Islamic Lunar Calendar Research Articles

Fasting guidelines for diabetic children and adolescents

Fasting during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of Islamic lunar calendar, is obligatory for all healthy adult and adolescent Muslims from the age of 12 years. Fasting starts from early dawn (Sohur/Sehri) till sunset (Iftar). During this period one has to abstain from eating and drinking. Islam has allowed many categories of people to be exempted from fasting, for example, young children, travelers, the sick, the elderly, pregnant, and lactating women. According to expert opinion, patients with type 1 diabetes (type 1 DM) who fast during Ramadan are at a very high risk to develop adverse events. However, some experienced physicians are of the opinion that fasting during Ramadan is safe for type 1 DM patients, including adolescents and older children, with good glycemic control who do regular self-monitoring and are under close professional supervision. The strategies to ensure safety of type 1 diabetic adolescents who are planning to fast include the following: Ramadan-focused medical education, pre-Ramadan medical assessment, following a healthy diet and physical activity pattern, modification in insulin regimen, and blood glucose monitoring as advised by the physician.

Circular Calculus and Elliptical Realities: The Standardization of the Islamic Lunar Calendar in the United States, 1966–2006

Looking at the most recent episode in the history of time standardization, this paper focuses on the immigrant American Muslim community's historically intricate transition from the phenomena-based Islamic lunar calendar formally instituted in 1976 toward a standardized calculation-based approach taken in 2006. Using the roles assumed by the Muslim community's two premier organizations during this period, the Muslim Students' Association and the Islamic Society of North America, I attempt to analyze the multiplicity of issues dealing with technology and modernity, cultural unity and diversity, and assimilation. While this paper tracks the community building efforts of America's most diverse religious cohort through an integrated exposition of technology, politics, religion and society, it fundamentally reveals a distinct shift to a modernist epistemology of railroad time based on uniformity and science.

Ramadan and diabetes: As-Saum (The fasting).

Ramadan, the ninth month of Islamic lunar calendar, is marked by religious ritual of fasting from early dawn till sunset by Muslims. Islam has allowed many categories of people to be exempt totally or temporarily from fasting. Patients with uncontrolled diabetes face possible major metabolic risks including hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia with or without the risk of impending ketosis, dehydration, and thrombosis. Diabetics can be stratified into four categories based on their level of risk associated with fasting. The recommended ruling for persons in categories 1 and 2 is that they are prohibited from fasting to prevent harming themselves based on the certainty or the preponderance of probability that harm will occur, whereas the recommended ruling for those in categories 3 and 4 is that they should fast. The strategies to ensure safety of diabetics who are planning to fast include Ramadan-focused patient education, pre-Ramadan medical assessment, following a healthy diet and physical activity pattern, physician-recommended modifications in medication protocol and therapeutic recommendations and checking blood glucose as and when required.

Adjusting the basal insulin regimen of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus receiving insulin pump therapy during the Ramadan fast: A case series in adolescents and adults

Background: Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is the holy month of fasting for adolescent and adult Muslims. Observance of Ramadan is considered obligatory for every healthy adult Muslim. During this time, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and administering oral or parenteral medications from sunrise to sunset daily for 28 to 30 days. Case summary: We evaluated the need for changes in basal insulin regimen in 5 patients (4 males and 1 female; age range, 15-19 years) with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) who fasted during Ramadan. The patients were receiving insulin pump therapy with regular human insulin and maintained weekly visits with their endocrinologist at The Chronic Care Center (Beirut, Lebanon). They were instructed to break the fast after any episode of hypoglycemia (finger stick glucose <70 mg/dL) or severe hyperglycemia (finger stick glucose ≥300 mg/dL or any hyperglycemia associated with presence of urine ketone bodies on urinary dipstick). Blood glucose concentrations did not change significantly with fasting. Finger stick blood glucose taken at 4-hour intervals decreased in the afternoon (at 4 pm) and increased in the evening and morning (10 pm and 8 am, respectively) during this month in 4 of 5 patients, while no significant change in circadian rhythm of finger stick blood glucose was observed in 1 patient. Based on the investigators' findings, the basal insulin requirement decreased by 5.5% to 25.0% (4 patients) or did not change (1 patient) during the fast. Changes in regimens, based on collaboration between the endocrinologist and diabetes educational nurse, were determined by blood glucose self-monitoring done at 4-hour intervals during the fasting period, pre-Suhur (predawn breakfast), and ≥2 hours after Iftar (evening fast-breaking meal). No cases of keto-acidosis or severe hypoglycemia were reported. Conclusion: These 5 adolescent and adult patients with T1DM who were using an insulin pump were able to fast during Ramadan without incidences of severe hypoglycemia or ketoacidosis by using close blood glucose self-monitoring and weekly follow-up with their endocrine team, which consisted of an endocrinologist, a registered nutritionist, and a diabetes educational nurse.

Does the seizure frequency increase in Ramadan?

During Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, adult Muslims are required to refrain from taking any food, beverages, or oral drugs, as well as from sexual intercourse between dawn and sunset. In this study, we aimed at discovering alterations in drug regimens and the seizure frequency of epileptic patients during Ramadan (15 October 2004-13 November 2004). In the 3 months following Ramadan in the year 2004, 114 patients with epilepsy who were fasting during Ramadan were examined at our Epilepsy Department. Of the 114 patients who were included in the study, 38 patients had seizures and one of these patients developed status epilepticus during Ramadan. When the seizure frequency of these patients during Ramadan was compared to that in the last 1 year and last 3 months period just prior to Ramadan, a statistically significant increase was observed (p<0.001). Moreover, there was an important increase in the risk of having seizures in the patients who changed their drug regimens compared with those who did not (p<0.05). In the patients who received monotherapy or polytherapy, no difference in the frequency of seizures during Ramadan was seen (p>0.05). During Ramadan, an increase in the seizure frequency of patients with epilepsy was observed. The most important reason for this situation was the alteration in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs, and consequently, in their efficacy. We believe that in the patients who received monotherapy and who did not change their drug regimes, the increase in seizure frequency may have been related to the changes in their daily rhythms, emotional stress, tiredness and their day-long fasting.

World Conference on the International Islamic Calendar

The University of Science Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, and the Organizationof Islamic Confetence’s Standing Committee on Scientific and TechnologicalCooperation (COMSTECH), tecently otganized and hosted the WorldConference on the Intemational Islamic Calendar. The theme, “Towads aUnified World Islamic Calendar,” was discussed during eight sessions by aninternational audience consisting of about two hundred dignitaries, ulama,policymakers, scientists, and professionals from twenty-five countries and tenmajor international organizations. It was also genemusly sponsored by fifteenother agencies, including the Intemational Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).The conference was opened by Tun Dato’ Sen Haji Hamdan SheikhTahit, head of the State of Penang. This matked the initiation of the systematicimplementation process for the intemational Islamic calendar. Dato’Haji Musa Mohammad, vice Chancellor of the University of Science Malaysiaand conference chainnan, thanked the planners in his welcoming address. Hewas followed by M. A. Kazi and Ambassador M. Mohsin, who addressed theconfetence on behalf of COMSTECH and OIC respectively. Kazi stressed theimportance of developing a uniform and systematic intemtional Islamic lunarcalendar through continued and detailed study by those qualified to do so.Ambassador Mohsin pointed out the need to unify the existing calendars inthe Muslim world. The OIC, he said, is in the process of making this aregular priority item in its agenda and is ready to give its full support.The keynote addtess, “Internationalizing the Islamic Calendar: The Challengeof a New Centuty,” was delivered by Mohammad Ilyas. He highlightedsome of the work that had gone into developing the calendar program, explainedwhat progress has been made on predicting the new moon’s visibility,and related how this can be used for an international Islamic calendar. Healso focused on the interrelation of science, the Shari‘ah, and policy and itsimplication for the question of implementation.The conference also heard reports from members in Australia, Nigeria,Tanzania, the United States, Egypt, Itan, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia,Turkey, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, ...

The Islamic Lunar Calendar as a Civilizational Imperative

It is He Who made the sun a radiance, and the moon a light, anddetermined it by stations, that you might know the number of theyears and the reckoning (of time) ... (Qur'an 10:5).Every community possesses a personality and certain traits that distinguishit from others. The ummah of Islam was blessed by Allah MostHigh with a distinctive personality so that it could serve as a communityof the median way (wasatiyah) and as a witness (shahadah): "Thus Weappointed you a mid-most nation, so that you might be witnesses over allmankind" (2:143).In view of the important civilizational role to be played by the Muslimummah, Allah created the elements in its personality with great carein order to ensure that the expected results would come to fruition andthat the ummah would become the best community ever brought forth:"You are the best nation ever brought forth to mankind" (3:110).Among the constituent elements of the ummah's cultural and civilizattionalidentity is its perspective on time, be it past, present, or future, andhow it is to be measured. The past consists of history, from which lessonsare to be learned. The present is the current reality, every moment of whichis to be used to the best advantage or invested. The future is that which isanticipated and planned for so that it may become more resplendent.The communities that went before Islam both understood and calculatedtime in order to achieve their goals and build their civilizations. Todiffering degrees, all of them were successful in their endeavor to markthe passage of time. However, every system they devised suffered fromcalendars featuring ten months in a year, others with widely varying numbersof days in a month, calendars that began in the spring while others ...