Muslims, Jews and Christians worship the same God. They are all monotheistic Abrahamic faiths, meaning followers believe there is only one god and that Abraham is their patriarch.
Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, not the son of God, and that Muhammad, Islam's founder, was the last prophet and the direct word of God was revealed to him and eventually written down as the Qur'an.
Islam is roughly 1,400 years old and the secondlargest religion in the world, with an estimated 1.5 billion followers. Christianity has roughly 2.1 billion followers.
Ramadan is a monthlong period of strict abstention, when Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and sex from sun up to sun down. It's a time of spiritual reflection, selfdenial, and focus one's interior self, rather than exterior pleasures. During Ramadan, people can have a pre-dawn meal, called a suhoor. During daylight hours, even water is forbidden.
Once the sun goes down, the fast can be broken.
The five pillars of Islam are: declaring that there is one true God, Allah; praying five times a day; giving "zakat," which is alms for the poor; spiritual purification by fasting during Ramadan; and pilgrimage to Mecca, where Muslims circle the sacred building called Kaaba.
Muslims do not believe in today's Bible, because it has been altered and therefore does not reflect the original scriptures revealed by God, while the Qur'an, they maintain, has not been altered in centuries.
Muslims believe in revealed texts, angels, prophets, heaven and hell, rewards for good deeds, the coming of a judgment day, and divine predetermination.
Ramadan ends with Idal Fitr, a three-day celebration, where people dress up and visit friends and family.
