patna the holy month of ramzan during which muslims fast from dawn to dusk will begin from wednesday as april 13 was the end of the month of shaban ramzan is the ninth month in the islamic calendar and as per religious beliefs the holy quran was revealed to prophet muhammad during this monthimarateshariah the religious body which has jurisdiction in bihar jharkhand and odisha announced that the first roza fast of the month would be on wednesday clerics have appealed to the community to perform all rituals at home amid the rising cases of covid19 in biharthe general secretary of imarateshariah maulana shibli al quasami said the mosques would remain closed for the faithful only the imam one who leads prayers the muezzin who gives the call for prayers khadim and other staff would offer prayers at the mosques to fulfil the religious obligationsthe religious heads exhorted believers to respect the sanctity of the month of ramzan by engaging in prayers and extending a helping hand to the poormaulana mohd alam quasmi convenor of the tanzeem tehreek aiemma masajid an association of imams in bihar advised to perform five times namaz prayer and taraweeh a special prayer involve reading long portions of the holy book quran during night hours people can read the taraweeh at home by reciting the verses from chapter alfil elephant to chapter al nas mankind one has to read a total of 20 rakats but it is not compulsory offering namaz however is a compulsory religious obligation quasmi told this newspapermaulana shamimuddin munami head of the khanekah munamiya mitan ghat said during ramzan people need to adopt healthy practices to keep covid19 at bay people need to follow the governments guidelines and perform rituals with family members at home while maintaining social distancing he saidsoon after the announcement there was hectic activity in several markets of the city including sabzibagh phulwarisharif alamganj and shahganj and raja bazaar as people began preparations many were seen buying food and essential supplies to stock up for sehri meal at dawn to begin the fast and iftar evening meal which ends the fastpeople were seen queuing up for essential items like nan roti bakarkhanis fruits vegetables dates khajjur and other food itemsthis year the maximum duration of fasting will last for 14 hours as the fajr azan call for prayer will be at 413 am and maghrib azan to be at 613 pm the world health organization who has issued a health advisory for devotees asking them to drink 810 glasses of water and eat hydrating foods between iftar and sehri eat unsaturated fat and avoid processed food avoid foods that are high in salt and sugar cook your meals at home to improve the quality of your diet says a part of the guideline