Ahmer Zaidi

RAMADAN MUBARAK! (A Blessed Ramadan)

Ramadan started on 8/22/09 and will last 30 or 29 days, depending on the birth of the new moon. For more than a billion Muslims around the world-including over 8 million in North America-Ramadan is a “month of blessing” marked by prayer, fasting, and charity.

Prayer (Salah):

Salah is the name for the obligatory prayers which are performed five times a day, and are a direct link between the worshipper and God with no earthly intermediaries. A prayer takes a few minutes to perform.

Prayers are said at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall, and thus determine the rhythm of the entire day. Although it is preferable to worship together in a mosque, a Muslim may pray almost anywhere, such as in fields, offices, factories and universities.

Visitors to the Muslim world are struck by the centrality of prayers in daily life. Performing daily prayers is an act of communication between humans and God. The prayers are considered a duty for all Muslims.

Fasting (Sawm):

The Qur’an mandates fasting during the month of Ramadan:

The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur’an was revealed, a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction; therefore whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein, and whoever is sick or upon a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days… sura 2.185, known as The Cow)

Fasting, or sawm, during the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Sunni Islam.

Why fast?

• to develop patience and self-control
• to learn sympathy for the deprived
• to cleanse the body and mind
• to gain appreciation for Allah’s bounty
• to demonstrate the depth of one’s commitment
• to protect against sin. A hadith states: “Satan runs in the circulatory system of the son of Adam in the same way blood circulates in our system; so tighten his passages with hunger.”

Charity (Zakat):

Zakat, or alms-giving, is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, the five duties required of every practicing Muslim.

Zakat is the Arabic word for charity, or alms-giving. Unlike Jesus Christ, Mohammed never condemned wealth or possessions of this world. He himself had become rather wealthy, working for Khadiga, the wealthy merchant-trader who would become his first wife. Muhammad always respected industriousness and never required individuals to give away their possessions.

Muhammad did, however, oppose hoarding and the amassing of fortunes for fortune’s sake. To counter the impulse, he required Muslims always to set aside a portion of their wealth for the poor—a self-imposed and regular tax on income. Zakat is at the root of Islam’s egalitarian principles, a constant reminder that ostentation is against God’s will.