An Insight into the Muslim Fasting

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Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Islam uses a lunar calendar, i.e. each month begins with the sighting of the new moon. Since the Islamic calendar is dependent on lunar system it is 11 days shorter than the solar calendar.

Consequently Islamic occasions move each year. While in many places occasions have become widely commercialized, Ramadan retains its focus on self-sacrifice and devotion to Allah (God). For more than one fourth of the world’s population Ramadan is a “month of blessing” marked by prayer, fasting, and charity. Muslims practice sawm, or fasting, for the entire month of Ramadan. This means that they refrain from food and beverage from dawn until sunset. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam that becomes incumbent on Muslims from the age of puberty.

Nevertheless, Muslims who cannot afford it e.g. aged people, pregnant ladies and others are exempted therefrom. Families get up early for suhoor, a meal eaten before the sun rises. After the sun sets, the fast is broken with a meal known as iftar. Iftar usually begins with dates and sweet drinks or milk that provide a quick energy boost. Throughout the Muslim world and here in Ireland Muslims have public Iftar.

Fasting serves many purposes. Although fasting is very beneficial to health, it is regarded principally as a method of self-purification particularly as it is accompanied by sincere endeavours of spiritual elevation. Fasting is also an opportunity to practice self-control and to cleanse the body and mind. It is an entire change to one’s habits. This change enables to change. In this blessed month of Ramadan, fasting helps Muslims feel the peace that comes from spiritual devotion as well as kinship with fellow believers. By cutting oneself off from worldly comfort a fasting person gains true sympathy with the poor and needy. Ramadan is described as a school of morals. Muslims believe that during the month of Ramadan, Allah revealed the first verses of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. Around 610 A.D., Prophet Muhammad started receiving the Qur’an, believed by Muslims to be literally the divine word. As a result of that during Ramadan Muslims recite the Qur’an a lot and observe prayers with long recitation of the Qur’an. This practice is encouraged by narrations about Prophet Muhammad and the great reward promised therefore. In Ramadan, Muslims tend to exert themselves in worshipping God. They embark on a wide range of various acts of worship believing that that was the practice of Prophet Muhammad.

The fact that during Ramadan they refrain from food and drink seeking God’s pleasure encourages them to establish long prayers, celebrating God’s Names and reciting the Glorious Qur’an. One of the eminent voluntary rituals observed by Muslims in Ramadan is ‘Itikaf or Seclusion in mosque. Throughout the Muslim world, Muslims tend to spend the last ten nights entirely devoted to worshipping God. They divorce all the worldly affairs during this period. As another aspect of its social dimension, the Muslims pay Zakah during the month of Ramadan. Zakah, an obligatory annual charity paid by Muslims who can afford it, is perceived as a means of purification that helps to bring about economical justice as well as a unique harmony between the poor and the rich.

Ramadan ends with the festival of Eid Ul-Fitr, which occurs this year on Oct. 24. Literally the “Festival of Breaking the Fast,” Eid Ul-Fitr is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations (the other occurs after the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca). At Eid Ul-Fitr people dress in their finest clothes, adorn their homes with lights and decorations, give treats to children, and enjoy visits with friends and family. Zakah is meant to enable the poor and the rich to celebrate Eid Ul-Fitr. The rich can buy their children new clothes and the poor can pay their children new clothes.

Parent page: About Ramadan