Since Sept. 11, Ramadan has received special attention among Americans in an attempt to better comprehend a misunderstood element of our communities. Outcries can be heard from Muslim quarters to suspend our military campaign in Afghanistan during this mystifying month. Similar requests were made during the air campaigns in Iraq not too long ago. So what exactly is Ramadan, and what significance does it have in the Muslim world?
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar-based calendar, brings with it requirements for all able men and women to engage in fasting'refraining from all elements of physically based \satisfaction"" solely out of obedience to the Ever Compassionate God. This means no food, no drink and no conjugal relationships with your spouse from the first ray of sunlight until sunset. It is in this month that the Divinely revealed book, the Quran, was revealed and taught to the prophet Mohammed in the Arabian Peninsula more than 1,400 years ago.
Islamic Awareness Week: Demystifying the Faith
|
It is through these two primary sources of Islam'the Quran and the life of the Prophet Mohammed'from which we learn that otherwise religious allowances are stripped from the observer of Ramadan and indulgence in such become reprehensible. During Ramadan'a month of prayer, fasting and introspection'Muslims thereby focus on God, strive for self-purification and emphasize at least the spiritual unity of the community. It is stated that demonic enticements are nonexistent and the believer is left to struggle against his or her own soul (the truest manifestation of jihad). When Ramadan arrives, the gates of Paradise are wide open and the doors to the fire are sealed airtight. Everything changes. The Muslims' perception of reality takes on a whole new face during these 29 or 30 days.
Why?
All these seemingly challenging physical exercises do serve a broader objective than to cause undue hardship on a people. God states that the Muslim community has been prescribed to continue the tradition of earlier religious communities (Judaism and Christianity with closest chronological proximity) in order to develop and strengthen the most important human character trait: God-consciousness.
With the primary and predominant aim to develop divinely guided actions, Ramadan develops our humanity, our humanness, our very being. Without knowing God, we as humans forget our very essence. God-consciousness becomes the root from which all positive human qualities grow and all vices are rid. Empathy, patience, tolerance, charity, fortitude, peace and compassion for the human family are but a few of the positive qualities that receive direct attention in this, as the Muslims commonly called it, ""holy"" month. In fact, four of the 12 lunar months have been identified in Islamic sources as sacrosanct, Ramadan not being one of them.
Such human qualities have a purpose, too. Unlike Confucius philosophy, the goal is not to attain the status of the ""Supreme Man."" Rather the path to perfecting human qualities is to create a livable society where every individual's full human potential can be recognized with the fewest of barriers and with the greatest of happiness. This, in sum, is the entire mission of Islam. Ramadan becomes, then, a vehicle to accelerate its fruition'the natural, homely steroid for societal development.
Embroidered with celestial rewards, Ramadan lures the Muslim into a realm of motivation and activism to make this world a better place to live, thereby fulfilling his or her divine responsibility as vicegerents on this Earth. If never else, at least during this truly blessed month, we get a little closer to a better world; a world in which humanity reigns supreme.
