Ramadan: Nourishment for the mind and soul

On the evening of April 2, Muslims will anxiously await the birth of the new lunar moon which signals the start of the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a month of fasting, that is abstaining from eating, drinking, and few other otherwise mundane activities such as acts of intimacy with partners. Muslims living in the west as minorities usually answer questions from family and friends who are curious about Islam and Ramadan in particular. The most common question is; can you at least drink water? And the answer to that is typical: no, not even water!

The idea or concept of fasting is not really strange or unheard of. Our brothers and sisters in the Jewish or Christian faiths are familiar with fasting as a ritual of faith as well. Now, one may ask; why fasting at all? It is a legitimate question to ask why one may give up and essential act such as eating or drinking for a number of hours every day for an entire month. The answer is self-discipline. A concept known in Arabic as Taqwā. A difficult word to translate literally into English, but it means a higher level of consciousness and mindful presence in life. Not in the new age sense of mindfulness, but in a more ancient albeit much needed way. The idea is simple, if one can willingly give up eating and drinking and intimacy for few hours every day for an entire month every year, eventually we become better people. We have better command over our urges and wants, and rather focus on our needs, and most importantly, the needs of those around us. It also fosters a sense of mindful exitance when we think about the resources readily available to us all year long. We train to not take a drink of water and a morsel of food for granted, and to mindfully feel the suffering of people who are unwillingly deprived of the same simply life necessities. That is why alongside fasting, charity is highly practiced during the month of Ramādan.

I have mentioned before in several articles regarding Ramādan that I usually encourage my congregants to fast Ramadān intentionally. What that means is to focus on one or two intentions that become the center of our journey of hunger, thirst, and self-discipline.

For this Ramādan, I am choosing to focus on a few intentions that I would love to share with you. As we emerge out of a long two years with the pandemic, I have become familiar with the silent suffering of many fellow humans, including many Americans, with loneliness and along with that, mental illness and struggles. This Ramādan, my first intention is to normalize and vocalize the conversations around the pandemic of loneliness our world has been facing for many years, in addition to wide range of mental illness that come with it from depression to anxiety and much more. It may sound philosophical and ascetic, but the emptiness of the stomach frees both the mind and soul to focus on our spiritual and mental malnourishment.

My second intention for this month is fasting for the refugees, all the refugees around the world, from Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Palestine, and sadly lately Ukraine. When we fast, we assume that food is taken for granted all year long. We also assume a meal is guaranteed to break our fast with. And a meal is not just food, it is stability, it is safety, it is security, and hope. Refugees do not have any of that.

This Ramadan, I pray that God grants our world a small period of peace. Peace that allows refugees to return to their homes. Peace that let us build instead of destroy. Shake hands instead of point guns at one another. Peace that gives our children hope for a better future.

Hassan Selim is Imam at the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids.