Introduction
While there is an almost uncountable number of religions in the world, not each of them is equally prominent. Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, comprise billions of believers and have a great impact on the culture of their respective peoples and countries. As a result, studying the most prominent religions in the world, even if the person does not believe in wither, is a useful and even crucial way to understanding the people of other cultures. Thus, understanding Islam as a religion practiced by hundreds of millions all over the world and particularly prominent in such important yet turbulent regions as the Middle East and Central Asia is undoubtedly crucial. The obvious point to begin this understanding is the Five Pillars of Islam – the religion’s core tenets, including the Muslim creed, charity, pilgrimage to Mecca, prayer, and fasting on the holy month of Ramadan. This paper will cover the latter to stress Ramadan’s significance in Islam, the religious and social practices associated with it, and the lessons that people may mean from studying this pillar of the Muslim faith.
Origins and Spiritual Meaning
Before discussing what people do during Ramadan, it is necessary to explain what the holy month is first and how it came to be. Ramadan is the eleventh month in the Muslim religious calendar – and since this calendar is lunar, Ramadan’s beginning moves 11 days every year (“Information Sheet,” 2021). As mentioned above, observing the monthly fast from sunrise to sunset is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which constitute the most sacred requirements a Muslim believer needs to follow. The reason why the month of Ramadan is considered so sacred is the tradition stating that the Prophet Muhammad received his revelations during this month. Accordingly, the Quran (n.d.) states: “The month of Ramazan is that in which the Quran was revealed… therefore whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein” (2:185). Thus, fasting throughout Ramadan is meant to remind the believers about the origins of their faith and prompt them to contemplate it more thoroughly. Fasting should promote this contemplation of life and faith in several ways at once.
To begin with, restricting one’s intake of food means training in self-discipline and endurance, at the core of maintaining the fast lies the ability to resist temptations and use one’s will to persist with the right choice. The fasting requirements are quite strict – throughout the daylight, Muslims have to refrain from partaking in both food and drinks, including water (Elnakib, 2021). Yet the training in self-control that the person receives by fasting has importance beyond eating and drinking itself. A person who can resist the temptations of hunger and thirst for the attainment of a spiritual goal is also quite likely a person who will overcome other basic bodily urges for the sake of decent behavior.
Another purpose of fasting during Ramadan is to make people more conscious of things they often take for granted. In fact, achieving spiritual self-improvement by becoming more conscious of God’s all-permeating presence in the world is the main goal of all the practices associated with the Holy Month. While fasting may be its most notable element to an external observer, Ramadan is about much more than not eating and drinking during daylight. Just as Muslims are expected to abstain from food and water throughout the month, they should also not gossip, argue, and commit any other offensive actions. Muslim scholars point out that and God “has no use for the one who refrains from food but not from false speech, or lying and gossip” (Suleiman, 2021, para. 11). The purpose of all these restrictions is to make people more mindful of things they otherwise do not think about. Abstention from food, water, and indecent speech, which may otherwise be consumed or uttered mindlessly, makes people more aware of things that really matter. This contemplation of God’s blessings and the increased consciousness of God in one’s life is the ultimate goal of Ramadan.
Speaking of awareness, Ramadan teaches people to be mindful not only of God’s presence in the world but of other people as well. One of the foremost goals of Ramadan is to remind those who can easily afford their daily substance about the less fortunate. As Imam Ibn Rajab, a Muslim scholar and philosopher has said, fasting is necessary “so that the rich will taste hunger and thus will not forget the hungry” (Suleiman, 2021, para. 14). This awareness of those who are less lucky in their lives ties fasting to another essential aspect of Ramadan – charity.
Charity
Apart from refraining from food and drinks throughout the daytime, Ramadan prompts believers to participate in various pious activities, the first and foremost of which is charity. Charity for the poor, or zakat, as it is known in Arabic, is a full-fledged Pillar of Islam in its own right, just like fasting on Ramadan. These two obligations intertwine closely during Ramadan, encouraging Muslims to help those in need. As mentioned above, refraining from food, not vile speech, would mean performing rituals without following the spirit of faith. Similarly, remembering the hardships of those in need but doing nothing to help them would amount to the same shallow ritualism. This is why, for many Muslims, Ramadan is not only the time of fasting but also that of charity. Charitable organizations, such as Islamic Relief USA (2021), urge Muslims to donate to support their less fortunate brothers and sisters. Hus, apart from personal reflection and spiritual self-improvement, Ramadan becomes the time for helping others around the world.
International charitable organizations in the manner of Islamic Relief USA may be a relatively recent development, but it is worth noting that the spirit of charity is firmly ingrained in Ramadan. Not every Muslim is physically able to maintain the fast during the entire month – or at all – and religion accounts for that. If old age, illness, or both prevent a person from fasting, Islamic tradition absolves them from doing so but requires that they feed a person in need for the missed days (Islamic Relief USA, 2021). Feeding does not necessarily mean the manual preparation and distribution of food – instead, many Muslims who cannot fats pay the special donation called fidya. It is used to provide the neediest community members with the sustenance they need and also provide a way for the old or ill to partake in the spiritual renewal of Ramadan.
Activities and Daily Routines
To give a better idea of what Ramadan is like, it would be useful to cover an average daily routine for a Muslim during the holy month. The person fasting will usually rise before sunrise to partake in a light breakfast, which is called suhur (“Information Sheet,” 2021). Throughout the day, while abstaining from food and drinks, Muslims read Quran and contemplate the presence of God in the world and their lives. After the sun sets, people break their fast – most often with dates and water or milk, to commemorate Muhammad’s breaking of his original fast in a meal called iftar (Elnakib, 2021). After the evening prayers, people eat dinner, which typically includes one or more main meals as well as desserts. Most will also participate in the special night prayers called taraweeh which recite the entire Quran over the course of the month (“Information Sheet,” 2021). After that, people will usually go to sleep to awake for their next suhur, although there is no prohibition against eating at night before it, and hydration is actively encouraged.
It should be evident by this point that Ramadan is not merely about personal improvement and spiritual journey but also places a heavy emphasis on community. It is very common to invite friends to break the fast at iftar together. Moreover, many mosques start their own local fundraisers to provide community dinners (“Information Sheet,” 2021). These are not merely a part of the charity effort described above but also a way for the people to experience their religious community by breaking the fast together with their fellow believers. Ramadan ends with Eid al-Fitr, and this day – one of the three principal holidays in Islam – is a celebration of community and social ties as much as a display of gratitude toward God. Muslims begin Eid al-Fitr with a special prayer and then continue the day socializing, giving presents to children, and spending time with friends and acquaintances (“Information Sheet,” 2021). Thus, the religiously prescribed activities of the holy month not only promote individual spiritual self-improvement but also serve to forge and maintain social ties and reinvigorate the sense of community.
Ramadan also has its own culinary traditions that are worth mentioning. It was already noted that dates and water are symbolically important nourishment because the Prophet Muhammad broke his original fast with them. However, they are far from the only foods Muslims associate with Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. In Middle Eastern cuisine, Eid al-Fitr meals will often include salads, typically made of fresh vegetables and yogurt, lentil soups, and lamb kebab, and various desserts (Tyler, 2020). Moroccan recipes Muslims often cook roasted turkey and fig pastries (Tyler, 2020). Speaking of pastries, desserts have a special place in Ramadan meals, and sugary sweets are a particularly prominent culinary tradition (Elnakib, 2021). Overall, fasting and eating during Ramadan coexist in dualistic unity, and the act of partaking in foods and drinks may have as much symbolical importance as abstaining from them during the day.
Exemptions and Health Considerations
While the regimen of not eating during the day and only sustaining oneself with food at night may be harsh, it does not make Ramadan an uncaring test of endurance that does not consider the believers’ health. As noted above, the sick and the elderly are exempt from fasting., and they are not the only group. Pregnant and menstruating women and children who have not reached puberty yet are also spared the stress of fasting (“Information Sheet,” 2021). In the case of children, adults usually train them gradually to abstain from food for longer periods during the day instead, which allows their organisms to adapt to the requirement of Ramadan gradually by the time they reach puberty. Those who cannot fast due to a temporary condition can make up for it later, and those who are old or suffering from chronic illness can feed a poor person instead.
When performed by a healthy grown-up, Ramadan fasting is not harmful in any noticeable way. Quran (n.d.) openly states that God “desires ease for you, and He does not desire for you difficulty” (2:185). Medical science largely corroborates this testament: for example, Faris et al. (2020) demonstrate that the total sleep time decreases slightly during Ramadan, but not nearly to the point where it could threaten physical health. Abstinence from food and drinks does not seem to be harmful either. Numerous studies on the subject have not found any meaningful correlation between fasting during Ramadan and the development of eating disorders (Düzçeker et al., 2019; Hasan et al., 2020). If anything, fasting is useful for one’s health, as demonstrated by its increasing prominence as a health trend throughout recent decades (Hasan et al., 2020). To begin with, it helps with lowering cholesterol levels and is also useful for weight loss and obesity prevention (“Information Sheet,” 2021). Moreover, the increased discipline and self-control promoted by fasting may contribute to the development of healthier eating habits and, thus, impact one’s health in the long term, even beyond Ramadan.
Lessons Learned and Personal Opinion
The main lesson to be learned from studying Ramadan is that one should always look at religious practices trying to discern the spiritual meaning behind the rituals. On a surface level, Ramadan may seem like a simple practice of physical self-discipline. However, learning more about the Muslims’ holy month allows understanding that fasting is merely a means to an end, which is appreciating things that can otherwise be taken for granted (Suleiman, 2021). Being more aware of the bodily and spiritual boons makes one appreciate the complexity and diversity of the universe more, and being mindful of the plight of those less fortunate should prevent arrogance and haughtiness. At the end of the day, Ramadan promotes universally accepted human values of self-control, community, and appreciation of fellow human beings. In my personal opinion, one can share these values regardless of being a Muslim – meaning that the values promoted by Ramadan can provide common grounds for people regardless of their religious views or lack thereof.
Conclusion
To summarize, Ramadan is the holy month in the Islamic lunar calendar, during which the believers fast from dawn till dusk. Its holiness comes from the fact that Muslims consider Ramadan to be the month during which Prophet Muhammad received his revelation. Ramadan’s spiritual significance is in developing better consciousness of God’s presence by appreciating and contemplating His creations as well as helping those less fortunate. Activities associated with the holy month range from prayer and recitation of the Quran to charity and community-building and end with the holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Fasting requirements are not excessively strict and make exemptions for those who cannot fast due to reasons of age or medical condition. Overall, the religious requirements of Ramadan seem to be beneficial for the body and soul when executed by a healthy adult. Moreover, the values that Ramadan fasting aims to promote are largely universal and, as such, may contribute to better understanding between people of different religious backgrounds.
References
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Elnakib, S. (2021). Ramadan: The practice of fasting. Eat right. Web.
Faris, M. A. I., Jahrami. H. A., Alhayki, F. A., Alkhawaja, N. A., Ali, A. M., Aljeeb, S. H., Abdulghani, I. H., & BaHammam, A. S. (2020). Effect of diurnal fasting on sleep during Ramadan: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep and Breathing, 24(2), 771-782. Web.
Hasan. F., Latzer, Y., Diedrichs, P. C., & Lewis-Smith, H. (2021). A qualitative exploration of motivations for fasting and the impact of Ramadan on eating behaviors and body image among young adult Muslim women in the United Kingdom. Eating Behaviors, 42, 101545. Web.
Islamic Relief USA (2021). Ramadan. Web.
The Quran, sura 2, verse 185. (N.d.). (M. H. Shakir, Trans.) Web.
Ramadan information sheet. (2021). Islamic Networks Group. Web.
Suleiman, O. (2021). Religion News Service: Ramadan fasting isn’t about hunger. It’s about living mindfully. Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. Web.
Tyler, V. (2020). 88 Ramadan recipes: The highest rated Ramadan cookbook you should read. Self-published.