What Ramadan & Fasting are All About

Many of us know that this is the month of Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims where they fast from dawn to sunset everyday. Recently I've come across some interesting comments on various internet sites, mostly non-Muslims having an incomplete idea of why Muslims like me fast, but also with other Muslims not correcting them. Without a correct understanding of everything that goes into Ramadan, fasting for a month probably won't make much sense to you. Before I begin let me preface this by saying I'm probably the furthest thing from an Islamic scholar, what I'm writing is what I've been taught and my understanding of Ramadan, if something I say is incorrect I encourage some to comment or email me so I can correct it.

Ramadan is celebrated as the month in which the Qur'an, the holy book of Muslims, was revealed. In it, Muslims are required to fast from sunset to sundown, abstaining from all food and drink. Health exceptions are made for people who can't and/or if fasting jeopardizes their health. These people have alternate ways of fulfilling this obligation. Before dawn hits, Muslims wake up to eat a pre-fast meal, called Suhoor. Some people just treat it like breakfast while others, like myself, treat it more like dinner and eat leftovers from last night. After suhoor we pray the morning prayer called Fajr, and most of us go to back to sleep. Then at sunset, the time for fasting has ended and we break our fast with dates or water if possible.

There are numerous health benefits to fasting which I'm not going to bother touching but I found a good summary here for anyone who's curious.

The obvious aspect to fasting is the abstinence from food and drink, things that are otherwise lawful for Muslims. Fasting however, is so much more than that. It a nutshell, it is learning to restrain ourselves from the lawful things in order to develop better self control and restrain ourselves from sins we commit. When we fast we make an extra effort to curb our bad habits. We all sin, no one is perfect, but fasting gives us the extra push we need to stop. In Islam, the reward for fasting is enormous, but is totally lost when we don't stop doing the other sins in our lives. We are taught that one who fasts but doesn't abstain from his sins such as cursing, gossiping and such has gained nothing from his fast but hunger and thirst. Additionally, the reward for someone who goes the month of Ramadan fasting and praying out of righteousness is that their sins will be "like when they were born." In other words their record will be wiped clean; it will be as if they never sinned.

The second aspect to both fasting and Ramadan is the increased desire to do good and increase one's faith. During Ramadan and while we're fasting, the good deeds we do are accounted for and multiplied by factor of 70, 700 or more. So we are encouraged to give more to charity and help others and not waste our fasting time just waiting for sunset to come. We are also encouraged to pray more, read more of the Quran and try to understand it more, increase our knowledge of Islam. The big incentive is that any reward we would get from doing these actions is multiplied tremendously. This, combined with the incentive to abstain from sinning, is a big part of what makes Ramadan so sacred to Muslims.

Before I continue I think I should clarify this reward system I'm talking about. We believe that a metaphorical ledger is kept of our actions. Both good and bad, to the point where not even an atom's weight of good or wrong is left unaccounted for. And one day we will be held accountable for what is in both books. When we do something good, be it give charity or hold a door open or pray it is written in our books as good. Likewise, when we do something wrong it is also written. Fasting gives us the opportunity to multiply the deeds in our good books and erase the deeds in our "bad" books. So when I say reward I pretty much mean good deeds being written in our ledger.

Another aspect emphasized during Ramadan and through fasting is charity. Before the month is over Muslims are required to pay a percentage of their wealth as charity. People who have a certain amount of wealth/possessions or less are exempt from this. Additionally, part of the spirit of fasting is realizing what people in poverty stricken areas around the world go through on a daily basis. Some of that spirit is lost with the lavish meals many Muslims have afterwards, but even then fasting serves to remind us that not only are there people who go through this every day, but many don't have the light at the end of the tunnel that is iftar (the breaking fast meal). They aren't guaranteed a healthy meal come 8:30, they can't waltz into their local mosque and get a nice meal, they aren't even guaranteed any food or even clean water! This humbling reminder serves to encourage us to give a little more than we otherwise would to the poor/homeless/hungry.

The final thing I want to touch on is that Ramadan gives everyone a chance to start over. I have the privilege of living two minutes away from my masjid and I happen to go a couple of times a week. At any other time of the year there may be 2 or 3 lines of people praying the night prayer called Ishaa. During Ramadan, the masjid overflows with people to the point that there isn't anymore room for cars to park on site and people are praying in the hallways. Many of these people don't go to the masjid otherwise, be it for whatever reason. Yet, during Ramadan all these people come out to try and better themselves a little bit and do things that they wouldn't under normal circumstances. The person who doesn't pray prays,. The person who doesn't read Quran reads. The person who rarely gives charity gives. The person who curses stops. The person who gossips stops. Ramadan gives everyone the motivation and the environment to try to and start fresh, and give them a taste of the sweetness of worship and try to finally put a stop to the bad habits they/we/I 've been doing for many years.

In summary, the ultimate goal for Muslims during Ramadan is to reap the benefits of the month: the increased rewards for good and increased mercy for our sins and to come out of the month a better Muslim than when it started. It can be something as small as not dropping the f-bomb anymore or something as large as making sure they pray every prayer, every day. There is no limit on how much one can improve or a restriction on who can improve. This is the month to assess how one's lived throughout the year and how they can become better people and better Muslims. 

A Reflection on 4 Years of MIST

My friends and I are huddled in a group of seats in the Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit, Michigan. My head was down as I heard them announce the third place award for debate. I couldn't make out a name amidst all the cheering but I didn't really care who got third. I was dying to hear the second place award, praying my name wouldn't be called. I had already won a first place trophy today, for extemporaneous speech, but the last time I won that award I lost debate, and I wasn't looking for a repeat of last year. The announcer calmly announced that second place was "from New York..." and, to be honest, I never heard the rest of it,as the entire section around me starting cheering and I walked up knowing that I had won my final Mist debate tournament.

Throughout my four years of regional and national tournaments I've had a roller coaster experience with winning. Before my first competition in 2010 my coach told me "a white guy always wins debate, goodluck" and left. I walked in unprepared for some of the topics and to top it all off my first debate ended with the judge telling me that I completely skipped the cross examination portion of the debate. Despite this I somehow managed to reach the final round and, with a lot of help from an experienced lawyer, managed to take home 1st place. The sweet taste of victory was short lived however, as my next two tournaments both ended in the semi-finals rounds. I took 3rd in Nationals 2010, and a dismal 4th in the following year's regional tournament. Then I picked it up in what was probably the best tournament I've competed in, and won 1st Place at Mist Nationals in Atlanta. The following year I redeemed myself and reclaimed first place at  Regionals (2012) only to lose in the final round of the national tournament. Every year something went wrong, either in Regionals or Nationals, but finally, it all came together this year and I ended my time as a competitor by winning both Regionals and Nationals. I've also dabbled in some another competitions such as extemp. speaking (2 consecutive first place nationals finishes), improv, short film and community service but debate has always been my forte. So is this my reflection? The master debater completes his legacy in Detroit and then lavishes to the interwebs about it? No, this part was just to make me feel good and to give a little background to the level of competition at Mist.

In these competitions I've seen so many different people doing so many different things. Some were masters of quranic recitation and memorization, others were extremely retentive readers, some poets here, spoken word and nasheed artists there, some athletic basketball players who on the side are experts of tafseer, some artists who can draw and paint to the point you forget you're looking at a drawing...I could go on endlessly. The thing I'm trying to get at is that everyone has something. Did I win debate because I practiced day-in and day-out? I'd like to say that I worked hard and diligently prepared with the work ethic of a champion but I didn't. I was lazy and researched my topics always at the last minute and never did anything to hone my skills outside of the competition. Despite this I still managed to win, because I'm great? No. Because I have a God-given talent. I can speak, I can think logically and quickly (most of the time) and I can articulate the thoughts in my head. I didn't "earn" this, I just got it, it's nothing to be proud of.

 Everyone has something, that kid who can't catch a football and holds a baseball bat the wrong way is the smartest kid in the classroom. The kid who fails his science classes in school is an amazing artist. The kid who's failing his structured business class has the street smarts to out-earn Bill Gates. The thing I learned from Mist is that everyone has some talent. Just because your trophy case sits in your room, empty and collecting dust because you never won a debate tournament doesn't mean you're a bad debater. (You know who you are. #Shots) The talent we have isn't what makes us great. It's not even honing that talent that makes us great. It's how we use it that defines who we are and defines our legacy. Sounds a bit extreme for some high school kids but that's just it, we're high school kids. The fact is most of us haven't had the chance to actually do anything significant yet, winning a competition is nothing. Going out and using my speaking talents to change the world for the better, making someone's life better be it through giving a speech, or convincing a judge that the Patriot Act is unconstitutional is an actual accomplishment. It sounds a bit extreme and very idealistic or what have you, but using your talents for 'good' doesn't have to mean changing the world. You see a sad child on the street and draw him a small picture and make his day, doesn't sound like much but you're literally making the world a happier place by doing so.

In short, through all the fun, excitement, sadness, joy, camaraderie, brotherhood, sisterhood, work, sleeplessness, chanting and intermingling (just kidding of course) I've set some pretty lofty expectations to the all my fellow seniors who's last Mist was two days ago: "Step up and stay humble". You have talents, you are all blessed in many ways, shapes and forms; use your talents to make your life better, to make the people around you better, to make the image of Islam and Muslims around the world better. And at the same time remember where your gift came from, self-confidence is great, arrogance is not. To all competitors who still have more Mists ahead, work hard and enjoy them! It's up to you guys to carry the team now, New York should have nothing to smile about next year!

I also just wanted to acknowledge all the organizers and coaches at D.C. Mist for all the hard work they've put into organizing both the regional tournament and all the logistics for the tournament. Special shout outs to my boy Ehson Kashfipour for getting team D.C. three gorgeous Maryland motor coaches, to ex-Regional Director Adam Kareem for helping elevate D.C. Mist to what it is today, to current Regional Director Tara Mohammed for carrying the torch without missing a beat finally to ER's fantastic coach and D.C. Coach of the year Rashad Mulla for being the most supportive, helpful and chill coach there is. Thank you coaches, thank you organizers, thank you competitors, it's been a fun ride.