Wednesday, November 28, 2001

Spiritual Sacrifice
By Heather Christie
Staff Reporter

Uzair Muhammad, a senior computer science and math major, said the two things that stick out in his mind of celebrating Ramadan in Pakistan are going to the mosque for prayers, tarawih, every night for three hours straight and the celebrations of breaking the fast at the end of the month.

April Bell/Production Coordinator Members of the Islamic Association of Tarrant County participate in an evening prayer Tuesday during Ramadan. Muslims are required by the five pillars of Islam to pray five times daily and to fast during Ramadan from sunrise to sunset.

“I grub all day long, all throughout the year and then during that one particular month I don’t eat, drink, smoke or anything during that time frame. (Ramadan) is just a cleansing experience for me,” Muhammad said.

Yushau Sodiq, associate professor of religion, said Ramadan is a month of charity.
“Every Muslim who is capable must give about five pounds of food to the poor, so that those who do not have (will have food),” Sodiq said.

Generosity and gratitude are a big part of this festivity. Charity and good deeds are important in Islam, but they have a special significance at the end of Ramadan. As the month ends, all Muslims are obligated to share their blessings by feeding the poor and making contributions to mosques.

“The purpose of (Ramadan) is to develop spirituality,” Sodiq said. “If a Muslim does not follow (Ramadan) then his Islam is incomplete.”

Ramadan is marked by fasting, sawm, which is one of the five pillars (duties) of Islam. Muslims take part in fasting when they are 12 years old. While abstaining from food and water when the sun is out, Muslims are reminded of the suffering of the poor.

Sodiq said chewing gum and sexual relationships are also forbidden during this time.
Despite the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 and sentiments around the world, the Ramadan celebration has not changed, Sodiq said.

April Bell/ProduCtion Coordinator

“It is the same way they do it before,” Sodiq said.

Naji Hamideh, a TCU alumnus and a member of the Islamic Association of Tarrant County, agreed nothing has changed this year and everything is the same according to Allah.

“It doesn’t matter what is going on in the world of politics,” Hamideh said. “Ramadan will still happen and we will fast as we have in the past and will in the future. Our purpose on earth is to achieve God’s happiness and to abide by the five pillars.”

Ramadan is one of the most well-known events in the Islam religion. It happens during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. This year Ramadan began on Nov. 17 and next year it will begin on Nov. 6. The event lasts for 29 days or for 30 days, depending on the lunar calendar, from dawn until sunset, Sodiq said.

Islam uses a lunar calendar, which means each month begins with the sighting of the new moon. Since the lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar used elsewhere, Islamic holidays shift each year.

This year Ramadan is before Christmas and overlaps Hanukkah. In many countries, these two holidays have become commercialized, but Ramadan still focuses on self-sacrifice and devotion to their God Allah.

Islam has more followers than any other religion in the world and more than a billion Muslims around the world, including about eight million Americans, celebrate Ramadan.

“Here, Muslims from all over the world are gathered together to celebrate. It is not a question of Pakistan (observing Ramadan) alone; it is all Muslims in the Metroplex. They do it together. They pray together,” he said.

Ramadan is a month of blessing with fasting, prayer and charity. Muslims celebrate this month because they believe that during the month of Ramadan, Gabriel first began to reveal the first verses of the holy book of Islam, the Koran, to the prophet Muhammad. During Ramadan many mosques recite a portion of the Koran each day, so at the end of the month the complete scripture has been recited.

In Muslim countries, most restaurants are closed during the daytime, but Muslims get up early for suhoor, the meal eaten before the sun rises. The fast is broken with iftar, the meal after sun sets. Iftar usually includes foods high in energy because the people fasting have not eaten all day.

Uzair Muhammad said Ramadan is different in the United States than in Pakistan because people are always eating around him.

“It kind of makes it hard and you have to figure out a time to start and stop fasting on your own,” Uzair Muhammad said.

Uzair Muhammad said Muslims are not even allowed to drink water during the fasting.
In Pakistan during Ramadan, there are vendors and shops in the streets to buy special foods for breaking the fast during the night, Uzair Muhammad said. People also get better deals on food and merchandise during Ramadan.

“Over here (in the United States) it’s pretty much like any other day because to most people it doesn’t really mean much,” he said.

Uzair Muhammad said it does not mean much to the people here because the majority of Americans are not Muslim.

Pregnant women, soldiers and people who are sick or too young have no obligations to fast during Ramadan. However, these people usually have to compensate for their inactivity through activities such as feeding the poor.

Ramadan ends with the festival of Eid al-fitr on Dec. 17, Sodiq said.

Eid al-fitr means “Festival of Breaking the Fast” and it is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations. The other occurs after Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

At the end of the month of Ramadan, Muslims dress in their finest clothes, decorate their homes with lights, give treats to children and enjoy visits with family and friends.

Production Coordinator April Bell
contributed to this report.

Heather Christie
h.j.christie@student.tcu.edu