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RAMADAN HOLIDAY

Muslims to begin month of prayer

Muslims around the world will mark the start of Ramadan on Thursday, a month of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting, and nightly feasts.

Muslims follow a lunar calendar and moon-sighting methodology that can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart. However, this year religious authorities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, and most other parts of the world announced based on their sightings of the moon that daily fasting would begin Thursday.

This year, Ramadan falls during the summer, which means long and hot days of fasting. Mainstream scholars advise Muslims in northern European countries with 16 hours or more of daylight to follow the cycle of fasting of the nearest Muslim-majority nation to them to avoid impossibly long hours without food or water. - AP