11 Ramadan 1430

Several commenters have given links to Islamic website explaining the 'true' meaning of Ramadan. This, however, is like checking out the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury to see how the English really celebrate Christmas. One would certainly get a normative view, but not a descriptive view. In addition, at least in Christianity, there are websites for the Anglicans, the Calvinists, the Vatican, the Southern Baptists and many other sects, so it's very difficult to tell from any one website how Christians really celebrate Christmas, and I rather suspect the same is true for Islamic websites.

Readers who are interested will find the addresses of the Islamic websites in the comments. Dubai@Random is about what he's seen of how the people in Dubai actually celebrate Ramadan while wandering around at random.

Ramadan emphasises two of the five pillars of Islam: fasting and charity. Muslims, after fasting all day, are supposed to think of those to whom they should be giving their charity for the year, and about distributing that charity.

Farook gives iftar meals to the poor, and this is one acceptable way to distribute charity. Other Muslims give their charity in other ways. But during Ramadan, every Muslim I've met tries to get closer to perfect submission to God.