Islamic holy month Ramazan to start on August 1

Islamic holy month Ramazan will start on August 1, 2011. Today, July 25, chief imam (the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community) of Nur Astana Central Mosque Kalizhan Zankoyev held a press-conference and told about the coming fasting, Tengrinews.kz reports. “According to Islamic calendar, the month of traditional fasting will last for 29 days. The night of peace, concordance and destiny, a so called Laylat al-Qadr will be on August 27,” the imam said. Laylat al-Qadr also known as Shab-e-Qadr, the Night of Destiny, Night of Power, Night of Value, the Night of Decree or Night of Measures, is the anniversary of two very important dates in Islam that occurred in the month of Ramadan. It is the anniversary of the night Muslims believe the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The first day of Islamic end-of-fasting holiday called Iraza-ait will be on August 30. It will last for three days. The Imam also spoke about the amount of donations. This year it is set at 150 tenge for residents of Astana, Karaganda, East-Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, North-Kazakhstan and Mangistau oblasts. Donation of 100 tenge is set for residents of Almaty, Zhambyl, South-Kazakhstan and Kyzylorda oblasts. “These amounts were calculated based on the approximate cost of 1 kg of flour. But anyone who can is welcome to donate a large amount, for example based on the cost of apricot halves or raisins,” Kalizhan Zankoyev said. The Imam of Astana central mosque also called for attention to the request of the chief mufti (a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law) of Kazakhstan, who earlier asked head of the ministries, authorities and city administrations to decrease food prices by 10 percent during the holy month period. By Assel Satayeva