my name is joshua and uh i converted to islam in 2005 when i chose the name mahdi for uh my islamic name. i was very interested in uh different cultures and and uh religions and uh new things that you cannot find in the country like germany. i had a friend who was from pakistan who owned a shop. one day in the month of ramadan, the fasting, the month of fasting, uh, i was invited by him to his mask. 'when i came to that mask, there were

several leaflets and books, also few qurans, which i looked at, and one quran that i found was translated to german, when i started reading the quran, it made me a lot calmer, i thought to myself, if you if you accept the hereafter and if you accept the if you accept that there is one god and that there has to be a god, then why don't you want to convert to islam? my first experience of fasting was not in the month of ramadan, but it was in the month of rajab, which comes before ramadan. i uh started my fast. and uh i

couldn't do it, i had to break the fast in in the afternoon at around three or four o'clock because it was so hot and it was so difficult for me to uh fast without drinking, i was not even hungry, but the the heat and the and the of fact that i didn't drink any that i hadn't uh that i didn't drink anything for almost uh 12 or 11 hours was uh yeah was uh pretty. difficult for me and it it made me break my fast on that day, but uh, i remember the first day of ramadan, in the same year, uh, i did the whole, the whole month of ramadan. ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar islamic calendar. the visual sighting of the crescent moon signals the beginning of ramadan with last 29 to 30 days. in this

month, muslims fast from dawn till dusk and are encouraged to dedicate a portion of their day to prayer, reading their holy book, the quran and reflection. iran's holy city of rom has been a hub for islamic schools and scholars. for centuries. the faizier school is the most important islamic school in the world and one of the oldest in iran. many prominent scholars of islam studied here and are now teaching here themselves. many of them have been influential in interpreting.

and jesus uh fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and we told that they went without food and water, it was really quite... a marathon um christians in the run up to their easter go through a period of fasting called lent in which they give up something quite often, it's something like cigarettes or chocolate, so it's quite symbolic and it's it's not the um daily test that uh muslims put themselves through by simply not eating, not drinking uh avoiding. confrontational situations, having no physical um sexual contact and and uh the like. leila is an american living in iran who converted to islam years ago. she says islam

gave her life direction. at the time i was um actually searching for a purpose in life. a goal, a direction in life, i knew that christianity, i was christian didn't give me the answers that i really wanted, it wasn't specific enough for me, i wanted something that gave me a reason for why we're here, a purpose, and i liked islam because it is the most complete religion, and there is a rule or a prescription or a goal for everything you do, an explanation, and that suited what i was looking for. when muslims fast, they refrain from eating and drinking all the daylight hours. for a first time faster, this is a challenging experience, especially when they have to go to work as usual rain or shine. basically, for me it was very strange experience, it's it's sort of exciting, but a

little bit um, a little bit difficult to start with, because as your first starting to fast, you've never really experienced this, not having this ability to, not being allowed eat. or drink anything all day long, so it was very um unique experience the first year. i was wondering at the beginning, i had to doubt if i would be able to actually fast that because it was more like late summerfall, and i had doubt as well be able to fast the number of hours because i hadn't ever done it before, and after the first two or three days of adjusting to it, you realize that it's very um easy and you actually look forward to fasting, so it was a little bit of excitement, apprehension a little bit, can i do this, can i not do this, how? how does everybody else do it in a warm climate? yeah, just lot of um questions for me to start with for the first time, but as the days went by and you get into this routine, you realize how easy that allah makes it for you when you fast, it's not difficult, and you learn for the right reasons. bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

oh my allah, for thee fast, and with the food thou gives me, i break the thought, and rely on thee. رفتار جنسی پرهیز کنه در حدیث داریم سمعکه وصرکه و شعرکه خیلی مهمه و لسان که وقتی روزه می گیری چشمت روزه باشه گوشت روزه باشه پات

روزه باشه زبانت روزه باشه الله سنخ تربیت روح با سنخ تربیت تن فرق داره سنخ تربیت تن'. بهداشت طبیعی می خواد سنخ تربیت روح بهداشت روحی و تجردی می خواد یعنی انسانی متكامل است که فرشته وار باشد به فرشته تشبه داشته باشد مسلطه بر خور و خوابش باشه مسلطه بر شهواتش باشه مسلطه بر تقاضاها و قرائض جنسی و انس حیوانی خودش باشه و این امکان نداره مگر با تمرین. in islamic countries, the fasting month is national event and everyone's in the ramadan spirit. naturally, this makes fasting more enjoyable and not eating or drinking more tolerable. but in secular countries it

might be more difficult to fast. europe has more than 44 million muslims and the americas has around 5 million. i started my fasting at 4our o'clock. in the morning and of course my uh my family they are going to be hungry at 12 or one and they are going to want eat their lunch so uh in a way it's quite difficult especially when you are not used to it uh to see people eating in front of you and uh you yourself having to uh wait, but uh i think in islamic in unislamic countries uh one thing that uh converts uh habit to is that they uh they see all these things happening, they see the most unislamic things happening in their in their countries, in their homes, in their cities that uh once they habit... "it is easier for them to do fasting ah compared to a person who was born

a muslim an islamic country or un islamic country, so uh, yeah, people get used to that, people got used to it, to see people in the streets drinking ice cold water or eating delicious foods and your fasting. it's quite a difficult time for converts to islam in the west, um, very often their families don't." support them are almost hostile to their reversion to islam, and because there is so much excitement to the build up for most muslims, sometimes converts can get uh forgotten about, and so they have to um cope on their own, and it it can be quite a a difficult uh time for. muslims don't only

fast during ramadan, some also fast voluntarily on the 13th, 14th and 15th of rajab, the seventh month of the lunar islamic calendar. muslims spend three days in the mosk praying. it's a form of spiritual retreat called a tekav that the holy quran and hadith recommend. رجب که این هم برداشت میشه از احادیث خدمتتون عرض شود که میتونه برای معتکفین آمادگی فراهم کنه برای ماه مبارک رمضان. اعتکاف. انسان انقدر توی این پیش و خم زندگی اجتماعی قرار میگیره که

کلاً اعتکاف چهارمین باره اعتکاف یعنی دل بکنی از دنیا دیگه یا یه خورده خودتو بسازی مشه خودسازی خب اعتکافی هم به هر حال یه به اصطلاح تسویه روحانیه که انسان باعث میشه که انسان یه تغلیه ای داشته باشه از گناهان بتونه خودشو پاک سازی کنه برای ادامه زندگی. احساس می کنم یک

معنویت خاصی تو این مجالس هست که بچه ها رو واقعاً تعقیب میکنه که بیان تو این مجالس شرکت کنن اولین بارمه که اومدم برای اینکه بیشتر به خدا نزدیک بشم شکر خدا تو مسجد دانشگاه تهران ثبت نامی که انجام شد ظرف. دو سه روز خدمتتون عرض کنم که حدود ۳ هزار متقازی ما داشتیم که همه جوان هستند قالب برای بار اول هست و قالبشون دانشجو و استاد هستن این نشون میده حالا این یک نمونه است دانشگاه های دیگر را همین طور تقاضا هست مساجد صفح شهر رو هم شما نگاه کنید جوونه های دیگر حالا دانش آموز و حسینین و صنوف دیگر هم این استقبال رو در اعتکاف. there is also a social aspect to

fasting. community, spirit and unity are an important part of ramadan. millions of people stop eating at one precise moment and start eating again with the sound of the azan. people give arms to the poor and visit family and friends in the holy month to break. یک جهت فلسفه ماه رمضان از این. که سرمایه دارها پولدارها یه مقداری به درد دل بیچارگان برسن بدونن گرسنگی اون ها چگونه این ماه رمضان که روزه می گیرن قهراً گرسنه که میشن یاد فقرا میفتن رقت قلب براشون میگه پس چقدر خوبه که ما برای اونها هم یه خدمتی بکنیم در یک بعد مسئله مسئله اجتماعیته که محبت و مودت بین طبقات

ایجاد کنه و طبقات را به هم نزدیک کنه همین که آقایون هی میگن اختلاف. of your neighbors and community and society and that ability to help others becomes more aware during ramazan, because then we begin to feel what sometimes our neighbors are feeling, which we may be so busy the rest of the year that we're not aware of that, or we take it with the grain of salt as we would say, we we know it's there, we know it exists, but we still go on with our daily lives, it is a time for great uh reflection

and "it's a time when you think of uh brothers and sisters across the world and how they spend their ramadan and how they um spend their fasting, and of course for a large section of the uma um hunger is no stranger to them, there are brothers and sisters out there who survive maybe on just one meal a day. especially in places like niger, which is often blighted by famon. the fasting month has some very important nights, the most holy being the nights of qad. muslims believe 1400 years ago on these very nights, the holy quran was revealed in full to prophet muhammad. muslims pray and read

the joshan kabir joshan sir and muujir among other prayers. they believe they are more likely to be answered on these nights. this ramadan uh during which is indeed very holy night or three very holy nights. i uh would like to ask god for uh curing many issues that are that have uh happened in uh in the world such as the wars and countries like syria or uh people losing their jobs in any part of the world, but one personal thing that i would like to ask is uh for forgiveness, because i think that every person, even if he tries not to commit a sin

uh is not able to not commit a sin because we are not uh... "we are not masum, we are not uh unfailable, we are uh human and human do mistakes and if people do mistakes and they regret their mistakes, they don't they do not repeat them, so i think it's a good occasion to ask god for forgiveness and to uh yeah not repeat those mistakes and uh keep the connection to god that you have uh with." we establish in the holy month of ramadan in the first 20 days and in the last 10 days of that month.

after the arrival of tagfury terrorists in aleppo syria, people's daily lives were disrupted and they saw explosions and suicide operations every day. the problem of diffusing mines and detonating trap bombs. during this time, the resistance fighters and the ordinary people, including women and children got hurt. martter ibrahim khalili was one of the most efficient people in mind sweeping team who lost his life along this journey. join us on press tv.

i have been detained 10. times since the first interfada or uprising in 1987, was detained and released 10 times, so i have lot of experience and have lot to say about what

takes place during the interrogations and about the horrifying stories heard from my fellow detainees. the first pain when his house is rided by the occupations army, the troops detonate the doors using bombs and then enter the home and begin ransacking it, destroying everything inside, they terrify the children, women and fathers and mothers in plain sight of the prison. that prisoner is taken in plin side

the children who scream. this also constitutes suffering for the family, for the children, for the women, for the father, and for the mother. on the way to the interrogation, the detainee is physically and verbally assaulted, and here is blasphemous words. the wives or sisters of some of the detainees were also detained and brought to the interrogation. there the men were threatened with subjecting their wives or sisters to sexual abuse, if they refused to make a... confession. i personally spent a

week, seven days sitting a chair with my hands cuffed behind my back and my face covered. i spent seven days without sleep and without food during the fasting month of ramadan. they were giving us just one meal every two or three days. when i was asking for water, they were spilling. water on the floor, so if you wanted to drink water, you had to drink the water spilled on the floor, so they obtain a decision from the court and sit the detaneo down and shake him for a long period of time, and that subsequently inflicts a brain injury on him that leaves him either dead or mentally ill. they strip people of their clothes and put them a wet floor and turn on air conditioners, switching back and forth from cooling to heating.

during one to two days, those detainees fall ill due to that method of torture. while the detaine is hungry, the interrogator brings delicious. food and begins eating, what hurts more is that the army brings those settlers to the prisons to see how palestinian detainees are humiliated, or subsequently they boost the moral of their people and settlers through showing them the pains of the palestinians who are held in the prisons. what's currently happening in israeli jails is harsher than what happened in the us

detention. i can say that they all learned from the same source how to torture and humiliate the people. how did zinists come from across the world to palestine to occupy a land belonging to another nation? how do they form their secret army, hagana? how do they grab lands belonging to palestinians? how do they build and expand their illegal settlements?

israel's former prime minister goldomir answers these and more questions in this documentary: one year watching, i'm your host. the first rolling coverage of this assassination of suleymani now entering its uh uh fourth day we're looking at some uh

the headlines at press tv: iran and hamas call for an international investigation as scores of bodies are found in gaza's al-schefa hospital after the israeli military is withdraw from the facility. israeli forces kill a palestinin man over a stabbing attack that left three settlers seriously injured in the southern part of the occupied territories. islamic resistance in iraq says it has carried out fresh attacks on israeli targets in the port city of inlat in response to the regimes ongoing genocide in gaza.