It is the 11th day of the month of Ramadan here at Redmond. I just finished off my suhoor, offered the morning-prayer and sitting at my computer desk in front of window enjoying the calmness of the dawn, the slow smooth breeze coming through the window and chirping of birds. Its weekend here and I could afford to remain awake. Few days back one of my friend asked me to pen down few words about Ramadan to post on a Facebook page. Along with I thought to also post it on here my blog. Before I proceed I would like to mentions that since this piece is not about my personal experience or my mind’s imagination but rather a topic, I would be using the works of subject matter experts wherever appropriate.
Ramadan is primarily a month of fasting. And fasting is an act of worship. Every act of worship in Islam has two dimensions associated with it. The external appearance or form of worship (which is visible to other people) and the inward spiritual dimension, the piety (which lies solely between the person and his/her creator). Though the external form is important in its own right, the inward spiritual dimension precedes it because it is the inward reality of us that is the essence of real-self. The external form is of no value if the inward spiritual dimension and piousness is missing.
These two dimensions of worship map directly to what we are as human beings: a combination of ‘reputation’ and ‘character’. It is the external form that leads to ‘reputation’ and it is our inward reality that leads to ‘character’. Reputation is what you lead others to believe you are, it is the wrapping, the outer reflection. Character is what you really are, it is the content, the inner reality. It is the character which is the essence of the "real-self" and not the reputation. This means that even though a person may seem to be perfect based on his perfection in the external form (or reputation) but it is his/her inward reality (or character) that determines the real value of a being.
Hence the essence of any act of worship in Islam is piety and character building. It achieves this by changing bad habits and replacing them with good habits. Habits are conditioned behavior achieved by repeatedly performing virtuous and pious actions until it subdues our usual action-reaction behavior. Habits combined with piety and conscience develops the character and the pursuit of piety and virtuousness leads to making our reputation a reflection of our character.
The renowned philosopher, Aristotle, once said: “You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event -- it is a habit". The great English writer, Shakespeare said: “First we make our habits, then our habits make us”. The Roman poet Naso Ovid said, "Habits eventually become character ".
Ramadan stands out from other acts of worship in Islam in its due diligence and increased stress on developing good habits and replacing bad habits. Ramadan is not merely about fasting and staying hungry. It makes an obligation to nurture our noble qualities; exercise patience, control our passions, our anger and emotions. It demands purity of intention and honesty of purpose. The great Islamic scholar, philosopher and thinker Abu Hamid al-Ghazali made reference to three levels of fasting: ordinary fasting, special fasting and extra-special fasting with each level being super set of previous levels.
Ordinary fasting refers to abstaining from food, drink and physical intimacy.
Special fasting subsumes ordinary fasting and additionally refers to keeping one's ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet and all organs away from unlawful acts. This includes restrain from viewing anything that is blameworthy or reprehensible; guarding one's tongue from idle chatter, lying, gossiping, obscenity, rudeness and argumentation, closing one's ears to everything reprehensible, the hands from being utilized for anything improper, feet from stepping towards what is reprehensible, the stomach from questionable food and gluttony and guarding one's chastity with due vigilance.
Extra-special fasting subsumes previous levels of fasting and refers to the fasting of the heart, which implies abstaining completely from unworthy concerns and improper considerations; focusing rather on one's relationship with the Creator and one's duties to the creation of the Creator. This should engender patience, sincerity, honesty, compassion, justice and love.
Thus the essence of the month of Ramadan is disciplining the soul, character building and attaining piety by developing good habits through repeated observance of virtuous actions. In the current world we live in, perception is considered reality. People are judged and given more credence by their external appearance (reputation), whether real or fake, rather than inner reality (character). And the fact of the matter is that moral health of a society is directly determined and impacted by virtuousness of character of individuals not their reputation. Hence in these times the month of Ramadan is ever more relevant than before.
Ramadan is primarily a month of fasting. And fasting is an act of worship. Every act of worship in Islam has two dimensions associated with it. The external appearance or form of worship (which is visible to other people) and the inward spiritual dimension, the piety (which lies solely between the person and his/her creator). Though the external form is important in its own right, the inward spiritual dimension precedes it because it is the inward reality of us that is the essence of real-self. The external form is of no value if the inward spiritual dimension and piousness is missing.
These two dimensions of worship map directly to what we are as human beings: a combination of ‘reputation’ and ‘character’. It is the external form that leads to ‘reputation’ and it is our inward reality that leads to ‘character’. Reputation is what you lead others to believe you are, it is the wrapping, the outer reflection. Character is what you really are, it is the content, the inner reality. It is the character which is the essence of the "real-self" and not the reputation. This means that even though a person may seem to be perfect based on his perfection in the external form (or reputation) but it is his/her inward reality (or character) that determines the real value of a being.
Hence the essence of any act of worship in Islam is piety and character building. It achieves this by changing bad habits and replacing them with good habits. Habits are conditioned behavior achieved by repeatedly performing virtuous and pious actions until it subdues our usual action-reaction behavior. Habits combined with piety and conscience develops the character and the pursuit of piety and virtuousness leads to making our reputation a reflection of our character.
The renowned philosopher, Aristotle, once said: “You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event -- it is a habit". The great English writer, Shakespeare said: “First we make our habits, then our habits make us”. The Roman poet Naso Ovid said, "Habits eventually become character ".
Ramadan stands out from other acts of worship in Islam in its due diligence and increased stress on developing good habits and replacing bad habits. Ramadan is not merely about fasting and staying hungry. It makes an obligation to nurture our noble qualities; exercise patience, control our passions, our anger and emotions. It demands purity of intention and honesty of purpose. The great Islamic scholar, philosopher and thinker Abu Hamid al-Ghazali made reference to three levels of fasting: ordinary fasting, special fasting and extra-special fasting with each level being super set of previous levels.
Ordinary fasting refers to abstaining from food, drink and physical intimacy.
Special fasting subsumes ordinary fasting and additionally refers to keeping one's ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet and all organs away from unlawful acts. This includes restrain from viewing anything that is blameworthy or reprehensible; guarding one's tongue from idle chatter, lying, gossiping, obscenity, rudeness and argumentation, closing one's ears to everything reprehensible, the hands from being utilized for anything improper, feet from stepping towards what is reprehensible, the stomach from questionable food and gluttony and guarding one's chastity with due vigilance.
Extra-special fasting subsumes previous levels of fasting and refers to the fasting of the heart, which implies abstaining completely from unworthy concerns and improper considerations; focusing rather on one's relationship with the Creator and one's duties to the creation of the Creator. This should engender patience, sincerity, honesty, compassion, justice and love.
Thus the essence of the month of Ramadan is disciplining the soul, character building and attaining piety by developing good habits through repeated observance of virtuous actions. In the current world we live in, perception is considered reality. People are judged and given more credence by their external appearance (reputation), whether real or fake, rather than inner reality (character). And the fact of the matter is that moral health of a society is directly determined and impacted by virtuousness of character of individuals not their reputation. Hence in these times the month of Ramadan is ever more relevant than before.
