Ramadhan 🌙 - The month of FASTING


Introduction 
The new moon of Ramadhan is awaited with excitement by every beleiving Muslim throughout the world! And why wouldn't he/she be excited for this blessed month? Ramadhan or Ramzan - the 9th month of Islamic calender (AKA Hijri calender). A month wherein God opens his doors of mercy & closes his doors of anger. A month wherein the first few verses of the Quran were revealed & a month wherein he has commanded his beleivers to fast from dawn to dusk. 

How do Muslims fast?
Muslims are supposed to have a pre dawn meal (AKA Suhoor around 4:30 AM) and not consume any food or drink and avoid sexual pleasures from dawn till sunset. There is an exception however for those who are sick or are travelling who can makeup those fasts later on. Those who can't fast at all (like the elderly or those with chronic illness), can feed a poor person for every day of missed fast.

Why has God commanded to FAST?
When a person fasts, he is supposed to control the three basic biological needs of human body - hunger, thirst & sexual urges. By fasting, a person trains his soul in the art of self control. In other words, 'When you can abstain from your basic needs, you can defenitely abstain from evil deeds '(which are not a your basic needs) is the motto of fasting.

And that is why Prophet Muhammad ï·º said:
" He who doesn't give up evil speech and evil actions, God is not in need of him leaving food & drink " [1]


God Almighty says in the Quran:
" O beleivers, fasting has been ordained upon you, as it was ordained for those people who were before you, so that you may learn TAQWA" [2]

TAQWA is an Arabic word which means - piety, God consciousness, God fear, devotion etc.

It's the month of the Quran
Muslims throughout the world spend long times in Ramadhan reciting the Quran. Because this was the month that God chose to reveal the first few verses of the Quran upon his Prophet as a guidance and criterion to humankind.

God Almighty says in the Quran:
" The month of Ramadhan in which the Quran was revealed - as a Guidance to humankind and as a criterion." [3]

Taraweeh
Taraweeh are the extra night prayers which Muslims pray in the Month of Ramadhan apart from the regular 5 time prayers. They're generally prayed in congregation in Mosques throughout the world. Although not mandatory, Taraweeh prayers are highly recommended to be prayed.


Iftar party!
Truth be told. There's something known as 'Iftar' in Islam, but nothing called as 'Iftar party' in Islam. Iftar by defenition is the food one consumes after sunset to break his/her fast. The Prophet ï·º encouraged people to eat moderately and never to eat to one's fill. Eating extravagantly leads to laziness, weakens a person spiritually & is a root cause of all sorts of "DEVELOPED COUNTRY physical ailments". Unfortunately, "feasting after fasting" has become a norm in Muslim households, but it is completely against the spirit of fatsing.


Apart from fasting, iftar, quran recitation, Taraweeh this month is also spent in charity & other good deeds. It's that month wherein you would see the Muslims throughout the world to be at their peak of devotion. And that's Ramadhan - the month of fasting & not feasting !


References:
[1] Sahih Al bukhari - 6057
[2] Quran, chapter 2- Surah Baqarah Verse 183
[3] Quran, chapter 2- Surah Baqarah Verse 185























Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An year in Psychiatry

Image
With an inquisitive mind to unravel the un-unravelable mysteries of human mind and to satisfy the novelty seeking thirst of my soul, which was bored by the mundane medical stuff - did I enter Psychiatry. Of course I couldn't completetely get rid of mundane medical stuff. Because apparently the "other world famous Psychiatry hospital" refers Psychiatry patients with mundane medical stuff, such as those with hypertension whose BP doesn't come under control on Amlong 5mg to St Johns for "multidisciplinary management". But thanks to them in a way, we get to see a variety of patients. Nonetheless the 1 year journey in Psychiatry has been amazing with its cyclothymic ups and downs. From blankly staring at slides during academics to trying to make sense of things ; From being tremulous while giving ECTs (1)to patients, to appreciating it's miracles (and wishing someone could give it to me, to improve my mood); From getting annoyed by the only TELUGU...
Read more

Even we can save 2 LIVES

Image
While having small talk at dinner in a messy mess with one of my male colleagues during my Post MBBS Government service, I asked him as to which subject he's interested in doing his PG [1] in? He said "OBG"! [2] And I was like, "Why?" with an expression on my face saying 'what's wrong with you?' Because all that I have,  is PTSD [3] from OBG. It's not the subject itself, as I liked to read it.(Thanks to a very good teacher we had in our UG college & Marrow's Dr. Sakshi Arora [4] ). Nor was it the hectic duties during internship (as we had some good PGs who were good to work with). But it was the labor ward which was in and of itself a war zone!!!  Lots of women shouting for lots of things!!! Pregnant ladies shouting out of pain, nursing staff shouting at the pregnant ladies and the consultants and PGs shouting at nursing staff and at each other!!  Kind of like a food chain or rather a 'Shout chain'! Everyone's bu...
Read more

BE THAT BOOT LICKER

It was during my internship time in 2020.  There was some friction between a particular teacher and our batch. The context of conflict being, a redundant punishment some of my batchmates got for a minor mistake that they did. It was like what you say -  killing a fly with a canon.I wouldn't go into the details of this.  Anyways, the batch decided to take this matter seriously. The way our batchmates were treated was completely unfair. I don't intend to demonise that teacher by writing this blog. But there's a lesson I learnt from the sequence of events that unfolded after this issue, which I am trying to share. I highly respect this particular teacher, but none of us are saints! So we planned to approach the Director of the institute who was indubitably 'Student friendly'. And somehow we managed to take advantage of it as well, I would say. Anyways we approached him and I happen to handle a letter (which was authored by me) over to him with my batchmates signatures ...
Read more