Ramadan Mubarak 2020

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Sitting in the shade of Tripoli’s Mansouri Great Mosque, Issam Jadeed, an unemployed dessert maker, scowled at passersby asking if they could go inside.
His answer, like so much else these days, involved the global coronavirus outbreak.

“It’s closed. Imagine! It’s almost Ramadan and we can’t go to pray because of this corona,” he said, referring to COVID-19 as if he were talking about a frustrating family member. “But it’s wrong to do this. This is the House of Allah. Inside, we would be aamen, secure.”

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is set to start later this week.

During Ramadan, Muslims around the world fast for a full lunar month.

The fasting begins at the Fajr prayer just before dawn and is broken at sunset.

Last year, the minimum duration of the fast was 11 hours but went up to 20 hours, depending on the location. And this year, similar durations will be seen.

Because the sun rises and sets a little earlier (or a little later) each day, fasting hours in Ramadan also change...