Ramadan in MICRONESIA??? Yes Yes there are MUSLIMS in Micronesia!!!
Marshallese Muslims observing prayers during Ramadan. Photo: Imam Matiullah Joyia.
For
the 150 members of the Marshall Islands' Muslim community, this lunar
month is the most holy of the year - the month of Ramadan.
Ramadan commemorates the Prophet Mohammad receiving Islam's holy book, the Koran, from Allah, Islam's name for God.
The
dates for Ramadan follow the lunar calendar and therefore change every
year. In 2014, Marshallese Muslims fast between June 30 and July 28.
During
this month, followers of Islam abstain from food and drink, including
water, during daylight hours. This is approximately 5am to 7pm for
Marshall Islanders.
Those fasting for Ramadan eat a meal, called sehri,
before the sun rises and will not eat or drink again until the sun
sets. After the sun has set, they break their fast with a meal called iftar.
But it's not only food that believers abstain from.
"During
the day, apart from restraining from food and water, Muslims are
particularly exhorted from vain talk, quarrels and fights, or from any
such occupation as is below the dignity of a true believer," explains
Matiullah Joyia, the leader, called an imam, at Majuro's mosque.
The philosophy behind abstaining is to develop spiritually, emotionally and personally.
"Among
other things, he [the person fasting] learns through personal
experience about what hunger, poverty, loneliness and discomforts mean
to the less fortunate sections of society," says Imam Joyia.
Members of the Marshall Islands' Muslim community pray during Ramadan. Photo: Imam Matiullah Joyia.
The
Marshall Islands' Muslim community is from the Ahmadiyya movement,
which began in 1889 and believes that Allah sent the Messiah in the form
of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to end religious wars and to restore peace.
In
the 1990s Fijian missionaries brought the Ahmadiyya movement to the
Marshall Islands and in 2001 it became an officially recognised religion
in the country. The community's first mosque was opened in 2012.
As
a minority religion in the Pacific, Imam Joyia says that when the
mosque was built, the locals were frightened at first but the situation
is getting better every day.
"The locals are realising there are Muslims who preach and practice Islam to be a peaceful and tolerant religion," he says.
For
the local Marshallese observing Ramadan in a tropical climate, Imam
Joyia says the key is to drink a lot of water in the morning before your
fast so you don't get dehydrated during the day.
"And also eat as much as possible. Not meaning to stuff yourself fully, instead to eat an adequate amount," he says.
During
this morning meal followers will pray "I intend to keep the fast for
tomorrow in the month of Ramadan" and in the evening, when they break
their fast, they say "O Allah! I fasted for You and I believe in You and
I put my trust in You and I break my fast with Your sustenance."
At the beginning of Ramadan, Muslims greet each other by saying Ramadan Mubarak.
"Ramadan Mubarak means Congratulations it's Ramadan. Basically, we say congrats because we are excited for this time and all the blessings it brings," says Imam Joyia.
Members of the Marshall Islands Muslim community. Photo: Imam Matiullah Joyia.
Comments
Wait until their numbers increase significantly. You will then see the true nature of the Islamic ideology.
http://www.micronesiaforum.org/index.php?p=/discussion/12287/tragedy-in-the-pacific#Item_10
Cheers.
It has two main branch just like Catholics and Protestants only they are called Shiites and Sunnis.
You seem to have mistaken Marshallese with Chuukese. There are ba'ais, buddists,indus,confusists,Mormons,protestants,Catholics,7 Days,salvation army ,athiest in the Marshalls and that has npt been a problem or has their has been any so what's wrong with marshallese allowing islam to our islands ? The marshall islands constitution guarantees that freedom and democracies everywhere do. Islam won't be the main religion cause its the exact opposite of marshallese culture. We have no problem with it. now if islam was to come to fsm thats when you start sweating bullets and shit bricks. If islam was to make landfall in chuuk that is when you start worrying. Chuukese kill each others for stupid stuffs like when they drunk or what clan he from or what color he claim. You guys stab each other for no reason but if islam comes there thats when you guys really kill each others for stupid things. Worry when it comes 2 YOUR ISLANDS IN FSM.
i wonder which is more helpful: the compact grants or the 72 virgins with pear-shaped breasts.
Dude do something constructive like pray to which god you preferr to help Chuuks team in the 8th mic games cause they are sucking a$$ and knee deep in €ocks right now. Even single island Nauru is a rank higher then chuuk in the games. You guys were bragging of how your team was gonna dominate but it look like that was a BLUFF.
Do you need more? The list is a long one.
Good luck with setting up your own sect within Islam, I'm sure the Wahabi, Alawite and Sunni warlords will have fun with that.PS: Your grasp of what is a racist needs an upgrade. Islam is an ideology, not a race. How can someone ripping into it be racist? Humans, now there's a race, as in the human race. Black, White, Red, Yellow and Brown are all Ethnic variations within the same species, Homo sapien. people pull the racist card without fully understanding the complete oxymoron that is the term 'Racist'. The only people who qualify to be racist are the misanthropes of the World.
And like the Chuukese saying goes. Yhu are #1 here on earth but not in heaven! Lol