After morning prayers, fasting begins, with no food, drink or sex allowed until sunset. Tradition calls for eating dates to break the fast. At his mosque, on Jones Street in the Tenderloin, between 200 and 300 people who may not have homes or families of their own will gather nightly to break the fast, he said. But fasting is only the most visible part of a very interior observance that is all about reconnecting with the teachings of the Koran and with Islam as a way of life. It's a time to look at everything one is doing and bring habits in line with the teachings of Islam.
More time is spent in reflection, prayer, community and charity.
It is the month people stop and take a look at themselves and their surroundings and think about the whole purpose of being and where are we going. Her first Ramadan will be an opportunity to live to the fullest what drew her to Islam in the first place. Ramadan is a really special time. Hamza Hanson, who converted to Islam in the '70s and teaches Arabic and Islamic law at the Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, said that the rewards of Ramadan might seem counterintuitive in a culture of indulgence, but at their heart resemble the teachings of every major monotheistic religion. Secular guilt has merely replaced religious guilt.