The Muslim Ummah is in the midst of observing the second Ramadan to come since the genocide took place in Gaza. While many of us look forward to the rituals associated with the month of fasting, the reality is that millions of our brothers and sisters around the world will not be able to observe a normal Ramadan.
Being able to observe Ramadan in peace and safety presents two unique opportunities for reflection. First, we should hasten to express our deep gratitude at being afforded another chance to mark the observance of Ramadan with our family, friends, and community, even though our hearts are heavy. Second, this Ramadan should cause us to reflect on the sober reality that so many members of our Ummah are suffering due to the failures of international law, the ineptness of the institutions that are supposed to uphold peacekeeping, and the shocking collusion of so many governments in propping up an apartheid state. Fasting another Ramadan allows us to think more deeply about the need for global change and justice—and not just for the 29 or 30 days that Ramadan will last, but for as long as Allah the Exalted allows us to live.
As people of faith, we understand there is a larger purpose behind rituals. There is a connection between outer actions and inner states. Allah Most High reveals in the Quran, “O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may ward off (evil).”(Quran 2:183) In this verse, God is reminding us of the true purpose of fasting: it is to produce in the human being a constant state of taqwa, of God-consciousness, that emanates from the sensations of hunger, fatigue, and thirst, and leads to inner purification and the external struggle for justice.
Perhaps the best reminder of this connection is the warning that issues forth in the Prophetic tradition wherein the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “There are people who fast and get nothing from their fast except hunger, and there are those who pray and get nothing from their prayer but a sleepless night.” (Ibn Majah) The Prophet ﷺ was reminding us that there is so much more to fasting than the outward abstention from indulgences, and that a person can be outwardly fasting while not having experienced any of the inner transformations necessary to produce the taqwa of which the verse in Surat al-Baqarah speaks. We ask Allah the Exalted to bless us with a fast that goes beyond hunger and sleeplessness, one that awakens our inner conscience, and propels us to stand up for truth and justice.
Ustadha Zaynab Ansari, Instructor at Ribaat Academic Institute
