Ramadan: A month of reflection

“You are crazy! You don’t eat and drink all day long for the whole month?!” This is normally the response I get, before I get chance to explain the meaning behind the fasting in the month of Ramadan. Although most Americans now know that their Muslim friends and neighbors fast from dawn to sunset in the month of Ramadan, yet many still don’t know that fasting is just one aspect of Ramadan.

God says in the Qur’an (2:183), “O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint.”

Fasting has always been an important part of religious life. Every faith has it in some form or the other. For Muslims, fasting in the month of Ramadan is obligatory. Every able Muslim who has attained puberty should fast, with exception being granted for the mentally and physically ill, the pregnant and nursing mothers, and for travelers. The goal during this month is to attain self-restraint and to achieve God-consciousness in every aspect of life.

Fasting is a personal and intimate act of devotion. During the fast, an individual can quietly eat or drink and no one would know about it. Except, of course, God, who knows all actions and intentions. This is precisely the God consciousness that fasting is supposed to bring in all spheres of life.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Because of the lunar calendar, Ramadan falls in different seasons, as it moves up about 11 days every solar year. This year it started on the 1st August. Fasting in the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. The other four being belief in one God, performing the five daily prayers, obligatory charity, and pilgrimage to Mecca once in a life-time (if physically and financially able to do so).

Ramadan is comprised of three ingredients: fasting, prayers, and charity. Fasting teaches self-restraint, prayers bring the devotee closer to God, and charity expresses thanks to God for His bounties. In this month, one performs extra acts of worship toward God, and acts of charity including service toward His creations. Upon breaking the fast, the night is spent in acts of devotion and necessary sleep, not feasting and partying.

By fasting (not eating by choice) in this month, Muslims are reminded that although they might live in material luxury, there are millions of fellow human beings who cannot afford a meal everyday.

In addition, fasting is not a mere abstention from food, drink, and sex. It also entails an abstention from seeing or hearing evil, speaking ill or gossiping or back-biting, or doing any act that is contrary to God’s pleasure and command. By suppressing animalistic instincts, the devotee is able to focus on nourishing the soul.

The end of Ramadan, Eid- ul-Fitr, is celebrated by a day of feasting, socializing, kindness to all and especially to children and elders, and acts of both obligatory and voluntary charity.