The Significance of Ramadan In Islam
Every year during Ramadaan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, abstaining from food, drink and marital relations. Fasting is compulsory on every capable mature Muslim. Children, the sick, the mentally unfit, the elderly, menstruating women, pregnant or breastfeeding women and travellers are exempt or have special concessions.
In any case, why would any sensible person voluntarily neglect his needs and desires, albeit for a limited time, unless there was something more desirable to be profited thereby? Fasting is no exception to this rationale, and here, it is their Creator’s pleasure and His reward that the devout hope to attain.
Ramadaan coincides with the revelation of Islam’s holy book, the Qur’aan, 1400 years ago. The Qur’aan itself asserts that it is the inimitable speech of God and it remains in its original Arabic language to this day, memorized by millions of Muslims. The Qur’aan’s theme, which it states to be the actual purpose of life, is tawheed — God’s unique oneness and His sole right to be worshipped and unconditionally obeyed. The scholar Ibn-ul-Qayyim noted that every part of this scripture is found to be talking either about tawheed and its opposite, associating partners with God or about the reward of true monotheists and the outcome of those who worshipped others besides God.
Fasting is a special worship which trains the believer to develop God-consciousness and exercise self-restraint. According to the Qur’anic narrative, no original sin is inherited by humans from which there is no hope of deliverance until someone else is made to suffer and atone for it. Rather, each person’s deeds are the result of his own God-given choices. Accordingly, salvation lies in one’s own responsibility to restrain the ego from vice as much as possible and in sincere repentance to the All-Merciful Creator for any lapses. In this regard, fasting has indeed been observed to have an amazing effect in protecting the heart, tongue and limbs from immorality and sin.
Fasting nurtures patience and serves as a spiritual purification. “Fasting is not merely abandoning food and drink,” said the Prophet, peace be upon him. “It is abandoning vain and indecent speech. Do not spoil your fast by abusing anyone. If anyone insults you, say: I am fasting. If you were standing, sit down.”
Fasting teaches empathy; when a person feels hunger for a while, he becomes sensitive towards the less fortunate who are in this situation more often.
Above all, fasting embodies the very foundation of Islam, tawheed. Without true realization of this central tenet, other aspects of Islam remain hazy at best. Fasting demands absolute sincerity; this is one worship where hypocrisy and showing-off cannot exist. As the scholar Ibn Rajab observed: When the ego’s craving for its desires becomes most intense in a place unobserved by human eyes, yet it foregoes them willingly for it’s Creator’s sake, what else does this demonstrate except proof of one’s faith and sincerity to God?
Every year during Ramadaan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, abstaining from food, drink and marital relations. Fasting is compulsory on every capable mature Muslim. Children, the sick, the mentally unfit, the elderly, menstruating women, pregnant or...
Every year during Ramadaan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, abstaining from food, drink and marital relations. Fasting is compulsory on every capable mature Muslim. Children, the sick, the mentally unfit, the elderly, menstruating women, pregnant or breastfeeding women and travellers are exempt or have special concessions.
In any case, why would any sensible person voluntarily neglect his needs and desires, albeit for a limited time, unless there was something more desirable to be profited thereby? Fasting is no exception to this rationale, and here, it is their Creator’s pleasure and His reward that the devout hope to attain.
Ramadaan coincides with the revelation of Islam’s holy book, the Qur’aan, 1400 years ago. The Qur’aan itself asserts that it is the inimitable speech of God and it remains in its original Arabic language to this day, memorized by millions of Muslims. The Qur’aan’s theme, which it states to be the actual purpose of life, is tawheed — God’s unique oneness and His sole right to be worshipped and unconditionally obeyed. The scholar Ibn-ul-Qayyim noted that every part of this scripture is found to be talking either about tawheed and its opposite, associating partners with God or about the reward of true monotheists and the outcome of those who worshipped others besides God.
Fasting is a special worship which trains the believer to develop God-consciousness and exercise self-restraint. According to the Qur’anic narrative, no original sin is inherited by humans from which there is no hope of deliverance until someone else is made to suffer and atone for it. Rather, each person’s deeds are the result of his own God-given choices. Accordingly, salvation lies in one’s own responsibility to restrain the ego from vice as much as possible and in sincere repentance to the All-Merciful Creator for any lapses. In this regard, fasting has indeed been observed to have an amazing effect in protecting the heart, tongue and limbs from immorality and sin.
Fasting nurtures patience and serves as a spiritual purification. “Fasting is not merely abandoning food and drink,” said the Prophet, peace be upon him. “It is abandoning vain and indecent speech. Do not spoil your fast by abusing anyone. If anyone insults you, say: I am fasting. If you were standing, sit down.”
Fasting teaches empathy; when a person feels hunger for a while, he becomes sensitive towards the less fortunate who are in this situation more often.
Above all, fasting embodies the very foundation of Islam, tawheed. Without true realization of this central tenet, other aspects of Islam remain hazy at best. Fasting demands absolute sincerity; this is one worship where hypocrisy and showing-off cannot exist. As the scholar Ibn Rajab observed: When the ego’s craving for its desires becomes most intense in a place unobserved by human eyes, yet it foregoes them willingly for it’s Creator’s sake, what else does this demonstrate except proof of one’s faith and sincerity to God?
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