Ramadan

From Wikipedia:

The word Ramadan is derived from the word ramd "to burn". The entire month is spent fasting from dawn to dusk. The name came from the time before the Islamic calendar, when the month of Ramadan fell in the summer. Fasting during this month is often thought to figuratively burn away all sins. Muslims believe that the Qur'an started sent down to the earth during this month. Furthermore, the Prophet Muhammad told his followers that the gates of Heaven would be open all the month and the gates of Hell would be closed. The first day of the next month is spent in great celebrations and rejoicings and is observed as the ‘Festival of Breaking Fast’ or `Eid ul-Fitr.

I guess quiet contemplation isn't part of the program. This explains a great deal. I suppose I thought the Muslim "holy month of Ramadan" was, in a way, kind of like our Lent. I thought wrong! So, this means it's ok to murder even more innocent people because "the gates of hell" are closed? Oh, wait a minute...they do that anyway because it's also ok to murder innocents to become a martyr, or is that just to spread Islam. I'm getting so confused about this "religion of peace".

The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq urged Muslims to make the holy month of Ramadan a "month of holy war," in an audiotape posted on Islamic Web site Thursday.

Well, I guess that explains everything, doesn't it!