The month of fasting for Muslims has arrived.
All major religions include some form of self-denial to improve their adherents’ efforts to balance spiritual goals with material or worldly desires. For Muslims, the ninth month of our calendar, Ramadan, is our primary month of community fasting, offering special prayers and practicing self-control through the denial of both basic needs and natural desires.
Since the Muslim calendar is based on the shorter lunar cycle rather than the longer solar cycle, Ramadan advances about 10 days each year causing the month to cycle through all the seasons every two decades or so. This year, Ramadan began on or about April 12 and will end on or about May 12, depending on what part of the world you live in and the traditional sighting of the new monthly moon.
Able-bodied Muslims are required to fast from dawn until sunset without food or drink during the daily fast time. They can only eat overnight from sunset to dawn, when the daily fasting begins. Sexual relations is also forbidden during the hours of fasting as another way to promote control over desires and better focus on spiritual empowerment.
The young, the sick, women on their menses and travellers are not required to fast. The denial of food forces participants to exert control over a basic human need — sustenance. Also, Muslims are encouraged to get rid of bad habits (such as smoking and cursing), read the entire 114 chapters of the Holy Qur’an (which is also divided into 30 parts for daily readings) and pray extraordinary prayers to promote spiritual development. And for those who cannot fast they are to feed a poor person for a month.
Ramadan is special in Islam because it marks when the founder of the faith, the Prophet Muhummad, received his first revelation from God proclaiming him a prophet and messenger. Verses from the Qur’an, what the Prophet said (Hadith) and what he did (Sunnah) teach Muslims how to perform the fasting rituals.
Also, fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, which also include belief in one God and the Prophet Muhummad as his prophet, making the daily prayers, giving alms to the poor and making Hajj.
After a day of fasting, it is common for Muslims to gather at sunset to break the fast with a meal, called iftar. In predominantly Muslim countries, fasting appears to be easier because the culture slows down during the day and comes alive at night during the hours of eating and drinking. In Western countries, it is often a hardship for Muslims who must continue to work during the hours of fasting.
Raised a Muslim since the age of three, I began fasting as a teenager, and as I recall it was during the longer spring and summer days. I learned that the pains of hunger were greatest during the first few days of the fast. Food, it seemed, was all a growing boy could think about. As the days passed and my stomach shrank, food became less of a focus. At a point midway through the month, I went from devouring my night meal to often being reminded that it was time to eat. I marveled at how the body adapted to self-imposed denial. I learned that the true blessing of fasting has more to do with the spiritual food you take in rather than the physical food that you deny yourself.
The discipline of fasting touches every aspect of our lives and informs how we learn to control our cravings and desires in exchange for a stronger spiritual connection to the world and a reappropriation of our priorities in ways that better serve humanity.
Ramadan Mubarak! Blessed Ramadan!