What is Ramadan and why do Muslims fast all day?

DUBAI Millions of Muslims around the world will mark the start of Ramadan on Thursday, a month of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts. Here's a look at some questions and answers about Islam's holiest month:

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WHY DO MUSLIMS FAST?

The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate. Muslims often donate to charities during the month and feed the hungry.

Fasting is an exercise in self-restraint. It's seen as a way to physically and spiritually detoxify by kicking impulses like morning coffee, smoking and midday snacking.

Ramadan is a time to detach from worldly pleasures and focus on one's prayers. Many Muslims dress more conservatively during Ramadan and spend more time at the mosque than at any other time of the year.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity, and performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

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HOW DO MUSLIMS FAST?

Observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk for the entire month of Ramadan, with a single sip of water or a puff of a cigarette considered enough to invalidate the fast.

Muslim scholars say it's not enough to just avoid food and drinks during the day, though. Spouses must abstain for sexual intercourse during the day, and Muslims should not engage in road rage, cursing, fighting or gossiping.

Muslims are also encouraged to observe the five daily prayers on time and to use their downtime just before breaking their fast at sunset to recite Quran and intensify remembrance of God.

To prepare for the fast, Muslims eat what is commonly called "suhoor," a pre-dawn meal of power foods to get them through the day.

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HOW DO MUSLIMS BREAK THEIR FAST?

Muslims traditionally break their fast like the Prophet Muhammad did some 1,400 years ago, with a sip of water and some dates at sunset. That first sip of water is by far the most anticipated moment of the day.

After a sunset prayer, a large feast known as "iftar" is shared with family and friends. Iftar is a social event as much as it is a gastronomical adventure. Across the Arab world, juices made from apricots are a staple at Ramadan iftars. In South Asia and Turkey, yogurt-based drinks are popular.

Across the Muslim world, mosques and aid organizations set up tents and tables for the public to eat free iftar meals every night of Ramadan.

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CAN MUSLIMS BE EXEMPTED FROM FASTING?

Yes. There are exceptions for children, the elderly, the sick, women who are pregnant or menstruating and people traveling, which could include athletes during tournaments.

Many Muslims, particularly those who live in the U.S. and Europe, are accepting and welcoming of others around them who are not observing Ramadan. They also are not expecting shorter work hours, as is the case in the public sector across much of the Arab world during Ramadan.

However, non-Muslims or adult Muslims who eat in public during the day can be fined or even jailed in some Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, home to large Western expat populations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, minority Chinese Uighur Muslims complain of heavy restrictions by the Communist Party, such as bans on fasting by party members, civil servants, teachers and students during Ramadan, as well as generally enforced bans on children attending mosques, women wearing veils and young men growing beards.

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WHAT ARE SOME RAMADAN TRADITIONS?

Typically, the start of the month is welcomed with greetings such as "Ramadan mubarak!" Another hallmark of Ramadan is nightly prayer at the mosque among Sunni Muslims called "taraweeh."

In Egypt, a common sight during Ramadan is a lantern called the "fanoos," which is often the centerpiece at an iftar table and can be seen hanging in window shops and balconies.

In the Arabian Gulf countries, wealthy sheikhs hold "majlises" where they open their doors for people to pass by all hours of the night for food, tea, coffee and conversation.

Increasingly common are Ramadan tents in five-star hotels that offer lavish and pricey meals from sunset to sunrise. While Ramadan is a boon for retailers in the Middle East and South Asia, critics say the holy month is increasingly becoming commercialized.

Scholars are also disturbed by the proliferation of evening television shows during Ramadan. In Pakistan, live game shows give away gifts promoting their sponsors. In the Arab world, monthlong soap operas starring Egypt's top actors rake in millions of dollars in advertising.

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HOW DO MUSLIMS MARK THE END OF RAMADAN?

The end of Ramadan is marked by intense worship as Muslims seek to have their prayers answered during "Laylat al-Qadr" or "the Night of Destiny." It is on this night, which falls during the last 10 nights of Ramadan, that Muslims believe that God sent the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad and revealed the first versus of the Quran.

Some devout Muslims go into reclusion those final days, spending all of their time in the mosque.

The end of Ramadan is celebrated by a three-day holiday called Eid al-Fitr. Children often receive new clothes, gifts and cash.

Muslims attend early morning Eid prayers the day after Ramadan. Families usually spend the day at parks and eating — now during the day.

AP

Dozens arrested in European cyber crime sweep - Europol

AMSTERDAM Police have arrested 49 suspected members of a cyber crime syndicate in Spain, Poland and Italy who are suspected of stealing million of euros from European bank accounts, Europol said on Wednesday.

Police raided 58 locations as part of the investigation into online "phishing" scams used to transfer money from bank accounts across Europe, the Hague-based European police agency said in a statement.

Officials in Belgium and the United Kingdom assisted the investigation and operation, which was conducted on Tuesday.

"The parallel investigations revealed international fraud totalling 6 million euro accumulated within a very short time," the statement said.

The suspects, mainly from Nigeria and Cameroon, transferred the illicit profits outside of the European Union through a sophisticated network of money laundering transactions.

Reuters

Nigeria torture victim to be free after decade on death row

LAGOS A man condemned to hang when he was 16 because of confessions extracted under torture has been pardoned after 10 years on death row, Nigerian and international human rights activists said Monday.

The rights groups, who say his sentencing was illegal, describe his case as one of many examples of the injustices visited on Nigerians by a system tainted by corruption.

Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari, who was inaugurated Friday, has promised to reform the justice system.

In response to the campaign by the human rights groups, Delta State Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan signed a pardon for Moses Akatugba and three other death row inmates as one of his final acts before leaving office last week.

"Moses Akatugba has been living each day of his life in prison under trauma and agony ... expecting the hangman's visit," Justine Ijeomah, executive director of Nigeria's Human Rights, Social Development and Environmental Foundation, wrote in one of many letters over months of campaigning.

Together with London-based Amnesty International, activists gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures requesting the victim's freedom.

Akatugba was a schoolboy when soldiers arrested him for allegedly stealing three cellphones. He was delivered to police officers who tortured him, including tearing out his finger and toe nails with pliers, until he signed confessions admitting to armed robbery, the activists said.

Armed robbery carries a mandatory death sentence in Nigeria, but minors are supposed to be exempt. Police often use torture to extract confessions which are used in courts despite laws prohibiting both, according to the latest U.S. State Department report on human rights in Nigeria. Torture in prisons also is common, it said.

"Nigerian governors should commute the death sentences of all death row prisoners ... including many who are at imminent risk of execution after similarly flawed criminal investigations," said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International's Africa director.

Ijeomah said she is traveling to Port Harcourt, the Delta state capital, to complete formalities for Akatugba's release, hoped for later this week.

By MICHELLE FAUL

AP

32-team World Cup format intact for Qatar 2022 - Blatter

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday after talks between football chiefs the 2022 World Cup will remain a 32 team competition with no change to the share between the regional confederations.

Europe and South America had feared an attempt to cut their places, but Blatter said: "there is no change."

The decision taken by FIFA's executive committee means that Europe will still have 13 places at the Qatar tournament and Africa five.

Asia and South America each get four places and a chance at a playoff. North and Central America get three places and a playoff chance while the Oceania winner enters a playoff.

Qatar will qualify automatically as the hosts.

UEFA chief Michel Platini had said ahead of the meeting that remaining at 13 places was a "red line" for the European confederation.

Prince Ali bin al Hussein, who challenged Blatter for the FIFA presidency, had proposed increasing the number of teams.

But Blatter said on Friday that the World Cup should "not be touched."

Amadi Nwokocha- NIDO-Qatar Presidential Manifesto

The two-year restoration plan of Amadi Nwokocha, one of the presidential candidate of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Qatar (NIDO-Qatar) elections, scheduled to hold on 5 June.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation – Qatar Chapter (NIDO-Qatar) formerly the Nigerian Community in Qatar Association (Dohanaija) was formed by a group of eminent Nigerians in 2002 as a social, non-religious and non-political forum where members can mingle, get-together as well as provide support for one another.

The organisation operates as a charitable entity and its main financial sources are from fees, levies, voluntary contributions, donations and grants.

Membership is made  up of Nigerians, presently residing in Qatar and they are mostly professionals in different sectors including Oil and Gas, Education, Hospitality, Transportation, Media, Aviation, Engineering and Construction, Medical as well as Pharmaceutical fields.

 Among the objectives of the forum were:

To promote unity, love and harmony amongst all Nigerians living in the State of Qatar

To promote the image of Nigeria and protect her interest at all times.

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General Buhari: from coup leader to 'born again democrat'

Lagos Muhammadu Buhari, who will be sworn in on Friday as Nigeria's new president, is a one-time coup leader who once ruled Africa's most populous nation with an iron fist.
But he has undergone a remarkable transformation from military general to as he calls it a "converted democrat" whom many see as the solution to Nigeria's many problems.
His election victory over President Goodluck Jonathan two months ago was the first time power had changed hands to an opposition party at the ballot box in Nigeria's turbulent political history.
Yet commentators say he will still need to delve into his army past to tackle rampant corruption, Boko Haram security concerns and economic troubles over the next four years.
"For him to succeed in tackling these knotty problems, he will need to behave like a dictator in spite of the constitution, ignore criticisms and keep abay sycophants," said one former army officer who took part in Nigeria's first military coup in 1966.
"This is the time for him to bear his fangs against graft," added social commentator Tokede Williams. "A man called upon to be a hawk must catch chickens."


Buhari, 72, has already pledged the corrupt and corruption will have no part in his administration and that he intends to lead by example.
Unusually for a Nigerian leader, he did not accumulate much in the way of spoils during his 20 months in charge of a military regime from December 1983.
The devout Muslim, who has had to fend off claims from opponents that he is a religious zealot, is known to have only one simple bungalow in Daura, his home town in the northern state of Katsina.
He also took out a bank loan to pay the 27.5-million-naira ($136,000, 123,000 euro) fee just to contest for the presidential ticket for his All Progressives Congress (APC) party.
In office, his conduct will be closely watched for signs of excesses from his previous time in power that notably saw a crackdown on "indiscipline" and corruption.
Critics of the regime and political opponents were thrown in jail, including the Afro-beat music legend Fela Kuti, who was known for his outspoken lyrics.
Umaru Dikko, a former minister to the elected president Shehu Shagari that he overthrew, was found drugged in a crate on a plane at Stansted Airport, in an attempt to smuggle him back to Nigeria.
Critics of Buhari, particularly outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even suggested: "Once a tyrant, always a tyrant."
"At his age, it is always difficult for somebody to change his normal way of life overnight. A leopard doesn't change his spots suddenly," said one lawyer close to the incoming administration.
"However it all depends on those guiding him in office. Buhari is used to the military command structure and the tendency to be autocratic will always be there."
Softly spoken Buhari himself has rejected the description of "dictator" and vowed to operate "under democratic rules", without conducting a witch-hunt against the previous administration.
"Let's put the past behind us, especially the recent past. We must forget our old battles and past grievances and forge ahead," he said in his acceptance speech on April 2.
This month, he announced he would no longer be referred to as "General Buhari".


Buhari's previous time in power ended in a bloodless barracks coup led by Ibrahim Babangida in August 1985.
He slipped out of public life but returned as head of a government agency, the Petroleum Trust Fund, bankrolling development projects with additional revenue from oil sales.
At the agency, he again showed an autocratic but effective style.
"He is not very communicative, he is reticent but quite knowledgeable without flaunting it," said Ayo Banjoko, a Lagos-based political analyst.
"He is imbued with a messianic zeal. He has a rigid and intransigent disposition and he believes this country must and should be purged of its ills, especially corruption."
Buhari's military background and previous role as a northeastern governor have seen him viewed as best-placed to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency that has killed 15,000 since 2009.
Last July, he narrowly escaped death after a suicide bombing on his car as it travelled through the northern city of Kaduna. Many blamed the militants after he had previously criticised the group.
Buhari is divorced from his first wife Safinatu, with whom he had five children, and married Aisha, 44, in 1989. They also have five children together.

AFP

Obasanjo meets Qatar's Assistant Foreign Minister in Doha

DOHA 

Nigeria’s former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is currently visiting Qatar where he met HE Assistant Foreign Minister for International Cooperation Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Thursday.

According to Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Obasanjo discussed bilateral relations between the two countries, in addition to issues of common interest on the African and international arenas.

The meeting was attended by a number of Foreign Ministry's officials. 

When the news of the former president reached Nigerian residents in Qatar, they were already itching to meet OBJ as he's fondly called to talk about the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari who defeated incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan in the March 28 election.