The Islamic month of fasting is predicted to begin next month and it will end on Sept. 30 or Oct. 1. Ramadan is one of the essential points of the Islamic religion, along with the declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity and pilgrimage to Mecca.

It is also the Islamic month of fasting, the time when Muslims don’t eat or drink anything from sunrise until sunset. The goal of the fasting is to teach the believer values such as patience and humility.

Ramadan commemorates the month that the Prophet Muhammad received the faith’s sacred text, the Qu'ran. Muslims believe that it was the night of the Laylat al-Qadr, "The Night of Decrees" or "Night of Measures," that the Quran’s first verse was revealed.

During Ramadan, Muslims are encouraged to focus more on their faith and self-accountability.

As the hadith says, those who fast the month of Ramadan and six days during Shawwal will be rewarded as though they fasted the entire year.

In many Muslim and non Muslim countries with large Muslim populations, such as Egypt or Saudi Arabia, school schedules change to accommodate the fasting population, markets close down in the evening to enable people to perform prayers and Muslims focus on fasting, spiritual cleansing and enlightenment. In addition to fasting, Muslims are encouraged to read the entire Qur’an.

There are more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide, and about 6,000 in the Wichita area.

According to the Fiqh Council of North America, an advisory committee on Islamic law, the first day of Ramadan is Monday and it coincides with the sighting of the sliver of the moon.

Muslims will mark the end of the fasting period of Ramadan on Oct.1 – the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Fitr.