Ramadan 2010: From Across The World

It is the holiest month in a Muslim's life. Ramadan or the Fast of Ramadan is a time when Muslims concentrate on their faith and spend less time on the concerns of their everyday lives. It is a time of worship and contemplation.

Along with not eating and drinking in the light hours--smoking and sexual relations and consuming alcohol are also forbidden during fasting.

This year, Ramadan will continue until Thursday, September 9th.

Kashmiri Muslims pray on a street on the third Friday of Ramadan, in Srinagar, India, Friday, Aug. 27, 2010.

A Palestinian Muslim man decorates an alley of Jerusalem's old city with festive lights in preparation for Ramadan on Tuesday, Aug. 10 2010.

The crescent moon is seen near mosques in old Cairo on the fifth day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 15, 2010.

A young Palestinian Muslim girl walks in an alley of Jerusalem's old city holding a traditional Ramadan lantern while celebrating with other children the announcing of the holy month of Ramadan on Tuesday, Aug. 10 2010.

A Pakistani volunteer pours milk into glasses for devotees to break their fast during Muslims' holy fasting month of Ramadan in Lahore, Pakistan on Friday, Aug. 20, 2010.

Muslim girls offer prayers before having their Iftar (fast-breaking) meal during the holy month of Ramadan at a madrasa on the outskirts of Jammu on August 21, 2010.

A member of Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, lower left, participates in an Iftar, the evening meal when Muslim break their fast during Ramadan, August 17, 2010 at Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. The Islamic center invited frontline responders for Ramadan dinner to show appreciation and foster increased understanding.

A Muslim man performs ablution before prayer during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the London Muslim Centre on August 18, 2010 in London, England.

A man prays during Ramadan Jummah prayer at the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C. on August 13, 2010.

Indonesian chefs make miniature chocolate mosques for sale during the fasting month of Ramadan, at a chocolate shop in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 20, 2010.

Muslim pilgrims pray inside the Grand Mosque, with the Mecca Clock in the background, on the second day of the fasting month of Ramadan in Mecca August 12, 2010. The giant clock on a skyscraper in Islam's holiest city Mecca began ticking on Wednesday at the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, amid hopes by Saudi Arabia that it will become the Muslim world's official timekeeper.

Thousands of Muslims gather in the Grand Mosque, in Islam's holiest city of Mecca and home to the Kaaba (center), as they take part in dawn (fajir) prayers on August 29, 2010, to start their day-long fast during the holy month or Ramadan.

Thousands of Muslims circle the Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque in Islam's holiest city of Mecca, taking part in dawn (fajir) prayers on August 29, 2010.

A Muslim man places a chart which marks the times to pray on a wall during the first day of Ramadan at a mosque in the southern Spanish town of Estepona, near Malaga August 11, 2010.

A mahya reading "Hold the fast. find good health" hangs between the minarets of the Ottoman-era Eminonu New Mosque in Istanbul August 12, 2010. Mahya, where dangling lights suspended between minarets spell out devotional messages in huge letters, are intended to reward and inspire the faithful who have spent the daylight hours fasting. Today just a handful of Istanbul's mosques use Mahya, the phrases dictated by Turkey's directorate of religious affairs.

Muslim men pray before Iftar, the evening meal in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the London Muslim Centre on August 18, 2010 in London, England.

A child sits with a plate of food that was distributed as part of the holy month of Ramadan, at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010.

Indonesian women pray during the first night of Ramadan in Jakarta on August 10, 2010.

A Palestinian Muslim worshiper walks in an alley of Jerusalem's Old City, on her way to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque on the third Friday of Ramadan on Aug. 27, 2010.

A Syrian Muslim girl stands at the top of Mount Qassioun, which overlooks Damascus city, during sunset and prays before eating her Iftar meal on August 22, 2010.

All Photos courtesy The Boston Globe