Religion is under threat, especially Islam presently being used as a tool for terrorist acts by a minute few. As the holy month of Ramadan begins, permit me to shed light on the significance of fasting in this month by Muslims. Humanity lives in a global village today and different cultural and religious groups interact and come closer than ever before. Each religious group tries to understand others culture, traditions and way of life and no longer humanity could live in a watertight compartment.
Whether we like or not we are bound to learn other people’s way of life and with advancement of technologies this learning process is made easy. This is a universal phenomenon that humanity interacts more via modern technological revolution. People in Nigeria are not exceptional to this new phenomenon and but sadly we are reluctant to learn and understand other people’s way of life and each community has been living in watertight compartment without understanding and knowing others way of life. Our interfaith dialogues are coloured in hypocrisy, bias, insensitivity and insincerity, hence the need for this article. Please note, I am not an Islamic scholar just a journalist.
Here, I will try to introduce one of five pillars of Islam to our Non-Muslim friends so that they will have at least some understating of it. It is beyond the scope of this article or me to cover all aspects of this pillar and yet I will try my best on the eve of this holy month to give some basic points about fasting and answer some of the questions our Non-Muslim neighbours often asked. Why do Muslim fast and how do they starve from dawn to dusk and how do they go without water or drinks whole day (nearly 17 hours in western countries)? Some people see it as a daunting task. But believe you me, it is not that difficult task and even 6-7 years old could do it.
First of all, fasting is not a unique practice in Islam alone and it has been prescribed in most of world religions and it is still being practised in Judaeo-Christian religions and other religions as well. Almighty Allah allude to this fact in his Holy Quran and Says :(O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you that you may ward off evil) (2:183.)
This is not a new practice in Islam alone and yet it is worthy to note here that Islamic method of fasting is different from any other forms of fasting. Muslim not only abstains from foods, drinks and sexual intercourse but the process of fasting whole month develops a deep sense of spirituality in Muslim society and in fact whole month is a spiritual training camp for Muslim society: children, adult, young and old and men and women and rich and poor and all sort of Muslim people observe fasting and there are many social and communal benefits in fasting and yet we fast because we have been commanded by Allah to do so. Why do we fast? We fast because it is divine commandment. That is the first and foremost reason that Muslim fast all over the world during this month. Moreover, it increases our spiritual feelings and it cultivates goodness and piety in hearts and minds of Muslims people. It brings them together, closer and unite them.
We Muslims all go to Mosques for night prayers and it increases our feelings of brotherhoods in Muslim community and its cultivates kindness in the hearts of rich among us to help and donate for poor and needy in the society. This explain why you could see that Muslim people do a lot of charity works specially during this month. It also teaches us how to control ourselves, resist our desire and lust during day times. Muslims really enjoy fasting during this month as it brings them a lot of spiritual and communal goodness even children in Muslim communities enjoy it. This is a great happy occasion not mere starvation and thirst, fasting is indeed, some spiritual experience that w e simply can not describe with words rather everyone should experience it to realize its physical, spiritual and social goodness. Islamic teachings are not mere philosophical teaching, it is practical teaching that everyone in the society can benefit from.
Moreover, the three basic elements which constitute the human being-soul, his mind and his body-Islamic teachings aim at developing all these three elements equally and it is beauty of Islamic teaching that it never ignore or overemphasize on either of these three constituents. In order to fulfil spiritual needs of man it does not demand to renounce physical needs of human body. Islam does not ignore intellectual development of human beings at expense of other two and maintaining the balance developments of holistic human personality is one of the objective of fasting: it cultivates a deep sense of spirituality in Muslim man and it also help him to concentrate his mind on any subject.
Our Holy prophet has mentioned merits of fasting and holiness of this month in his sayings. This month is very much special one for Muslims for many reasons. It is a holy month because fasting is prescribed in this holy month. It is holy because, any good act done by a Muslim will be rewarded by Almighty Allah seventy times more than in any other month. It is holy because, first 10 days of this month are mercy and Allah bestows His mercy abundantly for His devotees. Its second ten days are enshrined with divine Forgiveness and during the last ten days Almighty Allah frees many people from torments of Hellfire. It is a holy month because; devils are chained in this month and human inclination and willpower to do good deeds dramatically increased in these days. It is a sacred month because, doors of Paradise are opened. It is a blessed month because the angles of Allah descend in this month. It is sanctified because, there is a night in this month which is better than thousands years. In addition to these rewards there are hundreds of blessings in this holy month and that is why Muslim people all over the world venerate this holy month and they make special preparation to get maximum rewards from this month.
Above all, this month is a unique month because almighty Allah revealed His last and final divine Message to our prophet Muhammad in this Holy month and that makes this month holiest of all months. This final divine revelation is a historical turning point in the destiny of humanity and human history. The Holy Quran alludes to this divine phenomenon in human history as (The month of Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed: guidance for mankind and clear proof for the guidance and criterion between right and wrong) 2:184. This divine revelation changed the destiny of mankind and brought them from darkness to light.
To understand such a historical change one needs to go back into the history and lifestyle of Arabs prior to this revelation. Historical records of pre-Islamic Arab history confirm that Arabs lived in a malicious and cruel society.
The divine revelation totally changed these Arab people within 23 years and these cruel people became most influential personalities of world and they inspired and influenced most of nation within a short period of human history and they conveyed the message of Islam to the half of the world within a short of period. This social revolution would not been possible without divine guidance and we fast to honour the great blessing of divine guidance as well. It is duty of every Muslim to share these blessings with our non-Muslim neighbours and at least to let them understand these teaching of fasting so that they may become conscious of the significance of fasting for Muslims.
It may be one good practice that we Muslims invite our Non-Muslim friends for our break fasting programmes so that they could understand the spiritual and communal sides of fasting and its holiness. This can be a good opportunity to present Islamic teaching in a positive manner to our Non-Muslim friends and bridge the gap of misunderstandings and wrong perceptions. Muslims must celebrate Muslim occasions with their Non-Muslim neighbours so that the communities could come closer and forster understand of each other’s culture, thinking and way of life more profoundly. Multiculturalism is a paragon and virtue that pervades every corner of the world today, let’s us this holy month of Ramadan to spread love, understanding and the undeniably attraction of Islam.
