The Significance of Ramadan

The historical significance of the Islamic Lunar month of Ramadan is that for the first time in history, Allah chose to send a prophet not to a particular tribe or ethnic group but to all mankind.
The Qur’an says what means, “It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was revealed from on high as a guidance for humanity and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false.” (Al-Baqarah 2:185). The entire month of Ramadan is in essence a celebration of the Quran’s revelation, which is described as a “Guide and Mercy for those who do good.” (Luqman 31:3). Ramadan celebrates God’s Mercy by which He sent a guiding light in the Qur’an that leads human life towards the path of good and virtue and protects the human soul from evil and vice.


Fasting is not starving, it is actually a feeding the spirit.

The Muslim believes that his sole purpose is to serve God via all that He requires -- charity, kindness, good deeds, praying, abstaining from harmful acts against self or others, etc.
Mankind's Purpose on Earth
Fasting in the month of Ramadan is a time for Muslims to refocus that goal and remember their missions – to be grateful to the One who, without which, mankind could not be sustained. Chapter 51 (Surat Az-Zariyaat), Verses, (Ayahs), 56-58 of the Qur’an reads: “I have only created of Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. No sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed me. For Allah [God] is He Who gives (all) Sustenance (forever)”.
Fasting as an Obligation
Fasting, or Sawm, in Ramadan is one of the five “pillars” of Islam, and is incumbent upon every able-bodied man and woman above puberty or the age of 12. There is, of course, leniency for certain situations such as traveling, pregnancy, childbirth, menses, and illness. It is not intended to be a hardship upon Muslims, rather a cleansing and period of spiritual enlightenment.
Why the lunar month of Ramadan, specifically? The Qur’an answers that question in Chapter 2 (Surat Al-Baqara), Verse (Ayah) 185: “Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down The Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong). So every one 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. Allah 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”.
Fasting as a Spiritual Experience
This spiritual fasting is not just abstention from food. It is a time for increased time in prayer and good deeds, such as charity – a time of abstaining from anger and pettiness, haughtiness and attachment to worldly objects, impatience and frivolity. For some this might include staying off the Internet, putting away the Xbox, staying out of the malls, turning off the soap operas, being honest in their business dealings by not jacking up prices unfairly and staying away from people and situations that they know will rile them up.Read more: http://islamic-practices.suite101.com/article.cfm/significance_of_fasting_in_ramadan#ixzz0PdTcpbPM
Ramadan is festival kind of atmosphere ...it is become a culture thing to play eid songs during ramadan to remind about Eid while forgetting that fasting is for a month while Raya/Eid is only for a day!
The Muslim world goes topsy-turvy in Ramadan. Eating, sleeping and socialising routines are turned back to front – the first meal is eaten as the sun sets. The initial morsel of food into our mouths will usually be a sweet, succulent date, according to the Islamic tradition. But are the hours that follow really that religious?Contemporary changes to the Ramadan culture mean that the spiritual significance of Ramadan is slowly being lost. Abstaining from physical intake during daylight hours – which means food, drink, and sex – with the intention of getting closer to the Divine, has a myriad of philosophies and meanings.
It allows appreciation of the suffering of the poor and hungry, a chance to devote less time to the physical and more time to the spiritual, a recognition that we can live happily and successfully with less than we have.Come nightfall, these good intentions are put to one side, as though Ramadan is for daylight hours only, and the revelling begins.Mothers cook sumptuous meals for their families. The food is indulgently calorific to the point that many Muslims say they actually gain weight rather than lose it as one might expect. The philosophy of restraint and frugality adhered to during the day has its mirror image in the excessive culinary indulgence after dark.
One of the religious traditions of Ramadan is to feed others at the time of iftar in order to gain reward. Dinner invitations thus abound, and these iftar gatherings are warm social events. But in many places they turn into arenas for showmanship, gathering in partymode, outdoing friends and family with ever extravagant menus where as emphasise the one-upmanship that dominates what should be an occasion of sharing and community.
Once the iftar is over, there is a wide choice of entertainment. Those who are extrovert will find their way to newly erected Ramadan tents, to smoke shisha and chill out with friends for the whole night, going from party to party until dawn. Other families will stay at home to watch the multitude of soap operas which dominate Ramadan. In Saudi Arabia last year it was claimed that there were 64 such soap operas broadcast each night, staggered over time so audiences could watch as many as possible.
This is not a comment on the values or quality of the soaps, or the claims by some clerics that they are “debauched”. It is simply an observation that these soap operas prey on the communal feeling that is generated in Ramadan and profit from it. The audience is understandably drawn towards the high level of entertainment but inadvertently becomes distracted from the sweet pleasures of contemplation and social intercourse of Ramadan.
And let’s not forget the shopping. Shops are open later than ever, and it seems that Ramadan is not a time of midnight contemplation, but rather just a prelude to Eid, a day to show off your new clothes. Ramadan shopping festivals are becoming more common, as is the compulsion to purchase and give Eid presents to a wide circle of acquaintances.Instead of cutting back on the desire to consume, we end up with heightened consumption in these 30 days, whether that be in restaurants or in retail.
This is not to say that the Muslim world has become a month-long consumerist orgy – far from it. The social and spiritual temperature of Muslim communities is high and mosques teem with passionate worshippers.What may surprise many who live in majority Muslim countries is that this sense of community and faith is particularly acute in countries where Muslims are minorities.In these countries, if you are fasting you have to make an active choice to go against the grain of mainstream society. You still have to go to work where you can stare longingly at your colleagues drinking coffee, or attend meetings which run across the iftar time. You have to really know and understand why you are fasting, rather than just being swept up in the maelstrom. There is a sense of community purpose in these countries and an overwhelming push towards spiritual success.
These outcomes are all good things – part of the magic of Ramadan, no doubt. And of course there is no compulsion in how you spend Ramadan. You do not have to sit on a prayer mat all hours of the day. But I do see a worrying trend when you piece each of these actions together. Each one may be justifiable because everyone has choice, but if you step back, you start to see that the meaning and context of Ramadan is slowly being lost.
If we accept these justifications then we must be wary of opening ourselves to the charge of hypocrisy.Ramadan and Eid are not the only occasions to have suffered this slow and insidious dilution of meaning and impact. Practising Christians in the western world complain that Christmas has been sucked dry of its religious meaning.Other festivals, too, have lost their meaning. Easter was about rebirth and renewal, but now focuses on chocolate eggs and cute bunnies. And Lent, which was a 40-day period of frugality and restraint – almost akin to Ramadan itself in its ethos – has been distilled down to Mardi Gras, pancakes and gaudy carnivals.
Some people will bristle at the comparison of the way that Christmas has been usurped by consumerism with the contemporary experience of Ramadan. But the similarities are striking as the evidence above shows.You do not have to be religious to appreciate that the social and ethical meaning of festivals such as Christmas, Ramadan and Eid have a great deal to contribute to the morality of human society.
For this reason, Muslims add their voices to these complaints, as part of the faith communities who share a concern about the sapping of meaning and moral compass from these occasions. However, it often turns into pointing fingers at the West for becoming “godless” or “decadent” due to the excessive commercialisation, while turning a blind eye to the same challenges in the Muslim world.Is this a case of pot calling the kettle black?
Ramadan does not have to be, and should not be, sober pious asceticism. Of course not. Enjoyment, sharing and happiness in our togetherness are critical components of Ramadan. But Ramadan should be about more than gluttony, shopping and vacuous entertainment.We do in fact need to recognise and acknowledge the place of Ramadan’s material pleasures. By being honest about the importance of the physical, we can de-prioritise it in favour of the spiritual and moral at least for the 30 days of Ramadan.
This de-prioritisation is what makes Ramadan special in the first place. By withholding the importance of the physical self, Ramadan is about recognising the importance of our individual spirit, and about finding our place as souls, not bodies, in the society in which we live.

May people wonder why we fast the month of Ramadan and what is so significant about it. The reson we fast is to develop and strengthen our self-control. The purpose is to be thankful for what you have and try to give more to the people that are less fortunate than us. In this holy month you are suppose to pray all five prayers and tarweh. Ramadan is not only to fast and pray, but also to enjoy the essence of Islam. Ramadan is the 9th month of Islamic calendar in which the holy book Qur’an was reveled to Prophet Mohammed. Muslims wait for this month for worship keeping in mind that their every prayer, fast and good deeds are accepted and rewarded many times compare to the rest of the months. Charity is major role in Islam especially in Ramadan. In Ramadan it is must on Muslims who work, earn and can afford to give a Zakat. Prophet Mohammed said, "He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him, without nothing being reduced from the fasting persons reward." Ramadan is a significant month that all Muslims are grateful about.

“O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil.” (The Holy Quran, 2:183)
Allah says: “And when My servants ask you (O Prophet) about Me, surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should hear My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.” (ibid., 2:186)
“And swallow not up your property among yourselves by false means, nor seek to gain access thereby to the authorities so that you may swallow up other people’s property wrongfully while you know.” (ibid., 2:188)
“He who does not give up uttering falsehood and acting according to it, God has no need of his giving up his food and drink.” (The Holy Prophet Muhammad)
Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, and explained it by saying: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:2-4.) Moses also fasted forty days and forty nights (Exodus 34:28).
Purpose of fasting in Islam
To develop and strengthen our powers of self-control, so that we can resist wrongful desires and bad habits, and therefore “guard against evil” (extract no. 1). In fasting, by refraining from the natural human urges to satisfy one’s appetite, we are exercising our ability of self-restraint, so that we can then apply it to our everyday life to bring about self-improvement.
To attain nearness and closeness to God so that He becomes a reality in our lives. As we bear the rigours of fasting purely for the sake of following a Divine commandment, knowing and feeling that He can see all our actions however secret, it intensifies the consciousness of God in our hearts, resulting in a higher spiritual experience (see extract no. 2).
To learn to refrain from usurping other’s rights and belongings. In fasting we voluntarily give up even what is rightfully ours; how can then we think of taking what is not ours but belongs to someone else? (See extract no. 3)
Charity and generosity is especially urged during Ramadan. We learn to give, and not to take. The deprivation of fasting makes us sympathise with the suffering of others, and desirous of alleviating it; and it makes us remember the blessings of life which we normally take for granted.
Fasting in Islam does not just consist of refraining from eating and drinking, but from every kind of selfish desire and wrong-doing. The fast is not merely of the body, but essentially that of the spirit as well (see extract no. 4). The physical fast is a symbol and outward expression of the real, inner fast.
Fasting is a spiritual practice to be found in all religions (see extracts no. 1 and 5). The great Founders of various faiths (Buddha, Moses, Jesus, etc.) practised quite rigorous fasting as a preliminary to attaining their first experience of spiritual enlightenment and communion with God. This kind of communion is indicated in extract no. 2.

The word “ zakah ” in Arabic means purification. The giving of zakah (obligatory charity) is the third pillar of Islam. There are two types of zakah: zakat al-mal (charity paid on one’s wealth) and zakat al-fitr (charity paid before breaking the fast of Ramadan).
Every free Muslim who owns a saa` (2.176 kilograms or 4.797 pounds) of dates or barley that is not needed as a basic food for himself or his family is required to pay zakat al-fitr at the end of Ramadan and before the `Eid Prayer. Every free Muslim must pay zakat al-fitr for himself, his wife, children and servants.
The Prophet Muhammad enjoined zakah on those who fast to purify them from any indecent act or deeds. It is a sort of purification of the soul on the individual level, a cure against miserliness, and a social safety net. The rich are obliged to come in contact with the poor and the poor with the even less fortunate.
This contact between the various levels of society helps to create a real bond of brotherhood in the Muslim community. Zakah provides for the poor and spares them the humiliation of asking for charity. The Prophet Muhammad said, “Fulfill their need on this day” (that is, on the day of `Eid).
Zakat al-fitr is obligatory on every Muslim, rich or poor alike, young and old, because every Muslim needs this purification. The head of the household must pay for every member of the family, even for the newborn.
This concept of charity and generosity is central to the message of Islam. In the Qur’an, the believers are described as what means […those who spend (of that which Allah hath given them) in ease and in adversity] (Aal `Imran3: 134)