Through the hunger that comes from observing Ramadan, Austin engineer Clay Smith said he feels the tug of compassion in his soul. That's also how he first learned about Islam, he said.
"Someone told me that if I wanted to understand what it means to be Muslim, I should fast during Ramadan," said the 49-year-old Smith, who had been a Christian until several years ago, when he started considering converting to Islam.
Trying the annual fast once wasn't enough, so he tried it two years in a row. "I thought I'd be irritated by this whole fasting experience," he said, "but what it taught me was compassion."
Austin Muslims say learning through the challenge of hunger is a crucial part of Ramadan, a ritual obligation for the world's estimated 1.5 billion Muslims. The 30-day fast begins today and ends Sept. 20.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the "five pillars" of Islam. The others are belief in God and his prophets, ritual prayer, payment of charity tax and pilgrimage to Mecca.
During Ramadan, Muslims must fast from the first light of dawn, about 1 ½ hours before sunrise, until sunset. Fasting means abstention from sex, food and drink.
Imam Islam Mossaad, who leads Austin's largest Muslim congregation of about 500 families at the North Austin Muslim Community Center, said that Muslims will mark the beginning of the religion's holiest time on Friday night when they see the crescent moon right after sunset. Mossaad says there are about 10,000 Muslims in Austin.
Categories : 
4:41 AM
Moderate Islamist here
