Ramadan

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COURCEWORK

Ramadan

Mehreen Iqbal Khan

10.7

Part A:

According to the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is the 9th Islamic month, in which all Muslims fats for 29 or 30 days. Ramadan holds great importance for Muslims for a number of reasons. Sawm is the Arabic word for fasting, particularly in the month of Ramadan. This is one of the five pillars of Islam, and should be done by all Muslims. Fasting in the month of Ramadan is a commandment from Allah, and shouldn't be ignored by any Muslim. Those who decide to go against Allah and not follow this commandment given by him are committing a big sin and will be punished on the day of judgement.

Travellers, breast feeding women, pregnant women, sick people, old people, and disabled people (insane person) do not have to fast. As the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said "that the insane person is not responsible for anything until he comes back to sanity". They can be forgiven because of the excuses they have, but they need to feed a poor person for every fast that they miss.

There are certain rules to be followed while you are fasting. One of those rules is that, there should be no sexual intercourse during the fasting hours. But as the fasting hours end, sexual intercourse is allowed till fajr, when another fast begins. You are to avoid swearing, lying and back chatting about people. If there is any of that, then your fast simply doesn't get counted, because you are saying bad things about other people, which you shouldn't be doing. If you want other people to think well about you, then there is no reason why you should be talking bad about other people.

There should be no eating or drinking during the fasting hours, but if you eat something accidentally then it is not you doing it by purpose, so it doesn't really matter. If you eat and think no one would know, don't forget Allah is always watching from above and he would never forgive you for doing this. Breaking a fast at the wrong time is a bigger sin than not doing the fast at all, because you are showing Allah that you don't respect his fast and are not scared to break it. Intentional vomiting is also something which is not allowed during fasting hours. If you vomit and it isn't intentional, then your fast still breaks but it wouldn't be counted as a sin, because you didn't do it by purpose.

A Muslim should have good intentions before keeping a fast. If you are keeping a fast, thinking that you would loose weight, then that is a bad intention and your fast wouldn't be accepted. You need to have the right intentions for the fast. You should be able to say to yourself that I am fasting because Allah has told me to do it. Weather or not it makes sense; you still do it, because Allah has commanded us to do it. You should never question the sayings of Allah or of the Prophets, because this is seen as a sin. If you have been told to do something from Allah, you simply jut to do.

In Ramadan a fast usually begins at the time of Suhoor (Dawn). Before this time you are allowed to eat, drink, and have sexual intercourse but after this time you are not allowed to do any of the things mentioned above. The fast is broken at the time of the sunset, which is called as the iftar time. Usually you are to open the fast with a date, but if there are no dates available then you can have water to open the fast. During the day Muslims fast and remember Allah. They do all good things, and try to read the Quran as much as they can.

In the evening there are additional prayers, known as the tarawih. These prayers are not obligatory, but instead of watching TV and doing other non religious things, you should stay in mosque and do extra prayers. Surely you are getting more reward for this. You don't have to stay in the mosque for the whole night; you can just go for a little while, pray and then come back. You can also sit in the mosque and read the Quran, or talk to other Muslims about the religion.

You are to be remembering all those people who are needy. Give charity to poor people, so they can also fast, the way you fast. For poor people, every day of their life is a day of fast, because they have very little to eat, so if you can be generous and give money to the poor, you will be rewarded for this act. "The Prophet (May Allah send His blessing and peace upon him) was the most charitable amongst the people, and he used to be more so in the month of Ramadan."

You will also be rewarded for inviting other people to come to your house and open their fast. You should always share your food with others, no matter how much food it is. "He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him, without anything being reduced from the fasting person's reward."

Part B:

Ramadan holds great importance for Muslims for a number of reasons. Ramadan falls in the 9th month because the Quran was revealed at this time. The Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) by Allah. No one has ever known the exact date for this, but the Prophet (pbuh) said that it falls in the 10 night of Ramadan, and is most likely on the 27th night. This is called as Lailat al Qadr. This night is to 1000 months, of worship. On this night you can ask Allah for anything and he would give it to you, this is the reason why Muslims try and stay away all night.

Ramadan forms a sense of discipline in our lives. We eat and drink a certain amount of food and liquid, at a certain time. We have to eat what's there for us and not wish that Allah should have given us something better to eat, because what Allah has given for you to eat, is the right thing for you, because definitely Allah knows more than you. Same thing happens with the amount of sleep we get. Ramadan really gets us into a new routine for life. We sleep less, meaning we become less lazy.

Muslims have to always be aware of Allah, but especially in the month of Ramadan, which is known as Taqwaa. We also start to become closer to Allah in the month of Ramadan. We remember him in all actions that we do. If you are doing something bad, in a normal life routine, we would just ignore the fact that we are doing something wrong, but in a Ramadan routine, we would know that Allah's watching us and that what we are doing is wrong, and we should stop. If we do good things, then