Ramadan

Ramadan Holiday

One of the most important holidays for Muslims is Ramadan. During the lunar month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during daylight hours. When the sun sets, they celebrate by breaking the fast and eating special foods. Prayers and special recitations of the Qur'an take place all month. Muslims celebrate 'Eid ul Fitr, the end of Ramadan, by breaking the fast until next year, wearing new clothes, giving to the poor, and attending Id prayers at the mosque.

This after-Ramadan celebration known as the 'Eid ul Fitr (Festival of the Fast Breaking) is the most popular holiday in Islam. For obvious reasons, being released from a month-long dawn-to-dusk fasting can make people quite happy. The first day of the 'Eid begins in the mosque with a special morning prayer service, which consists of a short congregational prayer followed by a two-part sermon reminding people of the lessons they should remember from Ramadan for the rest of the year. The 'Eid festivities officially last for three days, and Muslims hold parties on each of the days. Special 'Eid sweets are prepared, and children are given gifts.

Why Doesn't Ramadan Fall on the Same Day Each Year?

Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, is the month in which the Qur'an was first revealed. It is a month-long period of fasting and purification. Ramadan is observed as part of a 12-month lunar calendar system—the system in place at the time of the revelations of Muhammad. In this system, a new month always begins with the crescent moon. This lunar year contains 354 days, rather than 365, so the Muslim calendar is in a constant state of flux relative to the seasons of the year. (Muslims also use the Gregorian calendar.)

Because the month of Ramadan falls about a week earlier every year, as the lunar calendar rotates backwards through the solar, Muslims experience differing conditions in their fast. The period of fasting is longer in the summers and shorter in the winters.

Fasting

With just a few exceptions, believers can fast at any time during the year in order to purify themselves. Eating, drinking, and inhaling things besides air invalidate a fast. Fast begins from dawn and ends at sunset. Certain sexual acts and immersing one's head in water also invalidate one's fast. When the sun sets, the time of fasting for the day ends, and one may eat, drink, and enjoy sexual relations with one's spouse until dawn.

The Qur'an tells believers: The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Qur'an was revealed; a guide for the people, the most authoritative of all guidance and a criteria to discern right from wrong. “Anyone of you who knows that the month of Ramadan has begun, he must start to fast. Those who are sick or on a journey have to fast the same number of days at another time. Allah does not impose any hardship upon you. He wants you to have comfort so that you may complete the fast, glorify Allah for His having given you guidance, and that, perhaps, you would give Him thanks” (2:185). Fasting is therefore obeying Allah and simultaneously disciplining one's manners; it helps to provide the most favorable condition and state of mind in which one can speak to Allah more sincerely and attentively.

The Fast of Ramadan

The fourth pillar of Islam is known as Saum, or fasting. During the month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, Muslims are required to observe a strict fast from dawn until dusk. Since a lunar month has about 30 days in it, what purpose is there in this long and arduous practice? As you will see, the benefits achieved are truly life-changing. 

From the very beginning of time, people have been involved with the great struggle to master their bodies and emotions. The urge to eat is one of the most powerful motivations anyone must face. Many people fail and overeat or consume unhealthy foods. Other substances can be abused by our penchant for pleasure: drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes can pull us down just as easily as too many tubs of our favorite ice cream. Sexual addiction is another unique problem that can drive people to commit excesses and cause harm to themselves and others. 

Reform programs such as diet fads, cold turkey denial, counseling, and alcohol and drug treatment programs are often unsuccessful, leading people to relapse into their self-destructive overindulgence.

Merely giving these vices up for a short period won't solve the problem. Is there no way out of personal gluttony? The answer lies not in watching our weight with new pills or eating plans or in wearing a nicotine patch, but in the education of our soul and in curbing its desires from within.

Islam's cure starts with defining the problem as a spiritual identity crisis. When we forget that God exists and is watching us, when we ignore our inner nature to seek God, when we fail to live according to God's good laws and forget the advice of the prophets, then we can fall prey to any self-destructive impulse. The solution, then, must begin with strengthening the soul and then bringing the body along in step.

Islam carries with it a fasting component for this reason. We can become better enlightened only when we rise above the flesh and recognize the force of our spirit, our very human will. The Qur'an explains the purpose of fasting in this way: "You who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so you can gain more spiritual awareness" (2:183). Because the Qur'an has given fasting in Ramadan the status of a religious duty, whose neglect is sinful, the conscientious person resolves to complete the fasting period and this is where the real transformation takes place.

Welcoming Ramadan

When the new moon is sighted, signaling the beginning of the month of Ramadan, Muslims gather and say this prayer: "God is Greater, God is Greater, God is Greater. Praise be to God Who created me and you and Who decreed for you the phases of the moon and made you a sign for the universe." Then a short supplication is quietly said in which we dedicate ourselves to fasting in this month.

Wake Up! It's Time for Sahoor 

Now imagine waking up, long before the first light of the sun has risen over the darkened sky, and taking a small meal, called a sahoor, in silence. When the hint of light approaches, the meal has to end and then you pray the morning prayer and read a chapter or two of the Qur'an. During the daylight hours, you must abstain from all food, liquids, inhaled substances, sexual activity, and nutritionally related medicine or any nonessential oral medicine.

In addition, all normally undesirable behaviors are forbidden, with the threat that God won't accept your fasting if you engage in them. No fighting, cursing, arguing, lying, gossiping, or other sins are to be indulged in. Of course a Muslim must naturally avoid such sins anyway, but sometimes people fall into error if they haven't been reminded of the importance of their actions for a while. Fasting for a month from these vices is the best corrective. If God doesn't accept your fasting, you may not go to heaven no matter what other good deeds you did.

Now you are expected to carry on with your normal day. You have to go to work, take care of the kids, do the lawn work, and anything else that comes up. The difference is that by about 2:00 pm time seems to move painfully slow for you. You fight the urge to get that beverage, and snacking is out of the question. You also become hyperaware of your behavior and want to avoid committing any sin as much as humanly possible.

Doing good deeds is also occupying a prime place in your thinking because in this month your angels record each good deed as doubled or trebled or more.

When the sun finally descends completely past the horizon, the period of fasting is over. You waited the last couple of hours in your home reading the Qur'an alone or with your family and making supplications and hik. When the last sliver of the sun has fallen past the horizon, the Muazzin's call brings a rush of joy to the house. You thank God for His mercy in allowing you to complete the day's fast, and now you're allowed to take a small snack, called an iftar, before going to pray the sunset prayer. Families usually join together for iftar.

When the prayer is finished, you celebrate the end of the day with a joyous dinner at home or in the mosque, where you gratefully partake of food and gain a new appreciation for the value of eating and drinking.

After the last regularly scheduled prayer of the day, you might go to the mosque and join in as the congregation prays the special Ramadan prayer known as Salah al-Tarawih. Each night the Imam will stand with the other worshippers in prayer and read one thirtieth of the Qur'an aloud until the end of the month when the reading is complete. Then the celebration of the Festival of Fast Breaking, 'Eid ul Fitr, will engulf the hearts and minds of the community with laughter, joy, and a sense of accomplishment. The holiday begins with the ‘Eid Prayer and sermon on the morning after Ramadan ends and lasts two days afterward with dinner parties, family outings, fairs, carnivals, and great celebrations.

Muslims are expected to give their Islamic center a small donation called Sadaqat ul Fitt, or Charity of the Fast Breaking, before the last day of Ramadan. The donations allow the mosque to arrange meals for the poor, allowing everyone to partake in the joys of the holiday. 

The Month of Training

What are some of the lessons learned by participating in the Ramadan fast? You would be surprised at the variety. The month of Ramadan provides a sort of spiritual and moral "boot camp." We know that fasting in Ramadan is a duty from God and that any sins may spoil our record of fasting, so we take great pains to be on our best behavior. This intense modification of our habits is designed to help us avoid such sins throughout the rest of the year.

The Blessed Prophet once remarked, "Whoever doesn't give up lying and acting on lies during fasting, then God has no need of him giving up food and drink." On another occasion he warned, "There are many people who get nothing from fasting except hunger and thirst." Clearly, the moral dimension is as important as the physical aspects of fasting.

The lessons learned during Ramadan are many. We learn what it means to be hungry, so we feel more compassion for the poor. We understand how close we are to leaving this world at any moment and how much we depend on food and drink. We learn to control our animal urges and passions, and we clear our minds and thoughts for serious remembrance of God. We restrain our anger, and we train our habits toward prayer, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and good behavior. By curtailing sex for the whole day, we force ourselves to train our bodies to obey. There is nothing like the Muslim fast of Ramadan in any other religion for realizing personal reform and self-mastery.

The reward for a successful Ramadan is no less than the forgiveness of all our sins. Imagine wiping the slate clean with God! So, in addition to all the improvements Ramadan can make in our character and health, we get the slate erased and can start over. (All our good deeds remain; it's only the bad deeds that disappear!) With all these benefits derived from the observance of this blessed month, is it any wonder that Ramadan is the best time of the year for every Muslim?

As the population of Muslims continues to grow, the awareness of Ramadan will undoubtedly have a positive influence on people of all faiths in the West. Renewing our commitment to God and undergoing a physical and spiritual training program to increase our intimacy with our faith is what Ramadan is all about.