Ramadan 1424 has Begun!
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The month of Ramadan for the Islamic year 1424 started on the evening of Sunday October 26. The new moon for the month was sighted (see below) and photgraphed of course. The interesting occurance this month is that the moon was accompanied by our sister planet Venus. Venus is shown to the right of the moon, that little white dot.
This image was taken about 45 minutes before the moon set and about 30 to 40 minutes after it was first seen. A Nikon F4s camera was used with a Nikon 80-200mm f/4 manual focus zoom lens at the 200mm focal length. The aperature was set to f11 and the shutter at 1/15 of a second. Mirror lock up was used and the camera was on a tripod. The film was Fuji ProviaF 400 an ISO 400 speed transperancey film. This scene was observed at Pescadero State Beach, CA standing on an exposed portion of the beach that is normally covered by two to three feet of water. It was low tide, which normally occurs with the new moon. This allowed placing the rocks as a foreground sillhouette.
The month of Ramadan is a month of inward reflection and discipline building. It is also a month where extra devotions are offered through increased nightly prayers and by reciting the Glorious Quran. Outwardly, the month obligates the Muslim to abstain from eating and drinking and to avoid marital relations with ones spouse from dawn until sunset for the entire month. These abstaintions train the soul how to conquer the two diseases of the heart known as Gluttony and Lust. Al-Ghazzali, and great Islamic scholar of the 9th century coined these as the King and Queen of the seven deadly sins and if these can be conquered than the other five will crumble as well. Mulims the world round look forward to Ramadan; where as the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing of God be upon him, said that good deeds in Ramadan are rewarded from 10 to 700 times their normal worth inorder to gain emmense blessing in this blessed month. It is not uncommon for Muslims who are fasting to invite friends and family and those who are less fortunate to dinner and offer them the food on which to break the daily fast with in the evening. This simple act of eating together helps build a stong and close knit community which is very lacking in our time.
The month of Ramadan holds coutless blessings for those who seek them out. So on this Occasion I extend a Ramadan Mubarak to all my Muslims visitors and to the rest, I extend the invitation of fasting one day to see what it is like. You just might be surprised at how good it makes you feel.
Peace. |
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