Muslims are marking Ramadan, the day when God granted the first part of the Holy Quran with the help of Prophet Muhammad. Azerbaijan will have a month of fasting.
Muslims are to avoid food, drinks and intimate contacts from the morning prayer Subkh to the night prayer Magrib.
Mosques will have the traditional night prayer Isha and a special joint prayer Taravikh.
Russian Grand Mufti Ravil Gaynetdin congratulated all Muslims on this day. He urged all Muslims to be firm and follow all rules of Islam, without doing harm to their health.
Fasting will be concluded on August 19 with Eid-al-Fitr, or Uraza-Bayram and Kurban-Bayram as it is called in the states of the former USSR, lasting 3 days.
Islam is having a revival in Muslim regions of the Caucasus. Mosques are being built all over, old ones are being reconstructed, including the Cathedral Mosque in Moscow. The number of Islamic followers grows rapidly every year.
Vestnik Kavkaza congratulates all Muslims with the coming of Ramadan.
