are you insane?
A question posed by most of my family members and some of my friends when I tell them I cannot eat or drink until the sunsets. It is hard for them to understand why we fast, and even more so, at such an intense level that no one else fasts at. For those of you who are not aware, this is the blessed month of Ramadhan. A month that is extremely revered for Muslims. In most religious traditions, days that are considered special, holy, or important usually call for celebration. Which is understandable, as humans we have this deep desire to have fun and do pleasing things that we don’t usually get do on these special days. Well in Islam, we refrain from food and drink for 30 days from sunrise to sunset, but that is not all we refrain from. We also refrain from poor behavior, from lustful thoughts and anything else that is spiritually damaging. We believe that during this month, shaytan (satan) is chained up and cannot try to coerce us with his evil whispers. So any negative things we do are solely from ourselves. This is a great month for us to get closer to God and reflect on our relationship with the Most High.
What I find really interesting is the linguistic history of this month. So, Ramadhan has a root word and that root word is ramida or arramad, meaning intense scorching heat. I have recently been informed on the conceptual significance of this term and feel compelled to share it. This month of fasting has several effects on us. But linguistically, this root word has several characteristics that are manifested over these thirty days. One characterisitc of ‘ramida’ is that by refraining from eating and drinking we get an intense sensation of heat in our stomachs. Inevitably, this heat assists us in becoming more disciplined in our eating habits and physically makes our stomachs smaller.
A second characteristic of ‘ramida’ is that this intense heat has the ability to purify things. For example, I used to be a big camper and when we would find water in a river or somewhere taht we REALLY needed water, we would boil it a few times to rid it of as many impurities as possible. As humans, water is a major component of our cellular makeup. This intense ‘heat’ of Ramdhan gives purifies us in a spiritual sense. Now you may not believe me, but you almost have to try it to believe it. This is my fifth year fasting, second year benig Muslim. Through my experiences I have felt how close to God I get durign this month. I was talking to a few different friends this week and each one of them told me how they almost wnat to cry because Ramdhan is almost over. That is beautiful, even though we fast and struggle throughout the day, not one single Muslim I know wants to give up even one day of this month because of the effects it has on us spiritually. NOTHING, nothing else I have ever experienced in my life has the ability to spiritually rejuvenate you as fasting in the month of Ramadhan does.
The third and probably most profound characteristic of this word is another property intense heat which is it’s ability to mold things. Let us take a piece of metal. It is used to build skyscrapers in Chicago becaus it is so strong and sturdy, but if we apply intense heat ‘ramida’ to it, it will become soft and malleable. The beauty of this is that it happens to us too. We go into Ramdhan with a year of bad, unbreakable habits. This month softens our eharts and enables us to mold our behaviors, our actions, and our mentalities. Once the heat leaves, our hearts cool off and harden with these new virtues inscribed in our hearts. There is this age old American tradition of ‘New Years Resolutions’ which I have always personally found silly. You cannot simply cahnge a behavior over night, because an outward behaviors is a refleciton of an inward condition. We must change these conditions in order to bring about an effect. For example, when you have an illness, do you treat the symptoms? or the source of the symptoms? Likewise, as the name suggest, Ramadhan instills this fury of heat into our spirit and changes us for the better.
If you are not a Muslim, I highly suggest you try fasting for just one day. Talk to one of your Muslims friends and tell them you want to fast with them, I guarantee you that you will get somethign more out of it than just a grumbling stomach, a dry mouth, and bad breath. If you are Muslim and you are not fasting for whatever reason you may have drafted up in your mind, no worldy gain can make up for what it is that you are missing out on.
Until next time, peace out my peeps…
Enjoy these last few days of Ramadhan!! Take full advantage of the ‘intense heat’! #c6b06b
