I'm so friggin' stupid. I missed the first half-day of Ramadan.

[SmileyBoy]

I won't eat or drink until sunset today, I just found out NOW that this is the first day. The stupid thing I did is that I had breakfast at 9am, and I drank some pop at noon. Luckily I wasn't hungry after breakfast. But I'm soooooo PISSED at myself!!! How could I forget???!!! This is the ONE big facet of my religion that I have the attention to do, and I skipped the beginning!!!:grr::grr::grr:

[Kamika]

1. OK

So what happens now? do you get punished?

[nini]

2. it wasn't intentional

I'm sure God will forgive since you didn't 'intentionally' not fast.


Peace

[SmileyBoy]

4. Yeah, I'm not really worried about that, just peeved at myself...

...I'm worried about figuring out what I'm going to do for breakfasts at 5am. I've got no food in my fridge, and breakfast at the dining hall isn't served until 6:30am. It looks like I'm gonna have to buy a bunch of microwaveable breakfast things at the grocery store, I guess.

Damn, it SUCKS not being prepared.

[VelmaD]

10. That's a huge overisght by the cafeteria...

I wonder if you brought the subject up to someone in your school's administration if maybe they could come up with something to accomodate their Muslim students at Ramadan.

[NicoleM]

13. Although there probably aren't

a whole lot of Muslims living on campus at North Dakota State University, they really should do something for the ones that are there. I think when I was in college the Muslim kids got to take bagels or something from the cafeteria the night before.

[SmileyBoy]

14. Well, there's a sizeable Muslim population here...

...so it might be an interesting issue to bring up.

[VelmaD]

15. I was gonna say...

"Go give 'em hell" but that' sreally not in the spirit of the holiday so instead I'll just wish you good luck. :-) One would hope that a reasonable request for a religious accomodation would be honored. Keep us posted on how it goes and I hope you have a good Ramadan.

[NicoleM]

3. Props to the Muslims.

You all are stronger than I am. I couldn't make it through the day without food or water. I think I'd be exempt because I have blood sugar problems, but still.

I give you kudos. :)

[SmileyBoy]

8. You don't have to fast if you're sick in any way...

...like if you have a cold or flu, or if you have medical problems. My father fasted for 30 years, and he can't anymore, cause he's diabetic. I'm 21 and in my healthy prime. I gotta do it.

[Skittles]

5. I already tormented by coworker Afzal with pizza

before you all start flaming, Afzal plays practical jokes on me all the time. And I am, of course, just testing his faith. :D

[dolo amber]

6. I feel your pain

I forgot and made a HUGE pot of (excellent, of course) chili on Yom Kippur. D'oh!

[SmileyBoy]

17. I think it was comedian Mark Maron who said:

Yom Kippur is like fasting on a wholesale price compared to the retail price of Ramadan.:-)

[dolo amber]

20. And Jon Stewart who said:

Comparing Lent to Yom Kippur (while performing in BOSTON, no less :D).

"See Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. You don't eat or drink for one day and all your sins are forgiven . . . BEAT THAT . . . beat that with your 'Lent' . . . what's that, 40 days? Forty days to one . . . even in sin, you're paying retail."

Works for Ramadan as well, I s'pose. ;)

I was gonna wish you a Happy Ramadan, but to be honest I don't know whether it's considered a "happy" holiday or not. (I know any holiday that involves NOT eating is considered near tragic in Judiasm. ;)) So please have a *insert appropriate adjective here* Ramadan. :)

[PurpHaze69]

7. I don't understand the whole Ramadan thing.

Do you have to fast? Couldn't handle that. If I don't eat every three hours, I'm not happy.

[SmileyBoy]

11. You can't eat from dawn to sunset for 30 days.

Generally 9-12 hours per day. But now we're coming to the end of what's called the "mercy months". Once it starts beginning in August, you're screwed. That means 14-15 hours per day without food or drink. It's gonna REALLY suck in several years if you live up north, like me.

On edit: You can't have sex or whack off for the same period of fasting, also.:-)

[Droopy]

9. So how does this work?

For how long do you have to fast? Aren't you allowed to have something to drink? People can't last too long without at least having something to drink. What does this fasting represent in regards to your religion- Islam, right?

[SmileyBoy]

12. No drink for half the day for 30 days. See above post.

...

[JVS]

16. My friend Bilal enjoys having large lunches during Ramadan

He says that the fact that he isn't supposed to have food makes it more delicious.

[ArkDem]

18. You sound really dedicated.

.

[toddzilla]

19. what is the point?

To what end are you fasting for? i know it's a muslim thing, but what exactly is the purpose?

[SmileyBoy]

21. To cleanse my soul of sins and vice.

It's a regular Muslim thing. It's not the exclusive act of a fundamentalist. It's like going to church every Sunday if you're a Christian.

[DrWeird]

22. Hey, I have an islam question.

I was going to start my own thread, but figured I could just ask you.

Mohammed founded islam when he came down from the mountain, right? What religion was Mohammed raised as before he was visited by the angel? Obviously he was Abrahamic, although from what I understand there were a lot of animus religions in the area at the time. So that would have made him christian or jewish by birth, right? Now I read that Islam recognizes Jesus as the son of God, there will be a second coming, etc. Is this correct and does this mean that Mohammed had been raised christian?

[SmileyBoy]

23. I really don't remember. I haven't brushed up on that in a long time.

I'm not a cleric, just a college student.:-)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. As I remember from the PBS documentary

the Arabs were your basic polytheistic pagans before Mohammed had his revelation. He was a merchant trader and came in contact with Christian and Jewish traders in his career. He was not raised in either Christianity or Judaism, but he was heavily influenced by those religions.

Before the rise of Islam, Egypt, Syria, and the other Arab countries along the eastern Mediterranean were mostly Christian with scattered colonies of Jews.