article: The end of the month of fasting is marked by Eid al-Fitr, which means the "festival of the breaking of the fast", which continues over several days. The first day of Eid starts in the UK this Friday, beginning with morning prayers, followed by feasting and celebrations with family and friends. Ramadan is also a time for charitable deeds, which for some Muslims in the US this year has meant helping raise funds to rebuild black churches in the American South that have been devastated by fire. Imam Zaid Shakir, an Islamic scholar at California's Zaytuna College, explained why on one of the fundraising pages. He wrote that the US Muslim community understood "the climate of racially inspired hate and bigotry that is being reignited in this country. "We want to let our African American brothers and sisters know that we stand in solidarity with them during this dark hour." However, that sense of some communities dividing increasingly along ethnic or religious lines is one that has also been felt in parts of Europe and the UK, not least as the self-styled Islamic State (IS) and other extreme Islamist groups continue to dominate the headlines, exacerbating concerns among non-Muslims over what Islam means for some of its younger followers today. Some Islamic clerics around the world have used Ramadan as a chance to reflect publicly on how to reform the religious discourse within Islam to keep up with the challenges of 21st Century life, and to oppose extremism. In Egypt and elsewhere, some Islamic scholars have discussed ways to renew the interpretation of the Koran, while in the United Arab Emirates, a popular American scholar of Islam warned that renewal was needed within Islam. Others stressed the necessity for a greater emphasis on tolerance of difference, mercy and mutual respect. Those efforts to discuss religious reform to a faith followed by around 1.6 billion people, or a quarter of the world's population, are aimed in part at ensuring that extreme interpretations of Islamic tradition do not gain a greater following. Militant violence has escalated in the Middle East and elsewhere with the spread of IS. Slick online propaganda appeals to some Muslims in Europe - and to rather more young people in countries such as Tunisia or Saudi Arabia - some of whom are attracted to its austere interpretation and claim to be the "real" Islam. In January, the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi called for a revolution in Islam, saying that outdated interpretations had made the Muslim world a source of destruction. However, others do not want a revolution within Islam but reinterpretations, or gentler reforms. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, American scholar Sheikh Hamza Yusuf urged a return to the core tenet of mercy in Islam, describing the religion as a house that had been neglected and was in need of renovation. "The water taps aren't working, the plumbing's not working. The house is in disarray," he told the Associated Press. "You don't destroy it, you don't set it aside. You renovate it." He said Muslims should not oppose even strong reforms,
summary: During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Muslims reflect on their faith as they conduct their daily fast from dawn until dusk in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which marks the anniversary of the revelation of the Islamic holy book, the Koran.