Ramadan : A brief introduction

Aslmalkm,

Hope you all are in good health and peace of mind.
First of all once again Ramadan mubarek to all of you as it started 11th of this month according to gregorian calendar and going to finish on next 10/11 depends on moon sighting.

Since ramadan started, I interacted with many people in my office and outside who got to know its Ramadan because I stopped having lunch. Lots of non-muslims know a bit about Ramadan whoever come close to a muslim in any walk of life. But their knowledge is limited to fasting and the actual message is not known to many that fasting is just a part of it, not the whole as such. This led me to write a brief introduction of what Ramadan is and all about.

Ramadan is one of the five pillers on which Islam stands. Practise of these five pillers are made obligatory to all muslims. First piller is 'Tauheed' i.e. to believe in oneness of Almighty Allah and the prophecy of Muhammad(pbuh). Second is 'Salat' i.e. to pray 5 times daily while facing Mecca. We call it 'Namaz' as well. Third is 'Sawm' or Ramadan which I'll take below. Fourth is 'Zakat' i.e. to give a portion of one's wealth in charity to poor and needy people, and fifth is 'Hajj' i.e. pilgrimage of the holy Kaaba in Mecca city.

As a month, Ramadan is 9th month of islamic calendar, called 'hijri' calendar which is lunar based. That is why the islamic festivals dont fall on the same dates as per gregorian calendar each year. Ramadan is the holiest month to the Muslims as first revelation of the Holy Quran to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) happened in this month. Muslims believe rewards on good deeds are many folded in this month compare to rest of the year.

'Sawm' is Arabic word of 'fasting', which literally means "to refrain". It means not only refraining from food and drink but from evil actions, thoughts and words. That’s what I mentioned at the beginning. During Ramadan, every part of the body must be restrained. The tongue must be restrained from lie, backbiting and gossip. The eyes must restrain themselves from looking at inappropriate things. The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it. The ears must refrain from listening to idle talk or obscene words. The feet must refrain from going to sinful places. In such a way, every part of the body observes the fast. So, fasting is not merely physical, but is rather the total commitment of the person's body and soul to the spirit of the fast. From dawn to dusk it’s obligatory to refrain from food, drink and getting physical with wife but those are permissible in rest part of the day. Fasting becomes obligatory when a follower reaches to the age of puberty and it’s not obligatory to the pregnant woman, children, mentally sick and conditionally to travelers.

In Quran, Allah says "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, so that you can learn self restraint". (Quran 2:183)".

There are two things I’d like to point out from above verse; first Ramadan is the month to 'learn' self restraint. It means, it becomes obligatory to follow self restraint during Ramadan but the feelings and lessons learnt should stay throughout the year. The restraint and devotion is specially felt during Ramadan, but one must strive to make the feelings and attitudes stay in normal lives throughout the year. This is the true goal and test for Ramadan.

Second point is, fasting was not invented to Muslims but previous 'religion of the book'(Christianity and Judaism) as well. Jewish people also fast on Yum Kippur which falls on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishri. Not only Abrahamic religions, nearly all the world religions encourage their followers to fast in a way or another. But it’s only Islam which makes it obligatory to its followers.

Apart from spiritual benefits like one get closer to the Almighty and the right path, there are other social benefits which Ramadan brings. Few of them are, during day long fast; experiencing hunger and thirst, Muslim sympathizes with those in the world who have very little or nothing to eat. Ramadan promotes charity which develops feeling of generosity and good will toward others. Through self control a Muslim practices good manners, good speech and good habits. Through family and community gatherings, Muslims strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood, in their own communities and throughout the world.

Fasting also has countless benefits in medical perspective. I won’t dwell into the detail of this but if one wants to read then this article precisely tells about the same.

Please don’t take it as preaching and take my apologies if anybody got offended because of my writing. Sharing with you is for my own sake so that I could benefit from these words as well. Also, I am not an experienced writer so probably would do mistakes in writing, in case please point it out. I wrote the brief introduction as per my knowledge which is limited and I seek guidance from experienced people on the same. And Allah knows the best.

May Allah accept our fasting, forgive our sins, and guide us all to the Straight Path. May Allah enable us to act more rather than just talking. May Allah bless us all during Ramadan, and throughout the year, with His forgiveness, mercy, and peace, and bring us all closer to Him and to each other.

Regards,
Riyaz