Guests, everywhere in the world, are of different types. Some are of honour and treated with integrity because of their acknowledged robe of dignity. Some are bereft of honour but merely tolerated for their nuisance value. Each time we talk of guests, people invariably think only of humans in the erroneous belief that no other creature could be qualified for that title. What such people don’t seem to know is that humans are just a fraction of Allah’s creatures. There are millions of other creatures not often noticed by man. One of such creatures is the environment of which season is a part.
Phenomenal Creature
The phenomenal creature called season comes in different forms with different intensity and at different times of the year.
Seasons are like the tides of an ocean. They roll out spirally in quick succession and reshape the world’s environment from time to time as they come in multiples of months. No one measures a season in the absence of months as there can be no seasons without months.
Seasonal Visitor
In a few days’ time, a unique guest will arrive in the world with the grandeur of integrity. Its arrival will be the divine catalyst with which the long awaited human respite for the currently prevailing global machinations will be ushered in.
Europeans have so much respect for seasons that whenever they have an important guest they call him an ‘August visitor’. The month of August is the peak of summer season and the most comfortable month of hospitality for the Caucasian race of Europe hence the term.
In Islam, the most venerable guest is the month of Ramadan. Its visiting time is not restricted to any particular season. Its arrival in the world may coincide with that of any season. That sacred month is therefore the guest of all seasons.
With Ramadan as a guest, not only the Muslims but the entire humanity is consciously or unconsciously engaged in hospitable activities.
Those who cannot fast in it do take advantage of its presence to sell or buy some relevant needs and wants. Thus, there can be no indifference to the awful presence of Ramadan in any part of the world.
I recall the vivid description given this sacred month in ‘THE MESSAGE’ column some time ago which is still as relevant now as it was then. It went thus:
“Once every year, something creeps into the world like the early morning light. It moves kaleidoscopically into an arena where the centre becomes its stool. It lifts its veil and beams a special focus on the world with an arresting attention in the days. It envelops the nights in a shroud of covenant linking the dream of man with its fulfillment”.
Its journey
“No one except Allah knows Ramadan’s port of embarkation. No human being knows its destination. All we know of it is that of a guest that is so vividly present in our world and yet so physically invisible.
RAMADAN is the name by which it is divinely christened. Its coming is often heralded by a retinue of envoys. The months of ‘Rajab’ and ‘Sha’ban’ are the immediate escorts that alert mankind of its imminent arrival. Like the sun in the midst of stars, Ramadan ascends the throne in full regalia and all other months, (lunar and solar) quickly take their bow.
Call it the king where other months are chiefs and you will be dead right. Call it the doctor in a world of sick people and you will not be wrong. Call it the compass in the wilderness of straying humanity and you would have spoken the truth. Call it the reformer of human soul; the sterilizer of human spirit as well as the purifier of human body and you will not be disputed. In its entourage are equally invisible ministers such as piety, knowledge, truth, justice and peace, all of which usher it into the world with splendor”.
Connotation of Its Name
Deriving its name from a natural healing phenomenon, this ninth lunar month called Ramadan is truly baking in effect.
The word: Ramadan is derived from the Arabic word ramd (meaning baking). The name had been in existence before the advent of Islamic calendar. It was coined from a baking summer that immediately followed a freezing winter. Ever since, Ramadan’s mission has been to firm up all loose ends in the life of man. And it does that with a touch of perfection”.
Its mission
In Ramadan, the entire month of 30 or 29 days is spent by Muslim believers in fasting from dawn to dusk. Such fasting is not about abstinence from foods and drinks alone. It is also about self-restraint from all sinful acts and self-equipment with a reign of impeccable discipline. More importantly, it is about repackaging of one’s destiny through a new but sincere resolution.
Fasting during this sacred month is believed to figuratively burn away all sins. It was in this glorious month that the revelation of the divinely reformative Book of guidance called the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) first began.
In the sacred month of Ramadan, all gates of paradise, according to the Prophet, are open while those of hell are closed. The first ten days in it are blessings galore for those of the Muslim Ummah who need blessings and seek for them. The next ten days personify forgiveness for those who realize the gravity of their sinful acts, repent on them and resolve never to return to such acts again. Thus, Ramadan is far, far beyond a month. It is really a season that serves as a template for other seasons.
Its anchor leg
The last ten days in that sacred month are like a spiritual inoculation meant to liberate genuinely faithful Muslims from any satanic ailment that can lead to doom. Whoever is liberated with that inoculation automatically becomes like a new born baby arriving in a new world with a ‘tabula rasa’ (clean slate).
The Night of Power
It is in these last ten days of Ramadan that a particular night called Laylatul Qadr in which the secret of human destiny is encapsulated.
The night is otherwise known as the ‘Night of power’. Meeting that night consciously and spiritually is like securing the key to one’s own apartment in Paradise. The proviso, however, is that one needs to remain awake throughout those nights to be fortunate to meet the D night.
Allah did not disclose even to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which particular night of the sacred month of Ramadan is called Laylatul Qadr. But by asking the Muslims to look for it in the odd nights of the last ten days, the Prophet has helped the rightly guided Muslim Ummah tremendously. However, who can be so sure of the odd nights when the issue of sighting the crescent before starting Ramadan often remains controversial?
Also, during the last ten days of Ramadan, some willing Muslims, in accordance with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), do go for Umrah in Makkah or take to I’tikaf (spiritual seclusion) locally, to reaffirm their total submission to Allah. Following this is a session of charity made compulsory for all Muslims irrespective of age, gender and status, to give to the poor and the needy. This is called Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr. It is given in the very early morning of Ramadan Festival Day or the night before it to enable the poor and the needy celebrate the festival with the Ummah in a festive mood.
Anti-climax
The first day of the month of Shawwal immediately after Ramadan which is traditionally spent in great celebrations with rejoice and observed as ‘Fast-Breaking Festival’ (Eidul Fitr) by Muslims is the anti-climax of Ramadan month.
Where else can one find a guest like Ramadan? Where else can one meet a guest that hosts his supposed hosts and heals mankind of ignorance and physical diseases? It was probably more to Ramadan than to man that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) referred when he said: “whoever believes in Allah and the ‘Last Day’ should venerate his guest” That guest is Ramadan. That is why Muslims often say in this unique month: ‘RAMADAN KARIM’ which means ‘Venerable Ramadan’.
Preparation
To start or end fasting in Ramadan, sighting of the crescent is just symbolic. The indices of recognizing when to start or end the month are naturally vivid to those who care.
Ramadan is not preceded by two glorious lunar months of Rajab and Sha’ban for fun. The number of days in those two months is to enable any serious Muslim know the time of the arrival of Ramadan and prepare for it. No lunar month exceeds 30 days and none is less than 29 days.
Crescent or no crescent, it is very possible and easy to know when to start Ramadan every year without waiting to be prompted. The confusion often created by the sighting of the crescent is therefore avoidable.
If Rajab is 30 or 29 days, no one looks for the crescent before starting Sha’ban. As soon as Rajab ends, Sha’ban starts with little or no controversy at all.
Dynamism
Islam is a dynamic religion and nothing should be rigid about the sighting of the crescent before starting Ramadan. Sighting the crescent is not the only condition for commencing fasting in the great month. After all, the new crescent is not necessarily visible to all eyes at any given time in any locality. That is why a few Muslims who may be privileged to sight it are implored to invite some others to witness it and then inform the recognized authorities who will in turn, announce the arrival of Ramadan to the Muslim community in the locality or region.
Besides Faith (Iman) and Hajj (which are the first and last pillars of Islam), nothing else in the sacred religion is really globally uniform in practical terms with regards to timing. The variation in the geography of the earth has legitimized the variation of time in the observance of Salat, Sawm and Zakat. The over 1.7 billion Muslims in the world today cannot commence Ramadan fasting on the same day or the same hour. Iman is global because it resides permanently in the hearts of the believers irrespective of their localities. Hajj is equally global because it is performed in only one place at a particular time.
Geographical factor
Where a gap of about nine to eleven hours exists between one part of the world and another, talking of global uniformity in starting or ending Ramadan can only border on sheer ignorance. For instance it is impossible for the Australian Muslims living in Australia and their South American brethren residing in Brazil or Argentina to start Ramadan on the same day. Even within Nigeria, all Muslims can start Ramadan on the same day, only if they have equal access to information. And even with that, it is not possible for them all to start or end daily fasting at the same time of the day. That is why the announcement or publication of Ramadan timing according to the various localities is necessary.
Universality of Ramadan
That Ramadan fasting is prescribed as a universal obligation for all Muslims in a particular month is deliberate. Allah who did the prescription is not oblivious of the geographical variations in the world. Neither is He unaware of the possible invisibility of a new crescent to most eyes. The design is to allow for the reverberation of the effect of Ramadan across the world. And time variation in observance of Salat or celebration of festivals is not peculiar to Islam. Even in Christianity, neither Easter nor Christmas is globally celebrated in one day. And, there is no media noise about it.
What is global about Ramadan fasting is the month and not the time.
Dawn and dusk vary from locality to locality. It is therefore possible for the Muslims in one part of the world to be breaking their daily fast at a time when their brethren in another part of the world are commencing theirs. Thus, the genuineness or otherwise of Ramadan fasting is not to be judged by man. That is why Allah is reported by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as saying in a sacred Hadith (Hadith-ul-Qudsi) that: “Fasting is Mine and I am the One to grant rewards on it.”
Welcome to the coast of Ramadan. This sacred ‘ship’ must not leave the coast without you on board. Ramadan is like an institution of learning. A good Muslim must not just pass through it he must also allow it to pass through him. Who knows when the last time to witness the month will be?
RAMADAN KARIM!
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