In the post nine/11 world there is a need for Islam to be explained to young children.  Publishers are responding by coming out with books about the religion.  Ramadan, by Suhaib Hamid Ghazi, which was published five years before the tragic event serves as a good introduction to the basics of Islam, though its main purpose is to dwell on the celebration and the significance of the festival.  It is a picture book that can resonate with Muslim children as well as educate non-Muslim children.  Ghazi has previously written three books forming part of The Prophets of Allah series.

The narrative proceeds in a straightforward manner that informs at a suitable and uncluttered pace for children.  The text starts with a greeting of peace to the reader, accompanied by the picture of Hakeem, a brown child with a raised welcoming hand.  The black-haired, black-eyed child stands in front of a house that could be American   Indeed, though the author doesn’t tell us where the boy lives, there are enough pictorial and factual clues for the adult reader to guess that he could be in America.  Younger readers might get confused about where he resides when they look at the beautiful pictures in the book that sometimes evoke an enchanting setting, sometimes a modern place, and sometimes a traditional place of worship.  Yet without the pictures, which are otherwise enlightening and enticing, the text wouldn’t come to life.

Without glorifying Islam, he establishes its importance by revealing its antiquity and that there are at least a billion Muslims around the world.  Ghazi explains that Islam follows the lunar calendar and then tells us briefly how they establish a new month.  Hakeem and his family wait on a hilltop on the last night of the eighth month to see the slender slice of crescent that marks the beginning of the most special month.

Ramadan is celebrated worldwide   Ghazi explains the concept of fasting during the festival.  Hakeem and his family, like other Muslims, don’t eat from sunrise to sunset every day for a whole month.  The strictness of the fast is emphasized when the writer tells us that even chewing gum and cigarettes aren’t allowed.  He also talks about Suhur (the early meal), Fajr (the morning prayer), Iftar (the meal that breaks the fast), Maghrib (the evening prayer), and the Taraweeh (night-time prayers) in a way that is easy to understand, all the while showing how these relate to Hakeem.  He briefly dwells on the scene inside a mosque during Ramadan. 

Ghazi brings out the other purifying aspects of the ninth month.  Not only do Muslims try to keep their bodies clean during that month, but they do the same with their minds.  They engage much of their time in praying and reading the Holy Quran.  It is a time for loving and forgiving and realizing how the poor suffer from hunger pangs. 

Omar Rayyan, the illustrator, has created Islamic style borders and panels that give a sumptuous touch to the book.  Many of his pictures invite scrutiny because of the air of mystery around them or because of their imaginative interpretation of the text.  The jacket cover shows us a mosque in a remote location bathed in a greenish tint to promote an aura of otherworldliness.  The picture of the different phases of the moon to illustrate the concept of the lunar calendar is intriguingly done.  Another picture showing a cave bathed in yellow light suggests the presence of Allah without depicting him, which would have been violating the Islamic rule against portraying His image.  The pictures of modern day life contrast with the more traditional depictions though both show their relevance to Islam.

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