Ramadan's Mental and Physical Benefits Vs Closeness to God

Ramadan Fasting: Mental and Physical Benefits are Plentiful. 

But without its connection to the Spiritual, to God, the act of fasting quickly becomes empty...

The Muslim month of Ramadan. A time for spiritual cleansing, re-committing oneself to God, and remembrance of all of the reasons why we are put on this Earth. The physical and mental benefits that stem from the actual fasting process (i.e. forgoing food and drink) can be plentiful. But without its spiritual component - the constant attempt during Ramadan to devote a month to actively remember God - something about it just seems lacking.

We all know that Ramadan isn't simply about abstaining from food, drink and sex. During Ramadan, those who haven't been praying the obligatory 5 times a day prayer make an effort to do so; they also try to read the Quran; and increase devotional prayers to God.

For many Muslims, this can be a difficult thing to do. 

Some Muslims simply focus on fasting's physical aspects - the forgoing food, drink and pleasure. No doubt, this already can be a very difficult thing to do. It takes a certain amount of discipline to give up food and drink for many hours - during one's waking hours no less. It does take self-discipline to not drink that much-needed coffee in the morning, when all you are doing is craving for it. Those times, one remembers why one is doing it. Simply because we believe in God and this is one of His commandments.

After the first week, the body amazingly adapts. The hunger pangs become less and less. The mind and the body becomes accustomed to functioning without the morning caffeine. The constant pre-occupation with food and drink eventually disappears, and you start to feel great mentally and physically. And the amount of time you have on your hands suddenly seems immense - since you are no longer frittering away time on lunch and tea breaks!

Physically, you find that your body is able to function well without food. Some of us perhaps even realize that we eat too much during the non-Ramadan months.

Mentally, you find that your mind becomes clear and alert without stimulants such as sugar and caffeine. 

It's all good. It is no wonder that even some non-Muslims fast regularly to detox their body and mind.

Today, marks the 9th night of Ramadan fasting (2013). For the past nine days, I have been fasting the "lesser fast" - simply forgoing food and drink, and praying the obligatory prayers (but even for those, I am ashamed to say, I missed some!). As each day passed, I felt something nagging within me. This sense of discomfort and restlessness only increased day by day.

There was something different this year that I was doing as compared to the previous years - for whatever reason, this year I did not increase my spiritual remembrance of God. I did not make the effort to read the Quran or pray or "speak" to God; instead, I left the tv switched on right after iftar, its meaningless noise in the background as I read the news or worked or chatted with someone on Skype. Then I slept in the night as I would on any other night of the month.

I guess I just realized that it takes special effort to remember God - it is not something that magically happens. There are just too many distractions around in this day and age competing for attention. It is up to us to set aside the time for God, or risk losing the closeness to Him. It is a relationship just like any other, but one with longer-lasting implications(if you believe in the Hereafter!). 

So with the remaining 20 days, I will work to re-establish the connection to God. I will spend the time necessary so that I form the bond with God that I know my soul truly desires.

I hope that my focus on the spiritual aspect of this month will make for a complete Ramadan - and my restlessness thus far can then be eased.

Why can’t a Muslim Woman Marry a non-Muslim Man?

I have not been able to write in a while, but I had no idea that it has been this long! My last posts was way back in January. Anyhow, hopefully I will start blogging again.

Here are some quick thoughts I had; thought I'd pen them down in this blog before I lost my motivation to write, which has happened rather frequently the past few months.

Islam's Prohibition of Muslim Women Marrying Non-Muslim Men

A friend had called and told me that an interesting topic on Muslim women was being debated on the BBC show - The Doha Debates. I only managed to catch the last 20 mins of the debate - should Muslim women be allowed to marry non-Muslim men - but it was sufficient for me to get at gist of the topic. At the end, over 60% of the audience voted that Muslim women should be allowed to marry non-Muslim men. It was not defined exactly what "allowed" translated into - but I imagine it entailed broad societal acceptance.

I would sure like to know the exact make-up of the audience - it appeared to me from the audience speakers that there were quite a bit of young Muslim people (both men and women from various countries) so the high percentage was notable.

Towards the end of the debate, a Muslim girl from the audience very eloquently explained why Muslim women, who have been raised in Muslim households and educated, are intelligent enough, and should be trusted to make the right decision without facing any opposition from their families. It all sounded very positive.

Only this fact still remained: a Muslim woman who was raised and educated in a Muslim household, would also know very well that no less than the Quran (2:221) states that believing Muslim women should not marry non-Muslim men until the men become believers (Muslims) themselves - ie. belief in the Oneness of God and the message of the Prophet.

One of the minimum requirements of Muslim belief is the acceptance of the Quran - words of God. Surely, these individual(s) based on their own desiresdo not want Muslim society to be forced to alter the word of God? How presumptuous? But that is exactly what is happening all around, on a variety of issues from drinking of alcohol to homosexuality. All of it in an effort to be humanistic, and all-accepting. As if one cannot be that while still retaining to your concept of the truth. People who do not practice the religion, but vehemently claim the label for themselves do nothing but corrode the essence of relgion.

This isn't about being too rigid, or old-fashioned. It is simply this - if one chooses to be a Muslim, to have conscious acceptance, then one also has the responsibility to accept and try to live a life based on its dictates. Not every believing Muslim would be unfailing in this endeavour - I am no exception - but at least believing Muslims should have the decency to not force or demand that a wrong (religiously speaking) be turned into a right to bolster one's individual divergent choice.

Not every single individual act needs the seal of approval from the larger society. If approval is needed, seek it elsewhere where it is to be found.

An interesting article by one of the speakers at the debate: Yasir Qadhi