Fasting and 9th Lunar calendar Arabic Month Ramadan.

By Fatema Miah

Ramadan is an Arabic month which is well known to the world, obviously to the Muslims also to Non-Muslims because of the importance of Muslims preserving the fast. Ra

madan is the Ninth Lunar calendar month of Arabic year and the Arabic Lunar calendar months are followed by entire Muslim (Ummah) population throughout the world. Ramadan word is associated with fasting. Very interestingly, most people are aware of the word ‘Ramadan’ that is when Muslims do hold fasts or supposed to be holding fasts during day-time for a duration of a month and at the end of the fasting month there is a celebration called Eid. Most Christians’ and Western people associated the Eid as the Muslims’ Christmas, especially in the last decades, though nowadays, more people aware of Eid because of diversity education and integrations.
Muslims do preserve Ramadan by holding fasts. Fasting during the month of Ramadan is a mandatory act for Muslims. Fasting in Ramadan is an essential part of Islam as it is one of the five pillar of Islam. Even those do not hold fast for a reason, they treat month of Ramadan with respect having reasoning for not been able to fast. Even non-Muslims do respect the month Ramadan, for sake of their friends, associates and colleagues. Ramadan is known as the fasting time for Muslim people, though most people do not know that Ramadan is a traditional month; a lunar calendar month of Arabic Year. Lunar monthly calculation is not a made up system by Muslims for the Islamic pillar of fasting, rather it is a world’s traditional phenomenon; knowledge of natural science and metaphysics that has been followed from the time of creation, or since the civilisation began, according to historical analysis. Spiritually, the same followed from the time of mankind’s father Adam (Adhom) and mother Eve (Hawa) the same continuously followed by Moses (Mosa), Abrahem ( Ibrahim), Noah (Nooh), Jesus (Isa), other prophets and finally continued by Mohammed. (peace be upon them.)
Fasting during the month of Ramadan is not same as fasting for a dietary requirements. Fasting in the month of Ramadan is mandatory act for Muslims to perform the essential part of Islam. Fasting in the month of Ramadan for submission of Muslims whole heartedly to the Creator, under instruction and to please the Creator. Fasting is a spiritual act of human being offering a little humble attentive acknowledgment to the creator to show appreciation for food and drink we have available to us daily that is provided by the Lord the creator. Fasting make us to realise how much food we eat and unappreciatively taken for granted.
Long mid- summer days, in the middle of June fasting time begins this year. Fact is that it is not hard to fast in summer, right it isn’t very easy to cope with summer heat though, well prepared and good balance diet plan can make it much easy passing the days and maintain the normal activities. Other than spiritual reason fasting also benefitting for dietary purpose. The positive results of fasting such as, “Fasting alone is more powerful in preventing and reversing some diseases than drugs,” said Satchidananda Panda, an associate professor of regulatory biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, and one of the co-authors of the article. “Intermittent fasting helps the body to rejuvenate and repair, thereby promoting overall health,” Panda told Live Science.
Further added from research results; “Ancient hunter-gatherers often ate only intermittently, the researchers noted in their article. This suggests that the ability to function at a high level both physically and mentally during extended periods without food may have been crucial in human evolution, and that the human body may have adapted to perform at its best with intermittent fasting. Such intermittent fasting could consist of eating 500 calories or less either two days each week, or every other day, or not eating breakfast and lunch several days each week, the researchers said.” Good diet and balance food helps our digestion system as well as provides sufficient nutrition that our body requires on the daily basis. Healthy and well balance diet is core for good health and the same diet system help us to sustain with fasting even in the long summer days, for evidence, we most Muslims have kept voluntary fast/s in earlier in the same Summer month of June two weeks prior to Ramadan, to practise and prepare our system.
Ramadan is a month of Submission to Allah the creator, the month of Quran, a month of sharing; loving and giving, a month of congregations and the month of repentance. Fasting in the month of Ramadan helps us to wind-down from worldly stress, strengths our metabolism and cures our digestive system.
fatemamiah@mail.com
Fatema Miah, Solihull, UK.