Muslims in Southern California and around the...

Muslims in Southern California and around the world will begin the monthlong fasting period of Ramadan on Friday, ceremoniously beginning with the sighting of the slim crescent of the moon.

Ramadan commemorates the tradition that the Prophet Mohammed received the revelations of the Koran in 611. The custom of daytime fasting on the ninth month of the Muslim calendar was initiated by Mohammed and his followers in 624.

From dawn to dusk each day during Ramadan, faithful and physically able Muslims are expected to abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex.

Each evening meal is a celebration, and mosque attendance grows during this month, said Muzammil H. Siddiqi, the spiritual director of the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove. “Ramadan seems to bind together both immigrant Muslims and native Americans who accepted Islam during the last 25 to 30 years,” he said.

Siddiqi, who has a Harvard Ph.D. in comparative religion, will talk about the virtually unanimous Muslim objections to “The Satanic Verses,” the controversial novel by Salman Rushdie, in a public lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UC Riverside. The talk, in the Watkins building on the campus, is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Assn. of Riverside and the university’s Program in Religious Studies.

RESOLUTION

The Southern California Board of Rabbis recently recommended that “unfermented grape juice is made available” in any sacred or social event, public or private, at all synagogues and that the juice be placed in an easily accessible location. The resolution was proposed by Rabbi Allen Freehling of University Synagogue, who said the step would “acknowledge that we have a number of recovering alcoholics and that children should not be encouraged to abuse intoxicating drinks.” After a year with a similar policy at his Brentwood synagogue, Freehling said “at least half of the people” prefer the grape juice.

PEOPLE

The prolific work of John Hick, 67, professor of the philosophy of religion at Claremont Graduate School, will be discussed by British and American scholars in a two-day conference starting Friday morning at Claremont McKenna College. Hick’s 20th book, “An Interpretation of Religion,” was just published by Yale University Press. His liberal theological views were the center of contention a few years ago when he asked to transfer his ministerial credentials to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from the United Reformed Church in England. Hick eventually withdrew his request.

ACTION

In a joint letter, regional leaders of 13 Christian and Jewish denominations “strongly urge” Gov. Deukmejian to sign a bill to curtail sales of automatic weapons if one of several proposals is passed by the State Legislature. The governor has that indicated he will sign a measure to control sales of automatic rifles that have no sporting value. “We believe that prohibiting the sale and use of particularly deadly weapons such as automatic rifles would lessen public danger,” said the letter, dated Tuesday and written on the stationery of United Methodist Bishop Jack M. Tuell. Other signers included Catholic Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, Episcopal Bishop Frederick Borsch, Lutheran Bishop J. Roger Anderson and Armenian Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian.