Sam Veda once said: “Rituals performed with the desire to attain salvation also help man to grow and progress in this world. » Rituals are an integral part of every religion and the lives of its followers. These rituals transform followers into better people and connect them to the divine. Ramadan is a month-long religious ritual that holds great significance for the Muslim community. To learn more about this ritual, I attended a service at the mosque during Ramadan earlier this year. There I learned that Ramadan focuses on fasting from food, sex, etc. Fasting is intended to enable Muslims to seek closeness to God, express gratitude and dependence on Him, atone for past sins, and remember the needy. During my visit, I learned that Ramadan is a complex ritual that serves many purposes for its participants. In order to learn more about Ramadan, I decided to reflect on my experience at the mosque and examine it in terms of the five characteristics of rituals described by Lester Kurtz: they provide solutions to problems; they are rooted in experience; they involve the demarcation of boundaries and the identification of evil; they include non-rational and rational aspects of behavior; and they reinforce, or reify, social processes. The Ramadan prayer service differed greatly from anything I have witnessed at a Roman Catholic mass. I arrived at the community center at sunset. Those who celebrated Ramadan had fasted all day. Before going to the prayer service, they ate dates as their first meal of the evening. The call to prayer began with the loudspeaker, consisting of a person chanting verses from the Quran in Arabic. People then began to examine the problems in their lives and identify the evil. Based on my experience, I found that Muslims sought to reach out to others and welcomed me with open arms as a member of their community. They carefully answered my questions and remained open and honest with me. I am extremely happy that I took this opportunity to experience this ritual as it gave me a new perspective on the Islamic faith and a deep respect for those who participate in Ramadan. Works Cited1. Esposito, John (1998). Islam: the right path (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.2. Kurtz, Lester R. “Gods in the Global Village: World Religions in Sociological Perspective.” Pine Forge Press, 2010.3. “Objective of Ramadan. » http://www.haqislam.org/the-Purpose-of-ramadan, accessed 04/11/11.4. “Ritual Quotes.” Http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/rituals/3.html, consulted 4/10/11