Dr.Jeffrey Lang on Ramadan

Dr.Jeffrey Lang's writing on Ramadan, Excerpted from his famous book, 'Even Angel's Ask'

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may learn God consciousness. (Holy Qur'an 2:183)

"Dr. Lang! Congratulations!" A beaming, middle-eastern student called to me, as I stood by the math department post boxes checking the morning mail.
"And you too!" I called back to him while he hurried down the hall toward his class.
"What was that for?" A colleague asked to me, looking up from his letters.
"That student is a Muslim," I explained.
"He just congratulated me on the start of Ramadan, our month of fasting."
"He congratulated you on having to suffer a month of hunger?" He said with a laugh. "I could understand him congratulating you at the end of the month, but not at the beginning." "We have a different perspective," I told him,
"we view the fast of Ramadan as a great opportunity for personal and spiritual growth." "I thought it was an act of penance," said another professor who was listening in on our conversation.
"No, not really. We believe that God is very forgiving and that we are especially receptive to his forgiveness during the month of fasting. But we think of the fast of Ramadan more as a spiritual benefit – a chance to review and reorient our lives and to grow closer to God. Muslims look forward to Ramadan with great anticipation and optimism."
"That may be," he remarked, "but I know for sure that I could never survive entire month of fasting!"
Each day during the Arabic lunar month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food, drink, and sex between sunrise and sunset. They must also restrain their temper and avoid backbiting. One obvious objective of this month-long fast is to teach the believer self-control and to prepare him for the challenges that life may offer. Non-Muslims often mistakenly assume that the aim of the fast is self-mortification – to weaken the body so as to free the soul – as is the case in some other religious traditions. …… Each of the pillars of Islam promotes community solidarity, although this may not be at first obvious with the fast of Ramadan. Yet with the possible exception of the Hajj, there is no other time of the year when fraternal feeling among Muslims is so strong and so evident. During this month, mosques throughout the Islamic world are packed with worshippers throughout the night, charitable work and donations increase dramatically in the community, and Muslims make special efforts to visit friends and family, especially those whom they have not send in some time. Muslims consider it a great blessing to share iftar (the meal taken just after sunset) with others. A Muslim household will hardly ever break the fast alone during Ramadan, but will invite friends and neighbors, including non-Muslims to join them for iftar. In the West, communal feeling among Muslims is also heightened during Ramadan, because their lifestyle becomes even more distinguished from the non-Muslim majority. Ramadan is a very spiritual time for Muslims, who often refer to it as the Month of peace and the Month of Mercy. It is the month in which the revelation of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad began(2:185), the revelation that brought and still brings God's serenity and security to so many Muslims. Muslims believe that they are especially receptive to God's boundless grace and forgiveness during this period. The experience of fasting, together with the many voluntary acts of worship they perform, helps them to better focus on their relationships with God. Of the five pillars of Islam, the fast of Ramadan is perhaps the most personal expression of self surrender to God; we can observe a Muslim performing the other four pillars, but, in addition to himself, only God knows if he is staying with the fast. Due to this, the fast is not something a person can perform to be seen and respected by others. We can tell people that we are fasting, but they have no practical way of verifying it. The Prophet explained it best when he stated that God says, "The fast is for Me[alone]."
Ramadan is also the month of sharing God's mercy with others, a time of community healing and renewal. Many broken friendships are restored and hatchets are buried during this month. One Muslim friend told me: "If hurt feelings between Muslims can not be mended during Ramadan, then there is no hope of them ever being mended."
The ritual fast especially should increase empathy among Muslims for the poor and deprived, because for an entire month the faithful must do without even some of the simplest daytime pleasures. Yet, even while fasting, it is sometimes all too easy to forget our responsibilities as God's vicegerents.

Excerpted from: Even Angel's Ask
Dr. Jeffrey Lang is currently an associate professor in the Department of mathematics at the University of Kansas .