I will never forget how starkly my selfish perspective of Ramadhan, as little more than an inconvenience, was sharply rebuffed by one of my students more than a decade ago. Saying, with a twinkle in her eye, “Doctor, it’s not a month of inconvenience, of difficulties, or problems. Even though we are all challenged, I have been taught to understand that there are more than one and a half million seconds during this month, and there are those one and a half million opportunities to put right whatever is wrong, right! Correct?”
Ramadhan, the holiest of months for the believers, is a different experience for expatriates, as they, especially for the first time, are confused, awed and amused at how a people, a region, a faith and a way of life, prepare themselves for the month of commemoration of the very first revelation of the Holy Quran, to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It requires those of us of other faiths to respect not only the religious spirit, the social intent and the endless acts of faith that guide those of the way, during this month of elevated religious awareness, but to respect the nature of what will become clear, is a unique shared experience.
The renowned Islamic scholar Nouman Ali Khan has written of, “A battle going on inside you for 30 days during Ramadhan, and for 30 days Allah gives you the power to win!” He brings home the seriousness with which the faith invests in Ramadhan, and its commitment to a deeply felt need for introspection born of an understanding that the closer one becomes to oneself, the more accepting and less judgemental one can reasonably expect to be of others. We expatriates must ‘cut some slack’, for those who make the commitment to Ramadhan, to demonstrate compassion and accept that with their normal eating, sleeping and relationship habits being turned inside out, and knowing the unique demands that temperature, humidity and longer daylight hours foist upon them, of course performance will suffer in the short-term, however the faithful investment will result in much more composed, confident and changed society, because Ramadhan changes them not for a month, but for a lifetime.
“None of us’’, it is said, “is expected to be perfect during Ramadhan, but that should not prevent us from trying to be...” So, what has appeared from my personal deliberations during this time, is that we too have a God given opportunity for our own reflections, to demonstrate our own wisdom and understanding, and simply “chill out’’, mentally, for these few weeks and perhaps embrace the spirit of Ramadhan by making a charitable offering within what is after all, our society too. Maybe doing or contributing to some charitable deed. These acts of charity, beyond those normally offered as Zakat, are known as Sadaqah, are a greatly appreciated and deeply significant feature of the Ramadhan, and any such contributions would be appreciated within a society that continues to embrace and include us.
Our world unfortunately, isn’t a place where we can rest on our laurels, for having seen off one task or responsibility, others loom immediately in the rearview mirror. We are, as one wit said, “The generation to be tested, not rested’’, so we need all the wisdom, understanding, acumen, foresight, insight, intellect and prudence we can muster as we move forward. We need that assurance and confidence that Ramadhan grants us.
So, let us all treat this time as the rarest of opportunities, the delicate flower that blossoms beautifully just once a year, that we are inexorably drawn to, not by its blooms, but by that which cannot be seen, the fragrance, the scent, of all that is right and good, tempting, drawing us ever closer, ever more within reach... yet even as we savor its goodness, is drawn away for another year. Ramadhan Kareem.
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