{"id":14,"date":"2007-09-19T10:38:25","date_gmt":"2007-09-19T10:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ramadan\/2007\/09\/how-ramadan-puts-me-in-my-plac.html"},"modified":"2007-09-19T10:38:25","modified_gmt":"2007-09-19T10:38:25","slug":"how-ramadan-puts-me-in-my-plac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/2007\/09\/how-ramadan-puts-me-in-my-plac.html","title":{"rendered":"Why I Really Fast, and What I Gain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hardshipcomesease.jpg\"There is a communal and public aspect of Ramadan that helps to bind Muslims as a community (ummah<\/em> in Arabic), and there are the logistics of fasting that help us balance our daily responsibilities around the commitment to fast. But the act of fasting is, at its heart, a very personal spiritual experience–a contract between ourselves and our Creator that helps to reestablish our place with respect to Him.
\nFasting serves the mental purpose of taming our ego, the physical purpose of putting mind over body, and the spiritual purpose of submitting ourselves to God’s will.
\nIt is human nature to empower and elevate ourselves. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when left unchecked, it can become an addiction that upsets the critical balance between people that is needed for a civil society. Muslims, like all humans, are no exception to this instinct. Left to our own devices, we would worship only ourselves and resist any attempt to put rules and restrictions on our behavior. But there is an inner voice or state–Muslims refer to it as our fitra<\/i>–that recalls a primordial covenant with God to recognize His authority over all things. It is this basic relationship between human and divine that Ramadan seeks to reestablish.<\/p>\n


\nIt is one thing to set aside time to give thanks for the blessings one has. It is another thing altogether to take away some of the most basic blessings–the gifts of clean water to drink and nourishing food to eat–in order to drive the point home. Sometimes we humans need to lose something of value in order to realize how lucky and blessed we are. And at that point, we remember what the Qur’an tells us: “With every hardship comes ease.”
\nAs Muslims, we declare that we submit ourselves to the will of God. Ramadan is a means of testing that commitment. It is too easy to cheat on the fast to make it of any use to us in our worldly life–we could always sneak a drink of water or bite of food in a secluded place, or engage in gossip (backbiting) and impure thoughts–and appear pious as we join others breaking their fasts at the end of the day.
\nBut in those moments of difficulty, when the body begs for your attention, it is as if there is no one else but your soul, your body, and God. And in hundreds of moments during the month of Ramadan, whether conscious or not, you reaffirm that commitment: First comes the Creator, then my soul, then my body.
\nI have related many of the reasons why I fast–the controlling and taming of desire, the elevation of the spirit over the body, the remembrance of the divine writ, and the thanks for the blessings that I take for granted the rest of the year. But there is really only one reason that I fast, and it is the only one that matters.
\nHe asked me to. And I obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a communal and public aspect of Ramadan that helps to bind Muslims as a community (ummah in Arabic), and there are the logistics of fasting that help us balance our daily responsibilities around the commitment to fast. 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Named one of ten \"Muslim visionaries\" by Islamica Magazine, Shahed's work and writings have been featured in magazines (Newsweek), newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune), radio shows (BBC News, National Public Radio, and major websites (BeliefNet.com). Television appearances include \"Nightline with Ted Koppel\", CNN Headline News, the \"Today Show\", and \"Hannity & Colmes\". Shahed is the founder of Halalfire Media, a network of Islamic-themed websites with nearly 6 million visitors annually. Along with altmuslim.com, signature properties include zabihah.com, salatomatic.com, halalapalooza.com, and unitedmuslims.org. He has also served as a board member for the United Muslims of America, the Muslim Public Service Network, and the Muslim Youth Camp of California. He is a general partner in Zakat Community Ventures, a startup \"venture philanthropy\" fund dedicated to promoting Islamic charitable values.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/author\/samanullah"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}