Blessed Are The Faithful [Archives:2000/48/Viewpoint]

The holy month of Ramadhan is the ninth in the Muslim year and is the month of fasting in which the Quran was sent down as a guidance for the people. As far as its religious connotations in Islam are concerned the month represents a period of atonement. Ramadhan is more than that. It is an obedient response to a command from God. Moslem ordinance prescribes abstention from food, drink and relationships with women from dawn until dusk throughout the month. From the religious point of view, fasting is one of the five pillars or basic institutions of Islam.
The outwardly abstract meaning of fasting is the abstention from food or drink or both for ritualistic, mystical, ascetic, or other religious or ethical purposes. The fast has also some earthly implications other than the religious ones. Individuals or groups may resort to complete or partial fasting as a way of protest against maltreatment, injustice or for the purpose of realizing certain demands. The main heavenly religions, and even some non-heavenly philosophies, contained injunctions on fasting though in different forms, degrees and periods of time. In Islam fasting has many religious, ethical, moral and human implications and meanings. Abstinence from food and drink throughout the month of Ramadhan observed by Moslems is representative of other deeper and more profound objectives. It is in the first place an expression and manifestation of obedience to Gods orders and teachings of Islam. The fast is also an effective exercise and training on enduring patience on not having food and drink along many hours, a practice which makes us feel the agonies of hunger and thirst of the poor and how difficult it is with them. Therefore, fasting people would feel sympathized with those sufferers of hunger and thirst.
Physically and for health reasons, the fast can be a curing method from certain or many diseases. During illness, doctors would often prescribe certain regime of fasting for their patients as a precondition for their recovery. So the effect of fasting on the physical health is good and useful. Mistakenly some people think the fast is confined to abstention from food and drink. It is in fact and should be an abstinence from some other forms of behavior. Fasting is a lesson of how to keep good behavior and maintain humane and ethical relationships with our fellows in the community where we live. And that does not mean that such conduct be restricted to this very month or for certain period of time after which everything would go unrestrained. It is a lesson to learn and follow in every walk of life and everytime.
A funny thing is that some people think the month of Ramadhan and the fast is a time of rest or a kind of vacation from work. Their productivity is reduced to the minimum and their duty hours at state offices, schools and workshops are mostly spent idly under pretext of the effect of not having food or drink. This is completely contrary to teachings of Ramadhan and fasting. Work and productivity should go on at their usual tempo and rate as complementary to their true and exact obligations of fasting on both religious and social levels and an expression of their real faith.
Many heartfelt congratulations are offered to our people of Yemen and to the entire Islamic nation on the occasion of this holy month wishing all success in achieving our and the Islamic nations aspirations and expectations.

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