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This past month, more than one billion people around
the world skipped lunch every day.
They ate no food of any kind and drank no liquid of any
kind from sunup to sunset.
They did this every day during the month, and do the same
thing every year.
I myself did it.
Why?
Last month was a time for tending to the mind,
the body, and the spirit.
Last month was the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
I'm sure most of you have heard of Ramadan, but you may
not know a lot about it.
Ramadan refers to the ninth month in the Islamic calendar,
when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
But Ramadan is much more than a time of fasting.
As Tariq Ramadan, author of Western Muslims and the Future
of Islam explains, Ramadan is a time when “believers
strengthen their faith and spirituality while developing
a sense of social justice.”
As a practicing Muslim, I have observed Ramadan
my entire life.
My parents moved to the United States from Pakistan shortly
before I was born, and I remember going to the mosque
as a child and breaking my fast at the end of the day
with my family and friends.
Nowadays, I get together with other students here on campus.
The goal of my speech today is to inform you about
Ramadan━specifically its history and practices.
In the end, I hope you'll have a better understanding of this
sacred time for Muslims in the United States and around
the globe.
Let's begin by exploring the history of Ramadan.
Ramadan can be traced back 1400 years to the Middle East
and the beginnings of the Quran.
As explained in Karen Armstrong's Islam: A Short
History , in 610 A.D., the Prophet Mohammed embarked on
a spiritual journey through the desert in what is now
Saudi Arabia.
At one point in this journey, Muslims believe,
Allah spoke to Mohammed through the archangel Gabriel ━
the same Gabriel of the Jewish and Christian scriptures.
This is when the Prophet Mohammed received the first
verses of the Quran.
Gabriel told Mohammed to remember the revelation by
observing a holy time every year.
In the years after this journey, the Prophet Mohammed
and his followers made the ninth month of the Muslim year
the month of Ramadan.
The word “Ramadan” literally means “scorcher” in Arabic,
because it was in the intense heat of the summer that the
Prophet Mohammed encountered Gabriel.
But unlike the Western calendar, the Islamic calendar follows
the cycles of the moon and contains only 354 days.
As a result, Ramadan always comes approximately ten days
before it came the previous year.
So for example this year, Ramadan came on August 11
next year, it will come on August 1.
Now let's take a look at what Muslims do during this
holy month.
The practices of Ramadan center on fasting, prayer,
and charity.
Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam,
and it becomes especially important in Ramadan.
The Ramadan fast, known as the Sawm,
begins at sunrise and ends at sunset.
Seyyed Nasr, author of Islam: Religion, History,
and Civilization , explains that “The fast is required
of all Muslims, male and female, from the age of adolescence
until one no longer possesses the physical strength to
undertake it.”
The only exceptions are: the sick, the elderly, travelers,
and pregnant women.
At the end of daylight hours, Muslims break the fast with
Iftar━ the evening meal, during which families, friends,
and communities gather.
As Donna Bowen and Evelyn Early explain in their book
Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East ,
Iftar usually begins with eating a date,
which is what the Prophet Mohammed is said to have done.
After eating a date and drinking water, my family
would eat the Iftar dinner my mother cooked for us.
We would always marvel that even though she was fasting
and she couldn't taste what she was cooking,
she still somehow got the spices just right.
Prayer is also central to Ramadan.
Muslims traditionally pray five times a day,
but during Ramadan prayer is encouraged even more.
Ramadan prayers are often tied to oral readings of
the Quran━in a practice known as Tarawih.
The goal is to read and recite the entire Quran over
the course of the month.
In addition to fasting and prayer, charity plays a key
role in Ramadan.
Iftars are often organized and funded by the wealthy as a way
of feeding the poor and the needy.
Also, many Muslims increase their charitable giving during
the month.
At the end of Ramadan, my family donates to charity
and we also exchange gifts like Christians do on Christmas.
If you think about it, the main purpose of Ramadan is
the same as most religious holidays━
spiritual development.
Christians and Jews gather regularly to commemorate their
histories, to enact certain rituals, and to feel closer
to God.
Muslims do the same thing in Ramadan.
Today, we've explored the history of Ramadan and its
practices━fasting, prayer, and charity.
I'd like to leave you with the traditional greeting that
Muslims utter during this holy month: “Ramadan Kareem,
which means “Ramadan is generous.”
In less than a year from now, when the next Ramadan comes
around, I hope you'll have a better understanding of why it
is so sacred for one billion people around the world.
Thank you.