I want to talk today about Ramadan and fasting. I know you are thinking, “One more Khutbah
about Ramadan? Please…” But my focus is a little different this time.
I’d like to talk more specifically about
our practice of fasting here in America, and how we can look to the history of
our faith for “clues” about how we understand its meaning.
I will begin with a story about the journey of fasting in my
own family. I am taking the liberty,
with my wife’s permission, of sharing her experience with this pillar of the
faith over the years. She has struggled
with fasting since adopting Islam over thirty years ago. Every year she has tried to fast, and it has
been almost impossible for her to abstain from eating and drinking all day,
especially in summer, with its 17-18 hours days. She always felt discouraged and
frustrated. She would be almost
incapacitated by dehydration. Her body
physiology was not used to the practice of abstaining, especially from
water. The challenge was not just physical,
but also psychological. The concept of
fasting ran counter to everything she had always been taught about the need
stay hydrated, especially in summer, and that eating small amounts of food
every few hours was the best way to maintain energy and productivity. On days when she had to work full time, she
could not fast. In spite of all that I
encouraged her to fast to the best of her ability – not fast all day, drink
water once or twice during the day – whatever she needed to do to get through
and function. She tried different ways
over the years, but she always tried to fast.
And Alhamdulillah, to her surprise, she is finally able to fast all day,
even in the summer.
This journey is not unique to her. We have to think of others who probably struggle
with fasting like she has – other converts to Islam in America, children
growing up, especially when they see that other people around them do not have
to suffer like they do. We should even
think about other Muslims who decided to leave the faith for a time, but then
come back to it, and who might find Islamic rituals difficult to follow,
especially fasting and praying regularly.
We can go further and say that even for those of us who are used to
fasting all our lives, we might find it challenging to keep the tradition while
maintaining regular working hours, with everyone expecting us to perform
“business as usual,” Ramadan or not.
Muslims in Islamic countries deal with the challenges of Ramadan by
changing their life style and work expectations. In Egypt, for example, no one is expected to
do much during Ramadan. For them,
everything is “Baad il Eid,” which means, “After Eid.” I wish we could do that here, but we cannot,
and honestly, we should not. I remember
when I fasted Ramadan for the first time in America, I felt that I had never
fasted before in Egypt. It was so easy
in Egypt. No struggle, it was fun. But here, having to work long the same long
hours every day, it was a challenge.
This leads to the second part of my Khutbah. Is there anything in the experience of the
first Muslims that we can refer to, to inspire us through our challenges with
fasting in America? The concept of
fasting in Ramadan as we now know it developed over time in Madinah. When Prophet Muhammad, pbuh came to Madinah,
he found that the Jews were fasting the day of Passover to celebrate the exodus
of Prophet Mousa and his followers from Egypt.
He said, “Mousa is our prophet too,” so he decided to fast that day and
asked his followers to fast as well. Sometime
during the first year in Madinah, Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad Ayat
183-184 of Surat Al-Baqara, asking the Muslims to fast three specific days –the
13th, 14th, and 15th days of every month. (This later became a tradition of the Prophet
for fasting outside of Ramadan.) Allah
also mentioned in these ayat that those who find it difficult to fast do not
have to fast, and they could provide a meal to a needy person in Madinah
instead. The rule was general, without
any limitations. It was left up to each
Muslim to decide for himself or herself whether or not they could fast. Allah also mentioned that if someone was sick
or traveling, they should not fast, and make up those days later, after
Ramadan, whenever possible.
Sometime later, within the first two years in Madinah, Ayah
185 was revealed, asking the Muslims to fast the entire month of Ramadan. The ayah confirmed to everyone that those who
find it difficult should not exhaust themselves by fasting.
It
was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was first bestowed from on high as
a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the
standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see this month
shall fast throughout it; but he that is ill, or on a journey, shall fast
instead for the same number of other days.
God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer
hardship; but He desires that you complete the number of days required and that
you extol God for His having guided you aright, and that you render your thanks
unto Him. [2:185]
What a beautiful ayah – a beautiful concept. Allah wants us to fast, but not to have
hardship. Why? Because fasting, like all Islamic rituals,
has a purpose. The rituals are not just
“Faraid,” - rules to be followed - they are pathways to Allah. They are there to help us stay on that
path. Hardship might compromise that
concept, making us focus more on getting through it at any price, with the risk
of losing perspective. It is worth
pointing out here that “fasting” in Arabic - sawm - means literally “to abstain from something.” For example, in Surat Maryam, God conveyed to
Maryam that she should tell the people
“Behold, abstinence from speech have I vowed to the Most Gracious; hence
I may not speak today to any mortal.” [19:26]
When the Muslims began fasting in Madinah, they followed
different rules from those we follow today – this was the third phase of
fasting. They ate at sunset. They were allowed to eat and drink as long as
they stayed awake, but if they went to sleep, they would not eat or drink until
the next day at sunset. Some of the
commentators say that they believed that was the way the other people of the
book, (Jews and Christians) fasted at that time, as Allah said in Ayah 183:
O
You who have attained to faith! Fasting
is ordained for you as it was ordained for those before you, so that you might
remain conscious of God. [2:183]
Most of the Muslims went to sleep after they prayed Isha,
especially when they prayed with the Prophet, in order to be able to get up
early for Fajr prayer. Some of the
Muslims could not follow that rule, and were not strict in observing it
(including, believe it or not, Omar ibn Khattab). One day, one of the Prophet’s companions
named Sarma ibn Malik, who was a farm worker, inspired another revelation
regarding fasting. He came home at the
end of the day with some dates from the field where he worked. He told his wife, “I do not want to eat dates
tonight. Dates have ‘burned my
stomach.’ Take these dates and trade them for something
warm to eat.” He was too tired to stay
awake, so he fell asleep. When his wife
came back she woke him up to eat, but he was afraid to, not wanting to violate
the rule. The next day he went to
work. At the end of the day, Prophet
Muhammad saw him at the mosque and asked him “What happened to you, you look
pale and sick.” So Sarma ibn Malik told
him what happened. That night, Gibrael
came to Prophet Muhammad with Ayah 187 from Surat Al-Baqara, revising the rule
of fasting, telling the Muslims that they can eat and drink whenever they want
from sunset to dawn. What is more intriguing
in this ayah (Al Baqara 187), is that Allah stated that He knew some of the
Muslims were, literally, “cheating” (“takhtanouna anfusakum”).
Allah was not angry with them, but merciful. He forgave them and lifted that
hardship. There is a wonderful story
from the Seerah which illustrates this forgiveness as practiced by the
Prophet. A man came to Prophet Muhammad
and said “I am burning in hellfire. I intentionally
broke my fast during the day yesterday.
What should I do?” The Prophet
waited for awhile, according to his companions, waiting for an answer from
Allah (as was the case many times in Seerah).
Then he asked for the man to come back to him. The Prophet had a good sense of humor as
well. He said, “Where is the man on
fire?” The man came back. The Prophet then said, “Here is what you have
to do. Ask Allah for forgiveness, free a
slave.” The man answered, “I do not have
any.” The Prophet answered, “Then fast
for two successive months.” The man
answered, “I cannot.” The Prophet then
said, “Then feed 60 needy people from Madinah.”
The man said, “I cannot.” The
Prophet waited a little bit. Then a man
came with a pot full of dates and gave them to the Prophet to give to the man
as a Sadaqa (act of charity). The
Prophet gave it to him and said, “Find 60 needy people in Madinah and feed them
these dates.” The man finally said,
“Prophet Muhammad, in this city I am poorer than anyone else.” Prophet Muhammad laughed out loud and told
him, “Go home and feed your family with these dates.” Just like that. No hardship, absolute forgiveness and mercy. Prophet Muhammad understood this poor man’s
good intention and solid faith, and never questioned it.
The last thing I want to mention is a fun and interesting
fact. If you think that fasting these
past few years has been hard because Ramadan has been in the summer, I would
say that it could have been worse.
Ramadan could have fallen during the summer every year. Let me explain. Ramadan, in Arabic, is from the root word
“Ramada” which literally means “sizzling hot.”
Before Islam, in the time of Jahiliyya, Ramadan correlated with the
middle of summer, when it was extremely hot in Makkah. Before Islam, the Arabs used a lunisolar
calendar, just like the Jewish calendar now.
They intercalated the calendar by adding three months every seven years
(3, 6, 8) to make up the difference between the solar year and the lunar
year. They did that because it was to
their advantage to correlate the months with the seasons. The most important month for them was the
season of Hajj, in the month of “Thor Al Hijja.” They wanted Hajj to be in the fall season, after
their summer trading journey to the north, which was the most important one. They
wanted the trade season to precede the Hajj season so they would have goods to
trade during Hajj, a big commercial event. In the year 9 Hijra, Surah At-Tawba (#9) was
revealed to Prophet Muhammad, especially Ayah 37, where Allah prohibited the
Muslims from doing any future intercalation.
Since then, the months of the Hijjra calendar rotate through the
different seasons. Ramadan now falls in
summer, spring, winter and fall.
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