Ramadan offers Muslim faithful a unique opportunity to move closer to the creator and inspire spiritual rebirth and revival. In climes where patriotic Muslim leaders and scholars exist, the month of Ramadan is a platform to use the guidance of holy scripture to rally the people and inspire spirit of identifying with the nation, as the month emphasises on mankind and not Muslims alone.
It is important to understand that simply keeping away from food and drink is not sufficient to reap the benefits of fasting and to attain piety as mentioned in the Qur’an. The purpose of the fast is to help develop self-restraint, self-purification, God-consciousness, compassion, the spirit of caring and sharing, the love of humanity and the love of God.
Fasting is a universal custom and is advocated by all the religions of the world, with more restrictions in some than in others. Fasting in Ramadan must develop in a person the real spirit of social belonging, of unity and brotherhood, and of equality before God. This spirit is the natural product of the fact that when people fast, they feel the hunger and hence worries and stresses of the less-privileged and the have-nots in the society. Fasting is a more comprehensive action that should help the leadership in striving to eradicate poverty and shun financial mismanagement of the nation’s resources.
A fasting person is one whose limbs withhold from sins, his tongue from lies, foul speech and falsehood, his stomach from food and drink and his private parts from sexual intercourse. These entirely he does, seeking nothing but the pleasure of Allah and Allah alone. “If you do not abstain from evil words and vile deeds,” said the holy prophet, “God has no need of your abstinence from food and drink.” This is how Ramadan fast is meant to teach Muslims not only to lead an innocent and spotless life, but also to be peace-loving citizens, all the time and anywhere.
The questions are: Will our efforts reflect these characteristics? Will we be adorning our fasting with long prayers; supplication for forgiveness and extra recitation and contemplation of the book of Allah? Or will we be sleeping out our fasts or perhaps watching endless hours of television and home videos to pass time? Can we use the opportunity of this fast to critically examine our national problems and with the fear of Allah chart a progressive path for this potentially great country? Will our leaders attain piety and sincerely face the task of serving the country and eschew corrupt tendencies?
Fasting in the month of Ramadan should not be seen as a duty to be completed in any manner, but as a tremendous opportunity to elevate our ranks in the hereafter by becoming pious. We should have the desire to change our attitude towards our deeds and lives, as fasting is an institution for the improvement of moral and spiritual character in human beings. There is no more opportune moment than this, for this is the month when “the gates of paradise are opened, the gates of hellfire are closed and the devils are chained”’ (Bukhari and Muslim).
A great opportunity is knocking at the door of every Muslim with the arrival of this glorious month. It should be an opportunity for personal and national rebirth. Allah says: “O you who believe! Fasting has been prescribed to you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain piety” (Qur’an 2:183). “When you are fasting,” asserted the apostle of Allah, “abuse not anybody, and if a person disputes or fights you, turn away from him by saying, ‘I cannot fight because I am fasting’.” Here, one wonders if members of the devilish sect called Boko Haram would also be fasting.
We should be concerned for our fellow countrymen at all times, but Ramadan is the time of the year when we can really feel for them and grab the rewards more than ever. It can be said that Muslims watch television and listen to Radio mostly during the month of Ramadan. So, one of the best ways of doing Dawah is to directly engage in presenting programme on the media or be a sponsor. The late Chief Moshood Abiola and Alhaji Wahab Folawiyo would not be forgotten on their efforts at sponsoring programmes both on radio and television during Ramadan.
Pitiably, while there is no argument about appropriateness of radio/television to reach out to a large number of people, the sponsors of most programmes do so for personal aggrandisement, unwarranted publicity for themselves and above all, for self-seeking motives. It is common for such people to make their anchorman somebody who praise-sings them for more than half of the programme’s duration without disseminating convincing information at the end of the day. What a better time to give Islamic perspective to the challenges and solution to the myriad problems confronting us. At least, with beautiful messages disseminated on the electronic media, people, even if not converted, will better appreciate the essence of Islam.
The education sector is one area where Islamic scholars could focus on in the month of Ramadan. The way our education is, there is no theory of change that could really transform it. Most of our schools are mere literacy centres, with little or no roadmap to change it. What we have can best be described as schools without education. It’s a vicious circle that has no end in sight and for this reason poverty persists in its gravest forms. We need compassionate leaders to change this, as no foreign degree or articulate English speech of those who plan and re-plan the same thing without any aspiration to change can equal the compassion. It will tremendously achieve a lofty goal, during the month of Ramadan, if Islamic scholars focus some of their public lectures on addressing the decay in the education sector.
Let me seize this opportunity to call attention of Muslim faithful in position of authority to reflect on the example of two of our heroes – Abubakr and Umar. Abubakr changed neither his residence nor his mode of living when he became a ruler. He refused to take a salary until his companions forced him. Abubakr was succeeded by Umar. When Umar was asked what his entitlement from the treasury should be, Umar replied: “Two sets of clothing, one for the summer, and one for the winter. Enough to perform the Hajj and sufficient to provide me with food for myself and my household on the level of a man of Quraish who is neither over-rich nor over-poor.”
No doubt, most state governments will sponsor tafsir (commentary on Qur’an) during this month. Let me also call their attention and, indeed, that of all to the saying of Imam Shafii: “All humans are dead except those who have knowledge; and all those who have knowledge are asleep except those who do good deeds; and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere and always in a state of worry.”
Ramadan Kareem and hope we will all benefit from the opportunity offered by this month and make our nation a better place.
• Musbau is of the Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.