Article September 16, 2002 Issue

How your Muslim friends celebrate Ramadan

By Marta Greenwood

Zahra and her family live in England. Her parents moved there from Iran, before she was born. Zahra is Muslim, and she goes to pray at a mosque every week with her mother. She also takes time during her lunch breaks at school to say her midday prayers.

Since she was nine, Zahra's mother and father have been teaching her and her sister, Zarin, to read and recite the Muslim holy book, called the Koran.

The Koran (or Quran) is the book of revelations to the Prophet Muhammad. It is written in Arabic. The Koran is divided into chapters, or suras. Zahra and Zarin began with the shorter suras, memorizing them so they could recite them during prayers. They learned the phrase "Bismilah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim," which means "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate."

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