EID Saeed , Wa kul Aam wa enthum bi Khair Bis Saha wa as Salam Have a blessed Eid Billy and Family ----------////// Ramadan provides a time for truce and for giving “Id Mubarak’ - “may you have a blessed Id” The Times Credo: Published at 12:01AM, July 26 2014 On Monday the world’s Muslim community, which comprises between 1.2 and 1.5 billionpeople, or between a fifth and a quarter of humanity, will celebrate the Id al-Fitr, the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast, at the end of its annual period of fasting, the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. Fasting is taken absolutely literally in Islam, so that the ideal is that nothing should enter the body of a Muslim, in the form of food, drink or medicine, between dawn and sunset. This is an extremely demanding discipline, particularly for Muslims in places farther north than the traditional heartland of Islam; today, here in Edinburgh, a pious Muslim should be fasting between the hours of 0310 and 2135, almost eighteen and a half hours. At its most basic level, fasting is undertaken as an act of obedience to a divine command, as given in the second chapter of the Koran, verses 183-185: “You who believe, fasting is prescribed for you.” This is not seen as an arbitrary command, however, as several rationales are given. There is, first, the value of discipline, what Christians used to call “the mortification of the flesh”, a concept familiar to members of other religious traditions too, including Jews. The earliest period of fasting in the Muslim community, indeed, was the same as that used by Jews, the first ten days of the year, but Muslim practice then diverged from Jewish custom, with Ramadan being chosen because it was during that month that the first revelation of the Koran, the first five verses of Chapter 96, was received. Second, physical denial leads to spiritual insight. Biblical precedent and Christian spirituality also support this argument, with Lent traditionally being seen not simply as a time of physical abstinence but as a time of spiritual preparation for Easter. The change of daily timetable and rhythm that Ramadan brings provides good opportunities for both of these, and there is an established Muslim practice of reading the entire Koran during the month. The fact that Muslims worldwide are fasting at the same time also promotes feelings of global solidarity — expressed through the transfer of material resources from the wealthier to the poorer parts of the Islamic world. All donations to Islamic Relief in the UK during this Ramadan, up to a total value of £5 million, are being matched by the UK government. There is also a political dimension, as the tradition has grown up of the month providing an opportunity for a truce, if not for the resolution, of conflict. An obvious analogy here is the truce agreed across the First World War trenches at Christmas. It would be wonderful, therefore, if the sectarian conflict between different Muslim communities in Syria or Iraq could be paused, or even ended, during Ramadan, or if Boko Haram could release all its schoolgirl hostages — although admittedly this is highly unlikely to happen. What will happen is that pious Muslims across the world will have been attempting, during Ramadan, to deny their physical appetites and develop their spiritual instincts, as both an individual and a community challenge. They will not always have succeeded, but there has nevertheless been a real communal ambition to undertake the discipline of fasting together. It is tough to do this in a Muslim-majority context, where most public life conforms outwardly to the requirements of Ramadan. It is even more tough in a Muslim-minority context, where normal life, including public eating and drinking, carries on. But in either context the celebrations at home and in mosques of the “iftar”, the breaking of the fast at the end of each day, are genuine and heartfelt, and the celebrations at the end of the month, the Id al-fitr, which will take place on Monday, are understandably exuberant. The traditional greeting for the occasion is “Id Mubarak’ - “may you have a blessed Id”. Hugh Goddard is director of the HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, University of Edinburgh
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 10:53:23 +0000
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