This booklet, on the subject of
fasting in Islam, comprises four sections. In the first section we discuss the
basic objective of the institution of fasting in Islam as one of the
development of 'values'. We argue the point that values are an indispensable
foundation of 'power'. In the second section we seek to explain the linkages
which exist between fasting, on the one hand, and such specific values as
charity, chastity, and freedom, on the other. In the third section there is an
attempt to demonstrate a certain chronological sequence through which the
compulsory fast in Islam can lead the believer to spiritual or religious experiences.
We then proceed to demonstrate
the link which must always exist between moral and spiritual values, or between
morality and religion and, hence, between religion and power. And finally, in
the fourth section we examine the effect of fasting on the physical body and on
physical health. Physical health and strength are a vital requirement,
materially and psychologically, for the development of power.
Some of the analysis presented
in this booklet is derived from a series of lectures on fasting in Islam which
were first delivered in numerous mosques in Trinidad, in the West Indies,
during the month of Ramadan in 1984, and subsequently repeated in other parts of
the world, including New York. The power dimension of fasting was developed
during Ramadan 1993 and was articulated during my Islamic lecture tour of Malaysia
and Singapore in the summer of 1993.
We must enter a note of warning
concerning the increasing number of secularized Muslims emerging in our midst
who are either careless or indifferent with regards to the fast of Ramadan, or who
do not consider it necessary to observe the fast at all. That phenomenon, which
is far advanced in Trinidad, is also present here in the United States of America,
and is now emerging in Singapore and Malaysia (a region of the world which I
have been privileged to visit seven times in the last ten years).
Such Muslims should understand,
before it is too late, that it is in the nature of the secular society to
dilute, to weaken, and to eventually render irrelevant, the distinction between
'Truth' (Al- Haqq) and 'Falsehood' (Al-Batii), between that which
is 'Permitted by Allah' (Al-Halal) and that which is 'Prohibited by
Allah' (Al-Haram), between conduct which is virtuous (Al- Maaruf) and
conduct which is sinful (Al-Munkar). Without being fully aware of it,
the secularized Muslim eventually lives a life which is in no way moulded and
conditioned by the rewards of heaven (Al-Jannah) and the punishments of
hell (Jahannam). Indeed, secu1arized Muslims eventually lose
consciousness of what is 'sin'.
In the secular society it is not
the Word of Allah which is the measure of all things. Rather man, himself,
positions himself atthe centre of his universe, and he becomes the measure of all things.
He determines what is right and what is wrong. His reason sits in judgment on
anything which claims to be the Word of God. And when the Word of God does not
appear to conform to man's rational predilections, then the Word of God must
either be rejected or, worse, subjected to a progressive interpretation! This
is called the secularization of religion. And this is the terrible fate which
has befallen Judaism and Christianity in the U.S.A. It was inevitable for them
because they had distorted the revealed Truth. It is inexcusable for Muslims
because the revealed Truth in the Qur'an is protected by Allah (subhanahu wa ta’alah)Himself. And the basic understanding
of that Truth is located in the explanations provided by the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam), in his personal example (sunnah), and the model of a sacred
society which he created!
In order to protect themselves
from being completely absorbed and integrated into the new sophisticated secular
Jahiliyah (i.e. Ignorance of Truth revealed by Allah (subhanahu wa ta’alah)), such
secularized Muslims should make haste to learn the lesson that Islam presents
to humanity: an alternative model of life and of society, a model which is a rival
to today's secular model. Islam's model is the 'sacred' model. In the sacred
model this world acquires meaning only with reference to that 'transcendental'
world from which emerges Al-Haqq, Al-Halal and Al-Maaruf When we understand how this world relates to that world then this
world, also, becomes sacred. Life becomes ‘sacred’. And through fasting we
enhance our state of harmony with the sacred life and the sacred world! The
sacred life is a life which is lived for the purpose of pleasing Allah(subhanahu wa ta’alah)!
I pray that the reader may
benefit from the information and analysis presented here and, in particular,
that secularized Muslims who have stopped fasting may be persuaded to return to
the life of the sacred and to the institution of fasting which does so much toremind us of the unseenworld and to fortify us with the values which come from that
unseen world. Without values the only future mankind can expect is one of unhappiness
and frustration, and tragedy after tragedy!
May I Allah (subhanahu wa ta’alah) accept
our humble service in the cause of His Revealed Truth - Truth which can bring
peace and contentment, fulfillment and success to human existence. Ameen!
O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was
prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint.
Qur’an [2:183]
Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a
guide to mankind, also clear (signs) for guidance and judgement (between right
and wrong). So everyone of you who is present (at his home) during that month
should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill or on a journey the
prescribed period (should be made up) by days later. God intends every facility
for you; He does not want to put you to difficulties, (He wants you) to
complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you,
and perchance ye shall be grateful.
[Qur’an 2:185]
ANSARI MEMORIAL SERIES
The Ansari Memorial Series is
published in honor of the eminent Islamic
Scholar, Sufi Shaikh, and former Shaikhal-Islam of the Muslim
community of Trinidad and Tobago, Maulana Dr.Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari (1914-1974), and it commemorates the
25th. Anniversary of his death. It comprises,
so far, the following seven books:
1. Dreams in Islam - A Window to Truth and to
the Heart;
2. The 'Religion of Abraham
and the State of Israel - A View from the Qur 'an;
3. The Importance of the
Prohibition of Riba in Islam;
4. The Prohibition of Riba in
the Qur'an and Sunnah;
5. The Caliphate the Hejaz and
the Saudi-Wahhabi NationState;
6. One Jama'at - One Ameer: The Organization
of a Muslim Community in the Age of Fitan;
7. The Strategic Significance
of The Fast of Ramadan and Isra' and Mi'raj.
These books were all written by
Imran N. Hosein, student of Maulana Ansari, and were published by Masjid
Dar al-Qur'an, Long Island, New York, U.S.A., Masjid al-Ansari, Montrose,
Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago.
Maulana Ansari was a graduate of
Aligarh Muslim University, India, where he studied Philosophy and Religion. He
derived his Islamic philosophical and spiritual thought from the greatest Islamic
scholar of this age, Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal. Iqbal was the author of that masterpiece of Islamic scholarship: 'The
Re-construction of Religious Thought in Islam'. Maulana Ansari's great work
of Islamic scholarship, the two-volume: Qur'anic Foundations and Structure
of Muslim Society'which was his Ph.D. thesis for his doctorate in
Philosophy, itself represents the most outstanding contribution to Islamic
scholarship by any of the students of Iqbal.
Maulana Ansari received his spiritual
training from Maulana Muhammad Abdul
Aleem Siddiqui, a renowned Islamic scholar, Sufi Shaikh, and roving
missionary of Islam. He received the sufi epistemology from both Allama
Iqbal and Maulana Siddiqui, and passed it on to his
own students. That sufi epistemology is emphatic that the process of knowledge
commences with the pursuit of Truth through the study of the written word and
the critical observation of the external world. Allah, the Most High, is Truth (al-Haq),
and Truth comes from Allah. Uncorrupted Truth now exists in the world only
in Islam. When Truth is discovered it must be embraced with sincerity, and must
be applied to the totality of life. The Truth will then be internalized, i. e.
it will enter into the heart.
Allah, the Most High, puts it Himselfinto the heart, and He refers to this when
He says in the hadith al-Qudsi:
My heavens and My earth are too small to contain me, but the heart of
My faithful servant can contain Me.
When Truth enters into the
heart, then the heart is given a divine light (nurullah) which permits
the believer's powers of observation and intuitive insight to penetrate beyond
the external form to reach internal substance. It is only with
that inner light of the discerning heart of a true believer that the world can
be correctly read.The Ansari Memorial Series is devoted to an effort of understanding
the world today, explaining it accurately, and responding to its unprecedented
challenges appropriately. That effort, of course, is always subject to critical
evaluation.
Allah, the Most High, has
provided the believers with a medium through which they can receive
confirmation that they have been blessed with that capacity for intuitive
knowledge (i.e., knowledge which the heart sees). That medium is 'true
and good dreams, and visions', an experience which constitutes the last part of
prophethood still remaining in the world after the death of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam). The
Ansari Memorial Series therefore includes a pioneering work in that forgotten
branch of knowledge, i.e. Dreams in Islam. Intuitive knowledge is also
indispensable for penetrating such subjects of strategic contemporary relevance
as: 'The Prohibition of Riba in Islam' and 'The Religion of Abraham
and the State of Israel - A View from the Qur'an',and so these subjects
have received attention in the series.
It is
with intuitive knowledge alone (firasa) that one can achieve confirmation
that we now live in the age of fitan, the last stage of the historical
process. Empirical and discursive knowledge and thought can only suggest, but
cannot directly perceive the true nature of the age in which we now live. The
implication of the confirmation (of the age of fitan) is that the
authentic jama'ah with the authentic Imam/Ameer must now be
established, and sustained, with greater urgency than ever before, and all
believers must hold fast to them with as-sam'u wa-ta 'atu (listening
and obeying), for that was the command of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam). One Jama'at - One Ameer: The
Organization of a Muslim Community in the Age of Fitandirects attention to
this important subject.
It is significant that Maulana
Ansari was the Shaikh aI-Islam of the Muslim community of Trinidad
and Tobago from 1964 until he died in 1974 and, indeed, the leadership of the Dar
al-Islam Islamic movement amongst African-American Muslims in North America
gave him the bai'ah (pledge of obedience) in 1969, and accepted him as
their leader as well. Dar al-Islam was established in Brooklyn; New
York,· in 1962, and was led by Imam Yahya Abd
al-Kareem. It is now led by Imam Jameel al-Amin (the former H. Rapp
Brown).
The next
two books to be published in this series are still to be written. They will, Insha
Allah, be devoted to the topics: The Return of Jesus - A View
from Islam; and Surah al-Kahf and the Modern Age.
Maulana Dr. Ansari honored his own Shaikh,
Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui, by establishing the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic
Studies in Pakistan, and by publishing the Aleemiyah Memorial Series. The
Ansari Memorial Series represents a humble effort to follow in that noble
tradition.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Imran N. Hosein was born in
Trinidad, West Indies, in 1942. He studied Islam under the guidance of the
distinguished Islamic scholar and Sufi Shaikh, Maulana Dr. Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari (Al-Qaderi), at the Aleemiyah
Institute of Islamic Studies, Karachi, Pakistan. He also did post-graduate
studies in Philosophy at Karachi University, and in International Relations at
the University of the West Indies, Trinidad, and the Graduate Institute of International
Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.
A former Foreign Service
Officer in the Trinidad and Tobago Foreign Service, he resigned his job in 1985
to devote his life to the mission of Islam. He was appointed Principal of the
Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies, Pakistan, a position he held until
1988. In 1989 he migrated to USA and was appointed Director of the Institute
for Islamic Education and Research in Miami, Florida. Since 1991 he has worked
in New York as Director of Islamic Studies for the Joint Committee of Muslim
Organizations of Greater New York. This included the Islamic Community of the United
Nations at the UN headquarters in Manhattan, NY, where he has conducted the
Friday congregational prayers once monthly for six years. In December 1996 he
was appointed by Dr. Israr Ahmad as Director of Da'wah for Tanzeem-e-Islami of
North America.
He has traveled extensively in
the cause of Islam visiting South East Asia, for example, seven times since
1988 on Islamic lecture tours. He has recently completed a full year of service
to the cause of Islam in the Caribbean islands of Grenada, Tobago and Trinidad.
As an author in Comparative
Religion he has produced a seminal work on 'Islam and Buddhism in the Modem
World', published in Pakistan in 1972. His works on Islam and International
Relations include 'Diplomacy in Islam - An Analysis of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah'.
A collection of his writings was published in Singapore in 1991 under the title
'Islam and the Changing World Order'.
His most recent works,
published in 1997 in the Ansari Memorial Series (which commemorate the?5th.
death anniversary of Dr.Ansari), are:- 'The Importance of the Prohibition of
Riba in Islam', 'The Prohibition of Riba in the Qur'an and Sunnah', 'The Religion
of Abraham and the State of Israel - A View from the Qur'an', 'The Caliphate,
the Hejaz and theSaudi-Wahhabi Nation-State',
and 'One Jama'at One Ameer - The Organization of a Muslim community in the
Age of Fitan'. He hopes to complete two more books in the Ansari Memorial Series
on the topics: 'Suratul Kahf and the Modem Age', and ' An Islamic View of the Return
of Jesus'.
BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE CALIPHATE THE HE.JAZ AND THE SAUDI WAHHABI NATION - STATE
The modem
godless world is waging war on Islam, and it is time that Muslims wake up to
that fact and respond to it appropriately. No one can possibly respond
appropriately to a challenge unless and until he first recognizes and understands
the nature of the challenge. Muslims should know that the Caliphate will one
day be restored and Islam will replace today's godless modem West as the
dominant force in the world. Muslims must now be sufficiently shaken up to look
seriously for the causes of their impotence. This book seeks to educate Muslims
and provide them with the means whereby they can avoid being duped, and led
astray, by those who have betrayed Islam in order to live comfortably.
DREAMS IN ISLAM - A WINDOW TO TRUTH AND TO THE HEART
This book
emphasizes the importance of dreams, and, in particular, the phenomenon of true
dreams (of which there are no less than eight in the Qur'an), and dreams of the
Prophet (s). The author argues that the western epistemology, derived
from godless materialism, cannot explain the phenomenon of true dreams, nor can
the scientific 'Protestant Islam' of the modem
age do so. The Sufis have faithfully preserved the epistemology of Islam which alone can explain a true dream or vision. This book
describes the classification and interpretation of dreams, and analyses all
eight dreams located in the Qur'an. The book also records all the dreams of the
Prophet (s) himself, as well as of his companions.
THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL - A VIEW FROM THE
QUR'AN
This book
refutes, from an exclusively Qur'anic perspective, the basic claim to
legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel, to wit: the belief of the Jews that they
still remain the 'chosen' people of Allah, Most High, and that they were given
'exclusive' and 'eternal' title to the holy land of Palestine. The author argues
that recognition of the State of Israel would imply acceptance of its basic
claim to legitimacy, and hence would constitute an act of shirk!
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PROHIBITION OF RIBA IN ISLAM
The main theme of this book is
a demonstration of the importance of the prohibition of Riba in Islam. Most Muslims in the world today are largely ignorant
of the importance of this prohibition, and of the severe punishment which
awaits those who indulge in Riba, either as lenders, borrowers, bankers,
or even witnesses. Punishment will begin in the grave itself.
ONE JAMA'AT - ONE AMEER: The Organization of a Muslim Community in
the Age of Fitan
This book
first attempts a selective yet conclusive demonstration of the fact that we now
live in the age of Fitan described by Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam)as the last age, or the age
which will witness the end of history. It then points out that the Prophet (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam) has given specific instructions
that Muslims must hold on firmly to the (authentic) Jama'ah and to the Ameer/lmam
(leader) in the age of Fitan if they are to survive the great trials
and evil of this age with their faith intact.
THE PROHIBITION OF RIBA IN THE QUR'AN AND SUNNAH
This book
attempts to present the otherwise complex subject of Riba in a way which
is simple, and easily comprehensible. The book also refutes the false opinions
that modern bank interest is not Riba, - that borrowing on interest for
housing etc., is permissible because of the doctrine of necessity (darura), -
that borrowing on interest in western countries is permissible because these countries
are Dar al-Harb: - and that buying 'cash' and selling 'credit' with a
'mark-up' (see Muslim Credit Union) is permissible because it is not Riba. All
those opinions are not just false, but dangerously false. All those transactions· are Riba and, thus, Haram! Terrible,
terrible punishment awaits those who persist in Riba even after the
divine warning has reached them. The book also has an Appendix of Questions and
Answers on Riba.
THE STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FAST OF RAMADAN & ISRA' AND MIRAJ
Section
One of the book attempts to demonstrate that fast of Ramadan was meant to play a
strategic role in mobilizing the Muslim community for consolidation of its
unity, solidarity, faith and morale, and for building that power with which to
resist aggression, deter the aggressor, liberate the oppressed and validate the
Truth. The trust of the argument in located in the analysis of the
chronological sequence of the simultaneous divine promulgation of three things:
i)change
in Qibla;
ii)permission
for Qital (fighting);
iii)fast
of Ramadan
Section Two looks at the
spiritual, scientific, epistemological, political theological and the strategic
implications of Isra and Miraj of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta’alah ‘alaihi wa sallam)
