The month of Ramadan started on 15 May and will end on 14 June. In this period of 29 or 30 days, the Muslims recall “the month in which the Koran was bestowed on mankind as a guide with clear teachings showing the Right way and a criterion of truth and falsehood” (Koran, Sura II, verse 185). During this period, prayers and acts of mercy are intensified. All those who are able shall fast from dawn to sunset, constituting the fourth of the five pillars of Islam.

According to many theologians the spiritual meaning of fasts, together with prayer and meditation, sexual abstinence and renouncement in general, refer to the capacity of man to exercise self-control, patience and humbleness and remember to help the needy and less fortunate. Ramadan is thus a sort of exercise of purity against all the worldly passions, the benefits of which fall on the faithful all year long.

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