All ready for Ramadan.

Byline: JEFF WRIGHT The Register-Guard

FOR SOMEONE getting ready to fast for the next several weeks, Dore Zarlons would seem to have the wrong job: He helps prepare meals at a University of Oregon dormitory complex.

But Zarlons, a Muslim from Indonesia, says abstaining from food isn't the hardest part about Ramadan, a monthlong fast observed by more than a billion Muslims around the world. During Ramadan, believers also are supposed to abstain from negative thinking.

"That's a bigger challenge," he says. "It's tough, because you're hungry and thirsty and you're not supposed to have any negative thoughts in your mind."

World events - the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the U.S. response - have added a special resonance to this year's Ramadan, Zarlons says.

"We believe it's the month of peace," he says. "I consider myself very lucky because not everyone can enjoy Ramadan this year."

To nonbelievers, Ramadan may seem more an ordeal than a festival. After all, where's the fun in eschewing food and drink between dawn and sunset every day for a month?

But Zarlons and other Muslims, including his American-born wife, Alycia Fahr-Zarlons, say they eagerly await a holiday that's as much about celebration and community as it is about doing without.

Because it's tied to Islam's lunar calendar, Ramadan is a "floating" holiday that arrives at different times each year. It begins with the sighting of a new crescent moon - expected tonight this year.

Zarlons, 33, is among an estimated 15,000 Muslims in Oregon, including about 500 in Lane County, preparing for Ramadan. The local Muslim community is an eclectic mix that includes foreign nationals, university students and American converts.

Zarlons grew up in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a nation of islands with the world's largest Muslim population. While he has fond memories of Ramadan as a child, he says he's become more observant since moving to this country in 1990.

The reasons, he says, include a greater ability to research his faith freely. "Here I can get more information and less bias," he says.

But it's definitely different to celebrate Ramadan in a country where Muslims are a minority, he says. In Indonesia, which he visited during Ramadan last year, everyone fasts and prays together. Here, most people have no idea you're fasting - or why.

"They ask, `Why are you doing that? Why are you torturing yourself?' '

But it's self-discipline, not torture, that fasting fosters - a self-discipline that teaches patience, introspection and compassion for the poor and hungry. "It gives you stronger motivation, more honesty," he says. "It's a reminder to respect more of each other."

Zarlons and his wife, who met as students at the UO, say there are also advantages to celebrating Ramadan in a non-Muslim nation. For one thing, there's a remarkable diversity when Muslims gather at night to break the day's fast with a hearty meal.

"Here in Eugene at one Ramadan gathering we'll have maybe 15 nationalities represented," says Fahr-Zarlons, who converted to Islam five years ago.

Fahr-Zarlons, who still observes Christmas with her parents in Grants Pass, says Ramadan is like other religions' major holidays in terms of all the planning: cleaning the house, preparing meals, hosting guests, exchanging greeting cards. There's also the added bond, she says, of fasting together - and talking about it.

"Other holidays are gone in a week or a day," she says. "But with Ramadan lasting a whole month, it's amazing how the community comes together."

Elham Elebiary, a native of Egypt who moved to Eugene seven years ago, says that sense of extended family is especially important to her now that her two children are at college.

Elebiary says she savors the memory of taking her children to Egypt in December 1999 to experience Ramadan amid a millennium celebration at the Pyramids. But Ramadan, she says, transcends place.

"We follow the religion wherever we go; it's in the heart, you know," she says. "I'm an American citizen, I work here, I live here. I'm an American Muslim."

Gayle Rankin of Eugene, a retired city employee, converted 15 years ago after learning about Islam from international student boarders. In light of current world events, she says she's grateful for her faith and a holiday that gives her precious time to reflect and pray.

"Sometimes I just long for this month when I get my perspective fully back," she says. "I think of Afghanistan, where people's daily lives are just havoc, and realize we are so very fortunate in this country."

Rankin admits to mixed feelings about the United States continuing its war on terrorism during Ramadan. She says she wants to keep suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden "on the run if he's there," but believes it's more important to give Afghanistan's Muslim citizens a reprieve during their most important religious holiday.

Some Muslims in this country, especially those of Arabic-looking descent, have suffered violence or abuse in a backlash of hate stirred by the terrorist attacks. But Rankin, Elebiary and the Zarlonses say they haven't been among them.

"Quite the opposite," says Rankin, who has received calls and letters of support from around the world. Elebiary, the head pharmacist at a Eugene Kmart, says she's experienced no harassment - only calls from customers concerned about her welfare.

Dore Zarlons says he's not worried about celebrating Ramadan in his adopted city and state.

"I think America has big respect for others, so I have no fear to show who I am," he says. "I am here in Eugene, and it's good for me. I can set up a bridge between cultures and educate people."

RAMADAN

What is it? Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islamic faith. It commemorates the time when Muslims believe the angel Gabriel first recited the Quran to the prophet Muhammad.

When is it? The ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar year. It arrives at different times throughout the 365-day Gregorian year. It begins with the sighting of the crescent moon. Ramadan this year is expected to begin tonight.

Why fasting? Muslims abstain from food, drink and sexual relations between dawn and sunset during Ramadan. They also try to abstain from negative thinking. Fasting teaches self-control, introspection and compassion for the poor.

How is it celebrated? Muslims will break the fast together by sharing meals in the evening, followed by special long prayers. Homes are decorated, children receive gifts, friends visit. Many Muslims will read the entire Quran during Ramadan.

How does it end? Ramadan ends when the next new moon is visible to the naked eye. Muslims deliver food to the needy, gather at the mosque for morning prayer, then enjoy a three-day feast known as "Eid," which means "joy."

CAPTION(S):

BRIAN DAVIES / The Register-Guard Dore Zarlons and wife Alycia Fahr-Zarlons plan to read the entire Quran together during Ramadan. BRIAN DAVIES / The Register-Guard Dore Zarlons and his wife, Alycia Fahr-Zarlons, who converted to Islam five years ago, pray together in their Springfield living room.