Religion: Ramadan

. . Allah Akbar . . . God is great. . . . The Imam droned prayers, snatches from the Koran in Arabic, sitting cross-legged near his pulpit in a long green robe and a green fez (signifying that he has made the pilgrimage to Mecca). Squatting on prayer rugs and matting, his congregation droned with him, sometimes leaning forward, touching their Korans with their foreheads. For two hours one evening last week, these prayers sounded in a brick building in Brooklyn, only full-fledged Moslem mosque in the U. S. It was the eve of Ramadan, to Mohammedans the holiest and mostrigorous month in the year.

Ramadan begins with the first slivery appearance of a new moon (this year Nov. 5), ends with the next moon. During the days of Ramadan — a day begins the moment it is possible to distinguish a white thread from a black one by natural light — no good Moslem eats, drinks or has intercourse with women. Fanatic Moslems believe that their fast is broken if they swallow even their spittle, or let a trickle of water into their throats when cleaning their teeth. Especially holy are the last ten days of Ramadan, during which falls the “Night of Glory” (or “Power”) when God is believed to be releasing the greatest number of souls from Hell. Since it has never been revealed which particular night is the Night of Glory, Moslems must be strict in their religious observances on all ten nights. Because the faithful do their work by day, eat, drink and pray by night, they have little time for sleep and as Ramadan progresses become increasingly fretful.

Last week some 70 Moslems removed their shoes before climbing the stairs of their Brooklyn mosque, which until six years ago was a Tammany clubhouse, before that a Protestant church. Today the clean, shiny mosque looks like a Polish church, decorated in pink, yellow and blue, the Moslem star & crescent festooned with painted roses and daisies. This is natural since its swart, thick-accented Imam, Sam Rafilowich, son of an Imam in a Polish village, is a Polish Tartar, who arrived in the U. S. 29 years ago. Most of his habitual worshippers are also Tartars, descendants of Tamerlane’s hordes who entered Russia 600 years ago. But at the joyous feast which ends Ramadan Dec. 5, 300 Moslems — Arab, Syrian, Egyptian, Turkish, East Indian — are expected to gather in the mosque from all parts of the U. S.