Ramadan is an Islamic month of fasting in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from before the sun rises until the sun sets. Fasting is meant to teach the Moslem the value of patience, modesty and spirituality. It is somehow considered as the holiest month of the year according to Islamic religion, without a doubt described by many Moslems as the hardest month of the year and everybody is obliged to fast for thirty rigorous days for Allah (God). It is meant to teach the Moslem faithful on the value of patience, modesty and spirituality.
Considering fasting on the spiritual aspect we can somehow redefine fasting as an act of abstaining from eating and feeding the body in order to focus more on fully seeking God’s love and trust, in other words the compassion of God is there. As Jesus Christ fasted 30 days and 30 nights in the wilderness before He was thrown into His fate – to be a sole sacrifice for the remission of sins; Gandhi fasted also before he went to the public and teach peace not violence as a mean to arrive for an end of attaining a peaceful community throughout his mother land. We fast because we need to humble ourselves before God, letting Him know that we are willing to exchange physical comforts with spiritual contentment.
I asked one of my co-employees who is a faithful to his religion (Islam) and living like a “king” on his household about the idea on the Holy Ramadan. In furtherance, he claimed that throughout the season, he was reminded that he is not the only person living on this planet. There are also people aside from his family who is living in a dire poverty and who are suffering from hunger, from injustices and from thirst of love. And through this Ramadan he able to express his self to them and to put his feet on their own shoes. It is good to note that Ramadan is a way of remembering how God became more intimate to His people and how God became more personal that which our hearts became enamored to His untiring and ending Love.
We abstain and do fasting and praying because it is necessary and it is the law itself. We are not allowed to eat; we abstain from everything because of our faith to Allah or to God. But what if, if a friend of ours asked food because he is dying of hunger or a sick friend asked for a glass of cold water because he is dying of thirst. Are we going to say “NO” because we are still under the observance of Ramadan? Is giving food or water during the observance of Ramadan is considered as a sinful activity that which if one is caught he is to be punished by the authority vested by the people from God? Are we despising God because we violated the law of Ramadan by giving and helping a friend from sickness and hunger?
Ramadan teaches us to become prayerful and through fasting, we somehow make our prayer more meaningful to the ears of Allah. We pray because we believe that God is up there. We do fast because it helps us alleviating the burden of being away from God and making ourselves closer to Him. Thus, Ramadan is made for man and man is not made for this season. The challenge lies not on how every Moslem performs and observes the season of Ramadan but it lies on how they continue their lives as a holy person. There is only one law that God gave to man, which is to love our friends as we love God with all our hearts through words and actions. If we observe Ramadan according to what God wants we will go beyond the mere understanding of the observance of the law. It is our duty to observe this Holy Season but it is our obligation to continue what is being set by God – which is to love our friends even till death.
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