Whenever Ramadan comes around, the first question I get from my non-
Muslim friends, especially those who know me well is, “How do you go so
long without food?” (Actually, some of my Muslim friends wonder this, too!)
But we Muslims know that staying away from food is the simplest part. Fasting
isn’t just about not eating; it’s about disciplining the physical demands of your
body for the sake of its spiritual demands. In Ramadan, we’re not just abstaining
from food and water, but also from cursing, backbiting, fighting and so on.
The famous Muslim scholar Ibn al Qayyim al Jawziyyah said it best when
he wrote: “The fasting person’s limbs fast from sins; his tongue fasts from lies,
base language and false witness; his stomach fasts from food and drink . If
he speaks, he says nothing to violate his fast; and if he acts, he does nothing
to spoil his fast. All his speech is . wholesome, as are his deeds – like the
fragrance one smells while sitting next to the bearer of (perfume). Anyone who
sits with a fasting person benefits from his presence.”
For me, the real difficulty isn’t in not eating. In fact, as students we are often
so busy running around that even outside of Ramadan we skip meals. The real
difficulty is in disciplining our other passions.
For me, the real challenge has been trying to use Ramadan as a vehicle to
make permanent changes in my behavior.
For sure, Ramadan focuses our appreciation of the food and other material
blessings we enjoy by allowing us to experience the reality of deprivation at
a personal level. This fasting helps those of us who have been limping down
the road of life oblivious to the blessings we enjoy, lacking any consciousness
of the obligations those blessings impose on us. Most of us have become so
engrossed in how big we think our problems are that we forget we live in the
most prosperous country in the world. We forget that most of us have expensive
clothes and expensive homes, and we have relatively easy access to higher
education. The list could go on. All of these things carry important obligations
for all of us, the least of which is to be ever-thankful for them.
God has been telling us this through his prophets. The Bible says in Luke
48: “For of those to whom much is given, much is required.” This reminds
me of the Islamic obligation to give charity to the poor. This is called “Zakat”
and is a pillar of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) compared fasting to
paying Zakat when he said, “There is Zakat applicable to everything, and the
Zakat of the body is fasting” (Hadith Tirmidhi).
We Muslims fast and struggle throughout Ramadan. The days are long to
keep away from food, drink, bad language and evil thoughts. We know what
we are denying our bodies is not lost. It will come back to us when we need it
most. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mentions this when he said, “Fasting
and the Quran intercede for a man. Fasting says, ‘O my Lord, I have kept him
away from his food and his passions by day, so accept my intercession for him.’
This intercession is accepted” (Hadith Tirmidhi).
I have had moments where, while fasting, I say something or do something
that I shouldn’t have. Afterward, as I reflect on it, I begin to feel guilty and
maybe a little discouraged that my Ramadan isn’t working the way it should.
However, I take these moments not as signs of failure, but signs of mercy from
God. It is a mercy from God that he reveals our faults to us. He has blessed us
with a month in which we are
literally forced to take account
of ourselves. You cannot ignore
Ramadan; it comes in like a
juggernaut and completely alters
the way you live your life down
to your daily schedule.
The Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) was once asked, “What
is a sin?” The prophet said,
“When something pricks your
conscience, give it up” (Hadith
Tirmidhi). I try to take these
moments in Ramadan as opportunities
to take those things that
prick my conscience and give
them up. Ramadan is a chance
to begin improving our faults,
because without Ramadan providing
this microscope through
which we look at ourselves,
we’d probably keep limping
through life, always intending
to be better people, but never
getting there.