Going beyond hunger and thirst

How Ramadan should stir a transformation for the better in the faithful

THE spiritual disruption of the Ramadan “sale” is upon us once again.

No, I am not talking about shopping sprees during pre-Hari Raya sales at malls. And no, I am also not referring to the banners everywhere screaming of TV sets and sofas at cheaper prices to decorate the house with for the festivities when fasting is over.

What I am referring to is the spiritual “sale” of Ramadan that most people, including Muslims themselves, may be unaware of.

Understanding this “sale” of spiritual growth may help in keeping the peace and harmony among the different communities in Malaysia.

Let me explain. There are three aspects of Ramadan that I believe are not usually spoken about.

The first aspect is patience, the second is generosity and the third is becoming closer to God through prayer.

All three are supposed to trigger what I call “spiritual disruption”. The disruption is supposed to elevate Muslims to a higher level so that a transformation for the better can occur, not just for one month but for the rest of the year and for life.

Prophet Muhammad said that if a change in faith for the better does not occur during Ramadan, then all a Muslim gets from the month is being hungry and thirsty. That signifies the importance of these aspects that go beyond the physical hardship of not eating and drinking.

So, patience. During Ramadan, a Muslim also fasts by restraining emotions and trying for high levels of patience. If someone cuts us off in traffic, or a colleague misses a deadline, or our spouse misunderstands us, these issues must all be dealt with with patience.

One scholar on YouTube says that for Muslims, every fasting day should be “business as usual” in one sense, meaning nothing should change.

Fasting is a “secret” between a believer and God because no one else can “see” anyone fasting.

Once I was in a meeting with a group of non-Muslim politicians and food began to be served during a break; one of them stopped the servers when he realised I was fasting. I said that it was not necessary and that they should enjoy the food and not mind my presence. But the non-Muslim politician disagreed and the meeting went on without food.

Recently, I was in a meeting where only one person in the room was a non-Muslim, and I noticed that no food was offered and the meeting went on for hours until near the breaking of fast. I quietly said to the non-Muslim attendee that the secretariat should have prepared some food for him but he waved it away as inconsequential.

For me, no one should tiptoe around Muslims during Ramadan, they should just carry on with business as usual.

I felt the patience aspect very much when I was studying abroad in the United States and Scotland for a total of nine years. Oh, and let’s not talk about fasting during the summer for 16 hours!

The next aspect of the “sale” is generosity.

Muslims are many times more generous during this month.

This is because the Prophet said that whoever helps others with food for breaking fast will receive the rewards of those fasting.

Thus getting sponsorship for iftar is always easy. The Prophet was said to be “as generous as the desert wind” during Ramadan.

It is also said that any good deed performed during Ramadan will receive 700 times the reward from God than those performed at any other time.

This aspect teaches the idea of curbing greed as Muslims must share with those in need as well as practise not being governed by selfish interest.

Finally, there is the Tarawih prayer during Ramadan. Muslims throng mosques during the 29 to 30 days of fasting for this prayer.

Usually, mosques are not as full during the Isya, or night, prayer but not during Ramadan.

Not only are mosques filled to the brim, but the prayer is long and challenging too.

The origin of the Tarawih prayer is that it is a private and personal prayer of the Prophet.

It was meant to be a private audience with God via a prolonged prayer after the Isya, or night, prayer. But the later tradition of the Companions made it into a congregational prayer.

I suspect that the Tarawih prayer is a practice of the Tahajjud prayer that one performs in the dead of night, alone and in silence so as not to disturb those who sleep. Some Muslims fulfil both traditions by performing half of the Tarawih prayer at the mosque, then completing the other part at home. The Tarawih prayer thus can be said to be a practice to become closer to God privately but also to strengthen the community through the congregational acts.

These are the aspects that make up the “sale” I referred to at the beginning of this column. The “sale” of disrupting a Muslim’s day-to-day affairs to make him or her more patient, more generous to the poor, and also bring him or her closer to God through prayer.

I believe – and have seen – however that many Muslims still see Ramadan only in its basic physical form and do not use the month to transform themselves to be better for the rest of the year, even for the rest of their lives.

If the three aspects of the Ramadan “sale” were to be fully understood and appreciated, we would have a better nation of patient and generous Muslims who won’t be swayed by extremism and dangerous conservative attitudes – such as expecting others to tiptoe around them.

 

Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Studies at UCSI University. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.