Zawaya

A return to the spirit of Ramadan is in order

By: Jemal Mohamed Oumar

The concept of fasting has undoubtedly changed considerably in recent years in the life of Muslims. After being a solemn occasion for worshiping and getting closer to God with good deeds, Ramadan has become today an occasion for celebration and showing off the various pleasures of life including foods, drinks and entertainment. All these are things that can make the fast lose its significance and religious meaning which consists of encouraging the harmony and rapprochement of Muslims’ hearts in order to strengthen their unity, and enhance their social solidarity. This change is motivated by many reasons related to comfort that have become more accessible than ever before, such as the availability of foods and drinks of all kinds, in addition to means of entertainment, which the new technologies helped to spread, such as games, parks, television, and all the temptations the latter provides – such as movies, Fawazeer, and other entertainment programs. All this made people in the Islamic world be the worst example of stupidity due to the indulgence in excessive pleasures and persistent laziness and negativeness throughout the holy month of Ramadan, and proves the weakness of people and their escape from work and all fruitful efforts.

Although the contribution of Islamic peoples in all areas of production and innovation is at a standstill for hundreds of years, it seems that fasting makes the efforts of these people decrease even more, to below zero in Ramadan. This is a result of the misunderstanding of Muslims of what should be done in this month, as if it were an occasion to reduce production and increase only worship practices in order to renew repentance, Tahajud, fasting, and reading Qur’an during the day, and then indulge in excessive eating and drinking, and staying up all night to watch series.

The month of Ramadan in Islamic countries today unveils the reality of Muslims, and highlights their disadvantages and sick culture through shameful aspects that are common to almost all Muslim societies. These aspects can be summarized as following:
- Underestimating the value of time during Ramadan, and wasting daylight hours, spending them in shopping, sleeping, resting, and lying down at home in front of the TV, then frequenting mosques at night to perform prayers, and then continuing to watch series, Ramadan evening programs, and TV shows until it’s suhur time.
- Indulging in excessive consumption of foods and drinks, even if that means borrowing money to catch up with high costs, the expenses of food and filling bellies… increasing thus the insane consumption.
- Spending Ramadan nights in immorality, roistering, and different gambling games.
- Witnessing the decrease of the productive capacity of Islamic countries to its lowest levels because of the tendency of workers to inertia in the month of Ramadan.

As a conclusion, Muslims can ensure a balance between their health and Ramadan celebrations by pursuing a policy of “no excessiveness and no negligence”, which requires from clergymen and stakeholders – including doctors, social workers and educators – to focus on a message that should change the prevailing perception of fasting among people.