REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TAIPEI -- Taipei's Grand Mosque on Monday, the first day of the Islamic festival Ramadan, expressed hope that employers or company executives will make it easier for their Muslim workers to successfully observe the festival's month-long fasting and other worshiping rituals.

Taipei Grand Mosque Chairman Feng Tung-yu quoted Imam Ibrahim Chao as saying the 2016 Ramadan should run from June 6 to July 6 or July 7, when Muslims around the world will celebrate breaking of fast or Eid al-Fitr for the Muslim Calendar Year of 1437.

During Ramadan, Muslims are required to refrain from taking food from dawn to dusk -- around 3:30 a.m. to around 6:30 p.m. -- daily until Eid al-Fitr.

Feng called on families or companies hiring Muslim workers to help them observe the festival, focus on prayer and scripture reading, and then attend Eid al-Fitr activities.

There are some 53,000 Taiwanese nationals who call themselves Muslims. A majority of Indonesian factory workers and domestic helpers -- numbering 254,000 as of mid-2015 -- are also Muslims.

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