The Holy Month of Ramadan is here! (II)
Continues from last week Now this essay today is concerned with the exploration of newer paths towards a successful and more rewarding fasting season. Perhaps this should begin with the call for early preparation for the month of Ramadan. In other words, though experience has taught us that early planning in all human endeavours makes for successful outcomes, and that the earlier the preparation of a student the more the likelihood of his success in the examination, it appears that this timeless wisdom often enjoys little patronage with reference to Muslims’ approach to the month of Ramadan.
Thus hours to the first day in the month, there usually occur a bedlam in some markets across major cities of this country. This is often caused by the sudden realization, by adherents of Islam, that the first supererogatory prayer (altarawih) which usually marks the beginning of the month would be held that same night and that the early morning meal (sahur) would be due on the following day. Thus, Muslim women and men would now proceed to the various markets in order to buy food materials with which their families would begin fasting. On such days, traders in the market usually hike prices of food stuffs. A cup of rice which hitherto used to sell for, for example, fifty naira would now be sold for a hundred naira. That brother of mine would consequently be ‘punished’ by the shylock traders for his lack of planning. He would invariably go back home utterly disappointed for his inability to buy the items his wife had requested from him. My Muslim sister, whose task it is to procure necessary materials for her family, would become disconsolate simply because food prices had reached the roof top. The Muslim’s home front would then become unhomely; the joy which Ramadan should normally occasion in Muslim homes would then become tempered by its inability to satisfy its basic needs.
Dear brethren, the above represents the very antithesis of the preparation a Muslim can undertake ahead of Ramadan. It is the pathway we should all avoid in order for us to have a more rewarding and fulfilling Ramadan this year. I should then advise, if I may, that each of our families should have a Shuura (family consultations) days before the onset of Ramadan. Endeavour to prepare an estimate of every item that your family would need in order to enjoy the bliss of Ramadan and make efforts to go out for shopping days before the appearance of the crescent. If the crescent for the month of Ramadan takes eleven months before it appears, it means we should not wait till it is twentyfour hours to its beginning before we prepare for it.
Further, whoever owes an obligation to the Almighty or his fellow creatures and has not fulfilled it since the end of the last Ramadan till date would have failed to adequately prepare for the coming Ramadan. Such a Muslim could very well be referred to as a sinner and an oppressor: a sinner in the sight of his Creator and an oppressor of her or his own soul. Brethren, let us discharge all our obligations, the spiritual, the social, the economic, the cultural and even the political before this year’s Ramadan begins. A Muslim who does not heed this admonition could be likened to a student who proceeds to the examination hall with “forbidden documents and materials”. He could also be likened to yet another student who desire to sit for the second year examinations though he still has some outstanding courses for the first year. A student who engages in the latter would most likely not be allowed to sit for the examinations; at worst she would not graduate from the university.
In other words, dear brethren, a wrong way to prepare for Ramadan is to have unresolved disputes with your fellow Muslim brethren. Since Ramadan is first of all a spiritual exercise before being a communal or social one, since the locale of the spiritual is the human soul -the heart, and since anger, animosity, envy, hatred and all ill-feelings are diseases which assail the heart, corrupt it and render it unsuitable for spiritual reawakening, it then becomes highly important that we empty our hearts of all these “spiritual viruses”.
To be continued
Afis A. Oladosu is a Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan.