Cuttack, June 7: The holy month of fasting called as Ramadan for the Muslims began from Monday evening with the sight of the new moon. The moon sighting committee of Cuttack, Anjuman Islamia Committee officially announced that ritual of Ramadan month will start from Monday as the new moon has already been visible. Visibility of the new moon have also been reported from states like Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Jharkhand.
Other states would be beginning the month-long fasting from Tuesday. Notably, Ramadan is also known as Ramzaan is taken as the nine month of the Islamic calendar. In this month the Muslims fast every day from dawn to dusk abstaining from food and liquid for an entire month believing that this was the time when the first verses of the Holy Book Quran were disclosed to Prophet Muhammad. Thus people devote much of their time to prayer and conduct charitable activities. Ramadan ends with Eid-ul-fitr, the long celebrated festival of the Muslims and lasts for about 29 to 30 days according to the calendar.
