Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/141

 120 month of Ramazán, Muhammad said, the Qurán began to be revealed from heaven.

The fast does not commence until some Musalman is able to state that he has seen the new moon. If the sky be over-clouded and the moon cannot be seen, the fast begins upon the completion of thirty days from the beginning of the previous month.

The Ramazán must be kept by every Musalman, except the sick, the infirm, and pregnant women, or women who are nursing their children. Young children, who have not reached the age of puberty, are exempt, and also travellers on a journey. In the case of a sick person or a traveller, the month's fast must be kept as soon as they are able to perform it. This is called Qazá, or expiation.

The fast is extremely rigorous and mortifying, and when the Ramazán happens to fall in the summer and the days are long, the prohibition even to drink a drop of water to slake the thirst is a very great hardship. Muhammad speaks of this religious exercise as "easy," as most probably it was when com-