Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan kareem.
During this holy month, Muslims will read the entire Qur'an as a spiritual exercise and as a commemoration of the belief that the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad during this month of reflection, prayer and fasting. Tradition tells us that the very first revelation (96:1-5) took place while Muhammad was meditating in a cave outside of Makkah during the month of Ramadan, when he was 40 years old.
Not only is this a month of spiritual development for Muslims, but it is also a time when Muslims are encouraged to increase their knowledge of Islam. For modern Muslims, separated by geography, history, culture and language from the early Muslim community, and from the Muslim populations in the Middle East, this is a perfect time to pick up a translation of the Qur'an, and read it as a means of learning more about the content, context, and intention of the text of the Qur'an. This activity is not intended as a replacement for, but rather as a supplement to, reading the Arabic text.