"The calendar has drummed up support of second and third generations for the union," said Breze.

PARIS — For French Muslims, the Ramadan calendar is not just a means to mark the start of the holy fasting month, but a way to advertise products and drum up support for Muslim bodies and organizations.

"The Ramadan calendars are very helpful in highlighting activities of the Union of the French Islamic Organizations (UOIF)," UOIF chairman Lhaj Thami Breze told IslamOnline.net Monday, September 18.

"The calendar has drummed up support of second and third generations for the union," he added.

Nearly 200,000 Ramadan calendars are distributed every year by the UOIF across the country.

"The calendar has a special importance for Muslims in remote areas and the countryside as they are totally dependent on the calendar to identifying the time of Iftar and fasting," Breze said.

Other Muslim groups use the Ramadan calendars to market their businesses.

The Turkish Milli Gurus organization prepared this year calendars printed with pictures of the Makkah and Madina with the names of some Turkish businesses written on them.

Other businesses from electronic houses to hairdressing salons are following suit.

The Islamic Crescent Observation Project (ICOP) has said that the first day of the holy fasting month will astronomically fall on September 24.

France is home to some 5-6 million Muslims, making up the biggest Muslim minority in Europe.

Identity

"The Ramadan calendar has a symbolic importance for Muslims in France and the whole West," said Kachat.

The Ramadan calendars also fill French Muslims with nostalgia.

"The Ramadan calendar has a symbolic importance for Muslims in France and the whole West," Al-Arabi Kachat, the rector of Al-Da`wa mosque in Paris, told IOL.

"The Ramdan calendar is not all about time, but is a way of expressing Muslim cultural identity and stands as a good tradition that has been passed on from one generation to another," he added.

Calendars have been printed in different languages are being distributed to mosques, shops and Muslims in the predominantly Muslim areas.

In Paris's Strasbourg Saint Denis street, Ramadan calendars printed in Urdu, Turkish and Arabic languages are handed out among Pakistani, Turks and Moroccan immigrants.

"The calendar, as well as the Qur'an, is always in my pocket," said Yeldez, of a Turkish origin.

"Whenever I see the Ramadan calendar at any shop, I breathe the breeze of the holy month in the air," he added.