Skip to main content

What Is Iftar?

Iftar       
"A day of Sawm begins with Suhur"
             Iftar is the meal which is eaten after sunset during Sawm, the fasting which occurs during the month of Ramadan in Muslim tradition. Since people have not eaten at all during the day, they are often quite hungry by the time Iftar comes around, and most people hasten to end the fast as quickly as possible after sunset. In communities with a large Muslim population, a cannon may be fired or other signal given to indicate the end of the day's fast, and the information may be broadcast over the media as well.
By tradition, all able-bodied Muslims who are not traveling participate in Sawm, although children who have not yet experienced puberty are not required to fast. In addition to abstaining from food, devout Muslims refrain from a number of activities, most notably sexual relations. The Sawm fast during Ramadam is intended to teach self restraint, which is viewed as a virtue by many Muslims.

A day of Sawm begins with Suhur, the meal which is eaten just before daybreak. Because it will be the last meal for many hours, Suhur is often a very dense, rich meal with a number of offerings on the table, including offerings high in protein so that people will feel less hungry during the day. At very least, people are encouraged to eat a date and drink some water to make fasting through the day easier.

Iftar usually starts with consuming a date and drinking water, a tradition which goes back to the earliest days of Islam. Once this traditional fast-breaking is complete, people can eat any number of foods, with many regions having their own traditional Iftar foods, including a wide assortment of dessert treats. It is common for people to eat Iftar in large groups, making the fast breaking into a community party, and Muslims often try to include charity in their Iftar meal as well, feeding needy members of the community while they celebrate the end of the day's fast.
After Iftar, Muslim communities often come alive with socializing. People may simply promenade around the neighborhood to chat with friends, or they may go to market, attend performances, and meet up with friends at coffeehouses and other locations for socializing. Most people greet each other with “salaam aleikum,” which means “peace be upon you,” and the traditional response is “wa aleikum salaam,” “peace be with you also.”



   

Join Our Groups:
Groups.Google.Com/group/vubest
facebook.com/groups/vubest

Show your LOVE Please Like us on facebook

Click Thumbs Up

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Drupal Answers Weekly Newsletter - Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Top new questions this week: Can I delete old hook_update_N functions? Suppose you have a custom module, and you have hook_update_N() implementations in your .install file. If you have old update functions, and all updates have run in all sites that the module is ... node-update hook-update-n   asked by AyeshK ...

[New post] 8th Class Result 2014 PEC Hafizabad Board

Muhammad Waqas posted: "PEC Hafizabad Board 8th Class Result 2014 expected date is 28th March, 2014 by PEC. Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) will announce 8th class result for Hafizabad Board soon and all the students of Hafizabad Board who are extremely waiting for the resul" New post on Jobs in Pakistan 8th Class Result 2014 PEC Hafizabad Board by Muhammad Waqas ...

[New post] 1st Year (11th Class) Result 2014 BISE Rawalpindi Board

Xaib Aslam posted: "BISERWP board Inter part 1 result expected on 10th October 2014 according our source. students of Rawalpindi board desperately waiting for 11th class result. 1st they upload the 12th class result and after some time they ready for showing the 1st year fin" New post on Jobs in Pakistan 1st Year (11th Class) Result 2014 BISE Rawalpindi Board by Xaib Aslam ...