Understanding Ramadan

"I'm starving. Let's go to Mill's for lunch. We'll have Bibimbap! It's been so long. I can't wait to catch up with you!"

"Actually, I can't eat now. Sorry, Jodi."

"Why not? Your next class isn't for another hour, right?"

"Well, yeah, but ... I'm fasting."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean ... It's Ramadan. I'm Muslim."

***

It would only be a few more hours until Sonya could break her fast, yet she couldn't help but feel slightly awkward. All the eloquence she'd ever displayed in class forsook her in a moment. She couldn't evoke the right words to explain to Jodi what she was doing, why she was doing it, or why she'd have to decline a mere invitation to lunch. Suddenly, she remembered that she had to collect a voucher for that day's iftaar, a fast-breaking meal.

Sonya's anecdote highlights the importance of both understanding and articulating the significance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. This year, the last week of October marks the beginning of Ramadan for the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. According to Islamic tradition, this is the month during which Allah first revealed the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Muslims abstain from any kind of food or drink and sexual intercourse as they fast from sunrise to sunset for the 30 days of Ramadan.

The basic themes of Ramadan are enhanced consciousness of God, reflection, self-discipline, and charity. Before exploring these themes, however, we should lay out an interpretive framework to analyze them. The five pillars of Islamic practice, which constitute the moorings of ibadah (worship), consist of Shahadah (a public declaration of belief in God and in Muhammad's prophethood), Salah (regular, daily prayer), Zakat (almsgiving), Sawm (fasting), and Hajj (pilgrimage). The general tenor and specific practices of Ramadan mainly center on the pillars of prayer, fasting, and charity, which mutually reinforce each other.

The pillar of prayer is emphasized through Qur'anic recitation as prayer and through deep, introspective reflection. Since the Qur'an was initially disclosed to humanity in this month, many Muslims elevate their efforts to contemplate the message of the Qur'an, perform extra cycles of prayer, and seclude themselves in mosques for intense private worship. The Muslim's goal in performing these rituals is to enrich his or her relationship with the Almighty, which serves as the wellspring for healthy human relations, good life-conduct, and humanitarian works. Prayer, then, is an indispensable pathway of spiritual devotion, which is buttressed by the scriptural readings, supplications, and meditative practices specifically prescribed for Ramadan.

Of course, Ramadan is principally recognized for the considerably strenuous fasting it demands of practitioners. The aim of fasting is twofold. First, fasting vitalizes the believer's axis of vertical relation (that is, to God) by developing the quality of taqwa. This is the specific term that the Qur'an employs in Surah Al-Baqarah verse 183, which concisely expresses the main purpose of fasting, and although it is often translated as "fear of God," it has more precise permutations: moral vigilance, continuous self-critical awareness, readiness to submit to the demands of faith, remembrance of God, and a sense of awe concerning the Day of Judgment. Just as the believer maintains the quality of taqwa through prayer, so he or she actually builds it through fasting.

Ramadan may be viewed as a training period for Muslims wherein they refrain even from the fulfillment of legitimate human needs in obedience to God, thus cultivating taqwa, in general, and self-discipline, in particular. Moreover, the sources of Islam describe the spirit of fasting that should both generate and grow out of the restrictions on eating, drinking, and sex. In some of his sayings, the Prophet strongly implies that if a believer cannot prevent himself or herself from lying, cursing, and committing other sins while fasting, then he or she has not spiritually benefited from it. The spirit of fasting should allow a refined piety to abjure even minor sins and offenses.

The second objective of fasting is to foster heightened sensitivity toward the needs of the poor, thereby strengthening the believer's axis of horizontal relation (to fellow human beings) and accelerating charitable, humanitarian action. By challenging the demands of his or her physiology, the Muslim experiences something similar to the pangs of hunger and thirst that the destitute constantly suffer. This substitutive act should awaken feelings of compassion for the indigent members of society and should hasten altruistic deeds and projects. Similarly, the Qur'an requires those permanently unable to fast to benevolently feed a poor person as an alternative. Thus, the second function of fasting is the mutual reinforcement of the pillars of fasting and charity.

All of the practices of Ramadan would be futile were they confined exclusively to that month. The spiritual rejuvenation effected by prayer, fasting, and charity should contribute to the overall moral and spiritual cleansing and growth of both individual and community that are integral to earning God's pleasure: the real purpose of human life.

***

Sonya successfully managed to help deliver food for iftaar, sat down to close her day of fasting with a date and some water, counted all the cans donated for a food drive, and carefully turned her attention to the interfaith Jewish-Islamic dialogue on the meaning of fasting. She smiled as she felt a tremendous surge of joy. The divine spirit had settled at this community gathering.

The author is a Columbia College senior and vice president of community outreach for the Columbia University Muslim Student Association.