1 Ramadan Mubarak 1429

We in the drier areas of Northern Nigeria were awaiting Ramadan 2018 with trepidation – that the fasting period would be through the usual March-April-May weather when temperatures rises to 40 degrees and above. But, alhamdu lilLah, the heavens opened up last week in Kano and many other Northern locations. The rains were such a […]

We in the drier areas of Northern Nigeria were awaiting Ramadan 2018 with trepidation – that the fasting period would be through the usual March-April-May weather when temperatures rises to 40 degrees and above. But, alhamdu lilLah, the heavens opened up last week in Kano and many other Northern locations. The rains were such a relief that Ramadan began in Kano on Thursday with the temperature at about 26 degrees.

A generation ago in 1986 if I remember correctly, the heat was so high in many northern cities fatwas were given for people to break their fasts and rehydrate, as reports poured in of collapses due to heat and sunstroke and dehydration. As the Islamic calendar is usually eleven days shorter than the Gregorian, Ramadan (and all other Islamic rituals) get to be observed in a circle, and a complete circle would occur in about 33 years. Meaning, next year’s Ramadan may be very early in hot May.

All the same, if we remember the people around the Prophet (upon whom be peace) when there were no cooling devices, we just have to thank Allah for his Divine favours. For example, many Middle Eastern countries are now fasting under 40+ temperatures, but “Home AC Office AC and Car AC” make the experience so unlike the one our ancestors went through.

While we fast and pray, we must spare some thoughts for especially for the people in our North East and the people of Palestine who continue to suffer, respectively, from Boko Haram and Israel. While the former (North East) is closer to home and whatever affects them affects us, the latter (Palestine) is a place after our hearts – and we must pray for both of them (and other suffering peoples) during Ramadan asking Allah to ease their sufferings.

Every year the month of Ramadhan comes and goes; every year we fast, yet without proper appreciation of the potentials of character building that the Fast holds for us. Do we find ourselves as spiritually backward after the Fast is over as when the month began? Perhaps our lack of knowledge of the real objectives of Fasting often tends to produce an adverse effect in us for, as is well known, the best of medicines could have ill-effects if not taken in accordance with the physician’s directives and instructions.

It is imperative, then, we preview the month and see whether, using some of the following Ramadanian objectives, we can aim to give ourselves a pass mark after the month is over. If we can check off all, or most, of the objectives, then we may say alhamdu lillah for a month well begun, and hopefully well spent.

MODERATING OUR EATING HABITS: During the eleven months prior to Ramadan, most of us are loose in our eating habits. Ramadan demands a strict resolution to submit oneself to a special diet which often corrects habits harmful to health. This compliance to a severely regulated diet should continue over the succeeding months. Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali says, in his Inner Dimensions of Fasting, that we should not to over-indulge to the point of stuffing our bellies. Of what use is the Fast if at the time of breaking it one not only makes up for all one has missed during the daytime, but perhaps also indulges in a variety of extra foods? 

RE-DISCOVERING THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF FASTING: Related to the above, many of us have had the unfortunate opportunity of having to submit to diagnostic medical tests using ‘fasting sugar’ as basis. Most ailments are never detected until the body is on empty. A writer once said that the exaggerated variety of our meals, their excessive quantities and assortments all together make the alimentary system regulating human life so ineffective. Fasting, it has been ascertained, activates the blood circulation and purifies heart and soul. Besides, modern medicine has proven that fasting is a remedy for diseases that affect the human of this century because of overeating and the variety of processed foods.

ENDURING HUNGER: Many people suffer hunger all their lives, though it is so difficult for many of us to believe that. That is why, in this particular month of Ramadan, we are availed of the opportunity of feeling the difficult life of many of the poor. This endurance provokes in us the feeling of association with the poor’s sorrows and deprivations. The rich, who generally never experience deprivation, end up discovering, through Fasting, the hardship suffered by the needy. Then, hopefully, the hearts of the rich may become more merciful and their hands may subsequently exercise generosity and charity. 

INSTILLING DISCIPLINE THROUGH REGULARITY: During Ramadan, we acquire the habit of punctuality. We break our fast at a fixed time, we abstain from eating and drinking for a regulated period. Becoming accustomed to regulation leads to the respect of time, and so one becomes more trustworthy and more able to carry out one’s responsibilities and to fulfill one’s social duties. Before Ramadan, many of us do not count the hours of daylight, because we are not faced with the prospect of hunger, thirst and deprivation. In Ramadan, we suddenly notice that the daylight hours are indeed long, the night so short! 

SPREADING ASSISTANCE: Ramadan reinforces in us the spirit of giving and mutual help in society. Many of us do not remember the old woman down the road; she who had been the good friend of our long-departed grandmother, until it is Ramadan. We remember her during Ramadan, and we give her some sugar and some rice, and perhaps a piece of atamfa. Ramadan inspires love and tightens links among the family, both near and far. Happily, during Ramadan our attitudes change automatically, and the family members meet more than they used to do. Charity and mutual help occupy a remarkable place, and brotherhood and equality triumph. 

CHARACTER REVOLUTION: Fasting, like any living thing, has a body and a soul. The required ‘abstinence’ from food, water, etc, is the body of the fast, while ‘piety’ is its soul. If we are not striving to refine our character by fasting, then our fast will be a body without soul. Fasting cleanses our body from impurities. Likewise, it must purify our hearts and minds from all impure thoughts. It is reported that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) once saw a woman, who was fasting on that particular day (other than in Ramadan), abusing her girl-servant. The Prophet admonished her and told her to go break her fast. The woman protested: ‘But I am fasting today.’ The Prophet said to her: ‘But was not your fast broken by the abuses you were hurling upon that poor girl?’

SAYING NO EVIL: In another Tradition of the Prophet, upon whom be peace, it is narrated that two women were fasting and they were so fatigued towards the end of the day from hunger and thirst that they were on the verge of collapsing. They therefore sent a message to the Prophet requesting his permission to break their fast. In response, the Prophet is reported to have sent them a bowl, saying: ‘Tell them to vomit into it what they have eaten.’ One of them vomited and half filled the bowl with fresh blood and tender meat, while the other brought up the same so that they filled it between them. The onlookers were astonished. Then the Prophet, upon whom be peace, is reported to have said: ‘These two women have been fasting from what Allah, Great and Glorious is He, made lawful to them, and have broken their fast on what Allah made unlawful to them. They sat together and indulged in backbiting, and here is the flesh of the people they maligned!’

Ramadan Mubarak!