Ramadan is the ninth month in the Muslim calendar
and is considered especially holy for several reasons. Koran, the holy book, was first revealed to prophet Muhammed during the last ten days of this month.

According to the Koran, the gates of heaven are open, the gates of hell are closed, and the devils are chained up in hell during Ramadan. Since the devils are locked away, it’s easier to do good in this month, thus, dedicated Muslims are expected to donate to a charity or offer their time to help the poor, for example. Every year, the UK holds campaigns to promote safe ways of donating to charities in order to avoid scams and fake charities during Ramadan.

Most people know Ramadan best for the tradition of fasting. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars, or fundamental duties, of Islam. It is common to fast during the daylight hours, although there is sometimes confusion around the beginning and the end of each daily fast. For this year’s Ramadan, you can find an accurate time table for each UK city, here.

Invite a friend for coffee today and tell her how much you appreciate the time you spend together.

It’s the International Day of Friendship, a UN
observance day that promotes the role friendship plays in promoting peace.

Friendship Day has been celebrated in many South American countries since the 50s, but it was proclaimed an international observance day in 2011 by the UN, with the idea that friendships help bridge communities and cross cultures. The UN resolution particularly emphasizes friendships between young people, our future leaders, and community activities that include different cultures.

A popular way to celebrate friendship is wearing friendship bracelets with your friend. In 1998, Nane Annan, the wife of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, named Winnie the Pooh the world’s Ambassador of Friendship. 

Over the next few weeks you will find that some of your colleagues
aren’t taking part in the usual water-cooler gossip sessions or have taken to declining offers of coffee. That’s because it’s Ramadan. Muslims are called by their religion to celebrate the month of Ramadan by coming together in worship, fasting each day for thirty days from dawn until sunset. While this may seem like a tremendous feat, consider this: Fasting while working is an even greater endeavour! So, how can we help our colleagues? Is there an etiquette to follow?

In an increasingly multi-cultural world, when it seems as though we are

undergoing a clash of cultures, it is important that we try to understand the belief systems and values of others, for understanding engenders tolerance and peace. Whether you live or work with Muslims and want to relate to them better, or you simply want to have a better insight into the world’s second largest religion, this comprehensive article will help you understand what Ramadan is all about.

Ramadan is the holy Islamic month of fasting. During the month,
Muslims will fast during the daylight, in all conditions and break their fast at nightfall with family and friends. Many of us wonder though, what can it be like to fast for an entire month?

Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims across the world fast,
begins today – 1^st August 2011. Besides fasting, it is a time for spiritual fulfilment, emotional rebalancing, mental reflection and physical purification. Traditionally, Muslims consider Ramadan the ultimate month of charity, prayer, Qur’an, family and community.  It lasts for 29 to 30 days depending on the sighting of the new moon (hilal), so is due to end in Eid ul Fitr on 30^th August.

SMILE    😆   

Smiling is infectious
You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
And someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realised,
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile
Then realised its worth,
A single SMILE just like mine
Could travel round the earth.

So if you feel a smile begin
Don’t leave it undetected,
Let’s start an epidemic quick
And get the world infected.

Taken from the book  Golden Apples by Bill Cullen

Maya Angelou, an award-winning American poet and author, was once quoted for saying:

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” The media is full of heroes every day, but today is the day that the world celebrates our she-roes: it’s International Women’s Day!

In some countries, Women's Day is a political event.

Today is the International Volunteer Day!

The day aims to thank all volunteers for their efforts, and to highlight the importance of volunteer work in promoting peace and sustainable development across the globe.

International Volunteer Day holds a special importance for me. My first experience of real volunteer work happened, not so long ago, in 2009. I was on my last year in high school and decided to join the school’s Habitat for Humanity club. Habitat for Humanity is an organization that aims to help “families escape the nightmare of housing poverty.” Our high school club arranged various fundraising events throughout the school year, and in May ten of us travelled to Krabi, Thailand to help rebuild a home to one of the families who lost their house in a tsunami a couple of years before. For me the experience was both fun and exciting, but I now feel that I didn’t understand the full meaning of our work until much later.

Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights

Diwali is a five-day long celebration and means as much to Hindus as Christmas does to Christians. Diwali signifies the renewal of life and heralds the beginning of winter – when sowing crops can start.

Diwali is also a Sikh festival, especially celebrating the release from prison of the sixth guru, Hargobind, in 1619. However, Sikhs had celebrated Diwali for many years before that. The foundation stone of the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the holiest place in the Sikh world, was laid on Diwali in 1577. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of Moksha (Nirvana, or eternal bliss) by the founder of Jainism, Lord Mahavira.

Find out more about Diwali.