Muslims making the Haj, pilgrimage, to Mecca.
The National Library of Israel has launched Ramadan Online, a new website that offers a range of special events and programming focused on Islamic culture and Ramadan-related content, in honor of the Muslim holy month celebrated through May 2nd this year by some two billion people globally.
Through May 2: Special online exhibitions, music playlists, quizzes, events, workshops, lectures and more focused on Islamic culture and Ramadan traditions; Initiative designed primarily for the local and global Arabic and Hebrew-speaking publics.
During Ramadan, devout Muslims fast from dawn to dusk every day. The Muslim calendar is a lunar one and so Ramadan always corresponds to the days of a month on the Hebrew calendar. This year it corresponds with the Hebrew month of Nissan and the upcoming holiday of Passover.
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But unlike the Jewish calendar, the Muslim one does not have leap years which is why Ramadan falls out earlier every year. And corresponds to an earlier Hebrew month after a Jewish leap year as this past year was.
The online platforms are offered in English, Arabic and Hebrew. They include a range of online lectures and workshops, exhibitions of rare and stunning manuscripts from the National Library of Israel’s leading Islam and Middle East Collection, special playlists featuring both traditional Ramadan tunes and contemporary hits from across the Arab world, quizzes, and games.
This is the third year that Jerusalem’s National Library of Israel has offered special online programming in honor of Ramadan. Initially launched shortly after the pandemic began, tens of thousands of visitors from across the globe have participated in the online events organized for Ramadan by the NLI since 2020. Total visits to the National Library of Israel’s website in Arabic doubled last year, surpassing two million for the first time, with visitors coming from across Israel, the Arab world and beyond.
The NLI’s Islam and Middle East Collection is one of the region’s leading collections of its kind, featuring over 150,000 Arabic volumes, and thousands of manuscripts and rare books in Arabic, Persian and Turkish dating from the ninth to the 20th centuries. According to Dr. Samuel Thrope, curator of the Islam and Middle East Collection at the National Library of Israel, “We look forward to continuing the National Library’s tradition of presenting engaging and enriching content online to local and global audiences in celebration of Ramadan.”
All of the ‘Ramadan Online’ programming is free and open to the global public.
About the National Library of Israel
Founded in Jerusalem in 1892, the National Library of Israel (NLI) serves as the dynamic collective memory of the Jewish people worldwide and Israelis of all backgrounds and faiths. While continuing to serve as Israel’s pre-eminent research library, NLI is now in the midst of an ambitious journey of renewal to encourage diverse audiences in Israel and around the globe to engage with its treasures in new and meaningful ways. This is taking place through a range of innovative educational, cultural and digital initiatives, as well as through a new landmark campus designed by Herzog and de Meuron, with Mann-Shinar serving as the Executive Architect.
