to God (every time you feel a hunger pang you will think of why you are voluntarily doing it), and to teach empathy with those who go hungry every day without a choice. Therefore, to receive the full spiritual benefit of this exercise, it has to be done willingly. It is not intended to bring hardship or pain, and it doesn't if practiced responsibly-- in fact, many Muslim children look forward to being old enough to fast (they often begin around age nine and start by fasting half-days the first year). Sorry if I went into too much detail on fasting, but non-Muslims are often curious about it and I have found that people sometimes use "Ramadan" to refer to the month-long fast as well as the name of the month.

The Meaning of Ramadan Ramadan is a special month of the year for over one billion Muslims throughout the world. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives. There are as many meanings of Ramadan as there are Muslims. The third "pillar" or religious obligation of Islam (submission in English), fasting has many special benefits. Among these, the most important is that it is a means of learning self-control. Due to the lack of preoccupation with the satisfaction of bodily appetites during the daylight hours of fasting, a measure of ascendancy is given to one's spiritual nature, which becomes a means of coming closer to God. Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Quran, giving charity, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds. For Muslims (Submitters), Ramadan is an opportunity to gain by giving up, to prosper by going without and to grow stronger by enduring weakness. As a secondary goal, fasting is a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate, and learning to thankfulness and appreciation for all of God's bounties. Fasting is also beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.