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Goanet mourns the passing of Cornel da Costa in London, England - Sep 10/10
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Goanetters,
It may be interesting to read today about Ramadan fast and Id-ul-Fitr. We
should learn about the world religions too. We too join them and wish them a
good feast!
Regards.
Fr.Ivo
The Ramadan Fast:
Muslims are woken up every morning by the local muezzin with a loud
proclamation of their faith:
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar .Allah is the greatest!
Lail-ha-Illalah.No one is worthy of worship
Vallahu Akbar.except Allah.
Allahu Akbar.Allah is the greatest!
Valillahi Hamd.All praise is for Allah alone.
Together with faith in one God, Allah, the Muslims perform five main religious
duties known as arknuadim (the five "pillars of religion"), including the
observance of fast (Roza). This observance of fast and the pilgrimage to Mecca
are carried out particularly during the Muslim "holy" month of Ramadan and each
ends with a special festival.
Ramadan is the ninth of the Muslim calendar and the Muslim call it a blessed
month of self-purification, rededication, self-mastery and discipline of the
body.
It was during the hot month of Ramadan that Prophet Mohammed., distressed by
the rampant idolatry among his fellow Meccans, would retire with his family to
a desert cave on Mount Hira and seek to discover the way of truth. It was,
then, on one such occasion that he claimed to have had a deep experience of God
calling him to become is prophet.
The Roza:
The fasting begins each day with sunrise and lasts until sunset. It consists in
abstaining from food and beverages, from inhaling of tobacco smoke, and even
from swallowing of spittle, smelling of perfume, taking injection, deliberate
vomiting, genital intercourse, and intoxication. All Muslim male or female, who
are adult, sound in mind and physically fit, are bound to fast throughout the
month of Ramadan.
The main aim of fasting is to please God and to draw near him. There are also
other moral, spiritual and social benefits from fasting. Fasting requires
self-discipline and the control of one's own desires. Devotees learn to give
hospitality to those in need. Ramadan is traditionally also a time when Muslims
try to devote themselves to meditation, prayer, and reading the Koran. Special,
extra, night prayers are performed in the mosque. The last ten days of Ramadan
are believed to be especially sacred. One of them is considered as the "Night
of Power", the occasion when the first koranic revelation came to Mohammed.
Therefore, during this period some Muslims will stay in the mosque in continual
worship and contemplation of God.
Id-ul-Fitr:
The final breaking of the fast of Ramadan is marked by a special three-day
festival, the "Id-ul-Fitr" (the Lesser Festival). On this day the Muslims go to
the mosque to perform special prayers of thanksgiving for the successful
completion of the Ramadan fasting. When prayers are completed the Imam (the
Leader) takes his place in the mimbar (pulpit) and delivers the Kutba (sermon)
and ends with a munajat (supplication prayer). People join this prayer for the
forgiveness of their sins or for obtaining any other favours spiritual or
material such as recovery of sickness. The feasting continues throughout the
day. Special dishes are prepared. Friends visit and greet each other with hugs
and kisses (that is why in some parts of India it is called Mithi Id, the
"feast of the embrace"), whilst they say "Id Mubarak" or "Chand Mubarak" ("a
happy moon" to you, since it begins with the sighting of the moon). The
festival is also characterized by almsgiving, and offerings are made to the
poor in the name of God.
As Christians we can reflect on this feast as follows:
A month-long fasting and self-purification, followed by a joyful celebration of
breaking of the fast on Id-ul-Fitr, symbolize our life in this world as a
spiritual passage, a journey, a pilgrimage towards God, towards our"home", in
heaven. Seen from this point of view our great forty-day Lenten Season,
traditionally characterized by fast and penance, prayers and almsgiving,
followed by the Easter celebration, has for us the same meaning. In the Lenten
Season the entire church as a community, a family, purifies itself during those
forty days, and on the Easter day rejoices in our renewed encounter with the
Risen Lord. We die with Christ and rise with him, anticipating our final
encounter in Heaven.
This yearly cycle is repeated in a weekly cycle. Once each week, on the day on
which the Church has called the Lord's Day, she keeps the memory of the Lord's
Resurrection. In the early Church, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays were the
days of fast in several ecclesial communities. If Friday fast was in
remembrance of the death of Jesus, the Saturday fast was meant as weekly recall
of the great paschal or Lenten fast. Thus, the following Sunday was highlighted
as the day of the Lord's Resurrection on which day Christians joyfully shared
in the Eucharistic Meal of the Lord; alms were collected for the poor and the
day was spent with works of charity and relaxation. Thus, Sundays and the
Lord's Supper symbolized for the early Christians, and it does symbolize for
us, the anticipation and foretaste of our eternal joy and Banquet in Heaven,
after our week-long life of pilgrimage of our daily life.
Hence, in a spirit of solidarity, we too may join our Muslim brothers and
sisters in their joys of Id-ul-Fitr which marks the end of the Ramadan feast.
(from: Understanding Our Fellow Pilgrims, by the Sub-Committee for
Inter-Religious Dialogue, Goa, 2000, pp.216-219)
