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.
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.
How do you feel one should go about taking the good habits they learned during the month and applying them afterwards? (ex: reading Quran, praying sunnah etc).
ReplyDeleteStart slow. It gives you the motivation to increase your load and turn these good deeds into good habits. If you want to pray more sunnah start slow. Say to yourself: "I'll make sure to pray two rakah before fajr everyday." and just do that. Do that consistently for a period of time until you pretty much believe that fajr is four rakahs. Then slowly increase, add dhuhur to the mix.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with many Ramadan goals are that they're too lofty and people get discouraged when they can't meet them. People want to read the Quran twice in a month and get discouraged when they find out they can't do it just yet. Start slo and build yourself up. It's just like an exercise regimen, you don't start bench pressing 225 (well most people don't anyways) you start with 115, 95 or even just the bar. Developing and changing habits is a long term process, so smaller goals help you be more consistent and serve to motivate you to increase them.