In The Name Of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful All thanks and praises are due to Allah, we seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and the consequences of our evil deeds. Whoever Allah guides will never be led astray, and whoever Allah leads astray will never find guidance. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, He is alone without any partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger.
“O you who believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims in submission to Him.” [Qur’an, 3:102] “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs.
Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.” [Qur’an, 4:1] “O you who believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will then amend for you your deeds and forgive your sins, and whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment.
” [Qur’an, 33:70-71] Verily, the most truthful speech is the Book of Allah, the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, and the worst Affairs are newly invented matters (in the religion). Every newly invented matter is a religious innovation, and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Hellfire.
Dear Brothers and Sisters! Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, the month of Qur’an, the month of blessing and mercy, is quickly approaching for Muslims, due to start around Wednesday, 16th May 2018 or Th ursday, 17th May 2018, and will last 29 or 30 days. I say ‘around’ for the date and duration, because the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycle, and the beginning of each monThis determined by when the new moon is seen.
This means that Muslims around the world await with great anticipation the announcement from their leaders that the new moon – known as the ‘hilal’ in Arabic – has been sighted. The excitement is greatest ahead of the crescent which will herald the first of Ramadan, topped only by the new moon which marks Eidul- Fitr, the celebration that takes place on the first day of the month after Ramadan (i.e. Shawwal), and marks the end of the month of fasting. No wonder then that the crescent is a symbol of such potency among the Muslim Ummah.
At its most fundamental level it determines the Islamic calendar which runs side by side with the solar calendar and so gives rhythm to the lives of Muslims. Sighting the moon is a communal enterprise, and many Muslims especially in warmer climes will venture into the open as darkness begins to fall to see if they can spot the sliver in the sky that everyone is waiting for. When it marks the beginning of Ramadan it resonates with community and togetherness. Fasts begin at dawn and last till dusk, and so the moon set in the backdrop of darkness represents the time available for eating and night prayers. And of course, the new moon appearing at the end of Ramadan marks the close of an intensely spiritual and community-focused month of daytime restraint, ushering in the celebration of Eidul-Fitr, the festival of breaking fast.
Ramadan is a tough month physically and so the proclamation of the end of fasting mingles a sense of sadness that Ramadan has gone, with a natural excitement that daytime consumption is once again possible. Eid is seen as a time of beginnings, and so the crescent moon carries with it the innocent pleasure of a fresh start. The crescent moon is also the key symbol for Muslims: used in fl ags, cards and messaging.
It is a favourite among marketers as it can act as shorthand for describing something ‘Islamic.’
The challenge for marketers is to avoid slipping from the status of shorthand, into being the lazy overuse of a powerful symbol that therefore becomes cliched and diluted in meaning. For Muslims, the crescent brings with it a mix of excitement, nervousness and community togetherness, tying the emotional and functional parts of faith together.
And when it comes to the arrival of the month of Ramadan, Muslims will be waiting for news as to the first sighting of the magical sliver in the sky. Dear Servants of Allah! Know that, FASTING is not unique to the Muslims. It has been practiced for centuries in connection with religious ceremonies by Christians, Jews, Confucianists, Hindus, Taoists, and Jains. Allah the Almighty mentions this fact in the Qur’an: “O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may develop Allahconsciousness.” [Qur’an, 2:183] I also learn that some Native American societies observed fast to avert catastrophe or to serve as penance for sin. Native North Americans held tribal fasts to avert threatening disasters.
The Native Americans of Mexico and the Incas of Peru observed penitential fasts to appease their deities. Past nations of the Old World, such as the Assyrians and the Babylonians, observed fasting as a form of penance. Jews observe fast as a form of penitence and purification annually on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. On this day neither food nor drink is permitted.
Early Christians associated fasting with penitence and purification. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Christian church established fasting as a voluntary preparation for receiving the sacraments of Holy Communion and baptism and for the ordination of priests. Later, these fasts were made obligatory, as other days were subsequently added. In the 6th century, the Lenten fast was expanded to 40 days, on each of which only one meal was permitted.
After the Reformation, fasting was retained by most Protestant churches and was made optional in some cases. Stricter Protestants, however, condemned not only the festivals of the church, but its traditional fasts as well. In the Roman Catholic Church, fasting may involve partial abstinence from food and drink or total abstinence. The Roman Catholic days of fasting are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
In the United States, fasting is observed mostly by Episcopalians and Lutherans among Protestants, by Orthodox and Conservative Jews, and by Roman Catholics.
My respected people! Today, fasting took another form in the West: The hunger strike, a form of fasting, which in modern times has become a political weapon after being popularized by Mohandas Gandhi, leader of the struggle for India’s freedom, who undertook fasts to compel his followers to obey his precept of nonviolence.
With all what I have mentioned above, Islam is the only religion that has retained the outward and spiritual dimensions of fasting throughout centuries. Selfish motives and desires of the base self alienate a man from his Creator.
Fasting in materialistic world (II)
To me, one of the main factors behind the victories of earlier Muslims over their enemies during the wars of liberation was fewness of the desires they had as well as lack of the habits they fell into.
They used to take few dates with them then rush their enemies in the battlefield. On the other hand, Persian and Roman soldiers, used to have carriages laden with food and drink behind their ranks; otherwise, they would cease fighting! Nothing is as superior as fasting!
From time to time, people may be hit by severe crises that shake the very foundations of their societies as they become short of food and drink. But, what should they do then? They either become patient against their will, or become obliged to observe compulsory fasting. They do either while their hearts are filled with exasperation and discontent. By contrast, the Islamic ritual of fasting is something unique as it greatly differs from all these. In essence, it is to deprive one’s self of eating and drinking while there is plenty thereof only for the sake of Allah the Almighty! It is some sort of forbearance while one has a choice either to observe fast or not while no one would know about it except Allah the All-Knower.
Remarkably, one willingly chooses to silence the screams of one’s empty stomach and delays answering its demands.
One does this while anticipating the reward for his patience from his Lord on a very hard day, {And that is a Day to which all people shall be gathered. And that is a Day that shall be witnessed by all creation!} (Hud 11:103) The relationship between hardship and the reward in the Hereafter is what the following hadith means, “Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven.” (AlBukhari) The phrase “out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards,” stands for an effort whose reward is not hastened in any way.
Rather, the doer decides to put it away with the rest of his savings (i.e. other good deeds) with his Lord hoping to receive it all on a certain day, {That is the True Day! So let whoever so wills take a penitent course to his Lord.} (An-Naba’ 78:39) Unfortunately, the fasting person will find some people who neither observe fast, nor recognize the sanctity of the sacred month of Ramadan as they eat when they feel hungry and drink when they feel thirsty.
What will these people find with their Lord on the Day of Judgment?! Undoubtedly, they will find those who built up significant savings with their Lord as in another level, full of blessings and joys.
The Ever-Glorious Qur’an tells us about those who wasted their future in such a way as saying what may mean, {And the Companions of the Fire of Hell shall call out to the Companions of the [Everlasting] Garden of Paradise: Pour down upon us some water or give us some sustenance from what God has provided you! They shall say: Indeed, God has forbidden each of them to the disbelievers, those who took their religion as amusement and play, and whom the life of the world utterly deluded.} (Al-A`raf 7:50-51) May Allah the Almighty make us from among those who build up huge savings with Him and who anticipate great rewards from Him, Glory be His, on the Day of Judgment. Amen.
