Muslimah Writers Alliance Announces its 3rd Annual Adopt a Ramadan Buddy Campaign - with a Twist!

If you think fasting for a whole month is easy, guess again! Fasting can be challenging, but maintaining a commitment to quit smoking is a monumental challenge! Ramadan buddies are there to support and encourage one another.

July 19, 2012 (MWA) In announcing its third annual Adopt a Ramadan Buddy campaign, Muslimah Writers Alliance (MWA) throws in a twist this year with the addition of a promotion encouraging Muslims participating in the annual month-long religious tradition of fasting, to also quit smoking cigarettes.

It is common knowledge that in addition to being addictive, chemicals (carcinogens) found in cigarette smoke have been proven to cause cancer. Moreover, it has also been proven that secondhand smoke (SHS) - smoke that comes from the end of a lit cigarette or is exhaled by a smoker - also causes cancer.

So this Ramadan, for your health and the health of loved ones, friends and colleagues, don't the opportunity pass to make this Ramadan different and more rewarding from Ramadan's past. Commit to quit smoking.

And to help you through Ramadan and in fulfilling your commitment to quit smoking, Muslimah Writers Alliance urges you to join its annual 'Adopt A Ramadan Buddy' campaign.

What is a Ramadan Buddy?

A Ramadan buddy is your Muslim brother or sister living alone; the sick person who can't get out or that you haven't seen at the masjid in a while. The brother or sister with no transportation; the one suffering from a personal tragedy or grieving the loss of a family member. The sister or brother down on their luck due to the loss of a home or job. Yes, even the new Muslim brother or sister that you heard made their Shahada (profession of faith) recently.

And in 2012, a Ramadan Buddy can be your Muslim brother or sister also trying to keep their commitment to quit smoking!

What does a Ramadan Buddy do?

Ramadan Buddies make it a practice throughout the month of fasting to maintain contact with one another at least two or three days each week.

If you think fasting for a whole month is easy, guess again! Fasting can be challenging, but maintaining a commitment to quit smoking is a monumental challenge! Ramadan buddies are there to support and encourage one another.

Connect with a family member, friend, co-worker, or classmate, and make a pact to support one another throughout Ramadan in meeting the challenges of fasting, not smoking and any other goal you may decide to commit to in Ramadan; including reading the Quran cover-to-cover and making efforts to increase your good deeds and grow in patience.

If you feel weak in imaan (faith) or fearful of breaking your fast before the time of iftar (sunset), make du'a (a prayer), pick up the phone and call your Ramadan Buddy! Feel like smoking that cigarette as soon as you hear the adhan for Maghrib (ending of the fast)? Call your Ramadan Buddy! Want to increase the reward for your Quran reading and memorization? Do it with a Ramadan Buddy!

"Ramadan is characterized not only by the obligation on every Muslim to abstain from specific things during the fasting hours between sunrise and sunset such as, personal relations with one's spouse, backbiting, gossiping, fighting, using bad language, etc., but also by the weight of blessings attached to every good deed or act of charity performed in the month of Ramadan," stated MWA Director, Aishah Schwartz.

Don't let the opportunity pass to make this Ramadan different and more rewarding from Ramadan's past. Adopt a Ramadan Buddy.

What have you got to lose?

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Established in 2006, MWA is an internationally-based collaboration of Muslim women writers and advocates working together to counter negative and inaccurate perceptions regarding members of the Muslim community and the Islamic faith.