The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins April 2, depending on the sighting of the moon. For a month, Muslims across the world will abstain from both water and food from dawn to sunset.

The Ramadan ritual requires Muslims to wake up around 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. (ideally before sunrise depending on the location) to eat and drink ahead of their daylong fast. This meal is known as "suhur" or "sehri." The fast is broken at sunset and the meal is known as "iftar."

Below are some quotes, courtesy of Brainy Quote, about fasting:

1. “A fast is not a hunger strike. Fasting submits to God's commands. A hunger strike makes God submit to our demands.” – Edwin Louis Cole

2. “Fasting is, first and foremost, an exercise for identifying and managing adversity in all its forms. With faith, in full conscience, fasting calls women and men to an extra degree of self-awareness.” – Tariq Ramadan

3. “Periodic fasting can help clear up the mind and strengthen the body and the spirit.” – Ezra Taft Benson

4. “Through prayer, fasting, and studying, God will answer.” – Monica Johnson

5. “We must master our egoism, and through this mastery, step outside ourselves and educate ourselves in giving. Fasting requires that we rediscover all that is alive around us, and reconcile ourselves with our environment.” – Tariq Ramadan

6. “Start the practice of self-control with some penance; begin with fasting.” – Mahavira

7. “The philosophy of fasting calls upon us to know ourselves, to master ourselves, and to discipline ourselves the better to free ourselves. To fast is to identify our dependencies, and free ourselves from them.” – Tariq Ramadan

8. “Having soon discovered to be great, I must appear so, and therefore studiously avoided mixing in society, and wrapped myself in mystery, devoting my time to fasting and prayer.” – Nat Turner

9. “Instead of looking outside of ourselves and counting potential enemies, fasting summons us to turn our glance inward, and to take the measure of our greatest challenge: the self, the ego, in our own eyes and as others see us.” – Tariq Ramadan

10. "In His infinite mercy, Allah has sent the light of Ramadan to erase the night. He has sent the month of the Qur’an so that He might elevate us and bring us from our isolation to His nearness." ― Yasmine Mogahed

Several thousand worshippers in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province hold prayers at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque on the eve of Ramadan
Several thousand worshippers in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province hold prayers at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque on the eve of Ramadan AFPTV / Zaid Shidqi
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