Ramadan Begins Friday

Daytime fasting, prayer, community central to monthlong Muslim observance Thousands of the Capital Region's Muslims will begin the annual observance of Ramadan at sundown Friday, fulfilling their religion's requirement of daytime fasts for a month as they aim to cleanse body and spirit. Immigrants and refugees find the observance of Ramadan in the United States differs from what they were used to back home. Barakat's father had a wholesale business selling auto equipment, her mother worked in a finance company. Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, starting in the year 610. Since the Islamic calendar is a lunar one, Ramadan begins 11 days earlier each year.