DEEN AND ISLAM

It has been many years since my family left Saudi Arabia. I remember that when I was young, we spent most of our time in 'Umrah. I have many memories of Al-Haram Ash-Sharif - particularly the Ka`bah and drinking Zamzam water for the gallon - and I must not fail to observe the Shawarmas (meat sandwiches)! Despite the fact that I had a feeling of a deep sense of being, I did not propose that it be something like the lighting I felt the previous week. From the days when I started to practice Islam as a young adult, I often thought and imagined what I would do if I somehow managed to backtrack towards Makkah , back to Ka`bah. So that I could approach God and, even more essentially, God would recognize my pleas? I perceive and understand that, to the extent that my conviction is involved, God is Omniscient and Omniscient. In this way, in the event that I offer a petition to God, always or anywhere, He will be fully aware of it. In any case, there is that indefinable "kick...

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. The third "pillar" or religious obligation of Islam, 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. FIG 1.1 Fasting and uses Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur'an , giving charity, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds. 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. Fas...