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Ramadan has lost its spiritual essence
7-16-2014
It seems as if, this Ramadan, across the globe, the Ummah of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) has lost its moral compass and can’t be bothered looking for it. Most prominent example of it Muslim Ummah’s collective silence over Israel’s barbaric attack on Gaza, which has even shaken Jews, Christians, and others considered “Non-Muslims” to speak out, and take actions against Israel and to put an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza. Except for Muslims, who are too busy “Celebrating” the “holy” month of Ramadan, which the scholars believe Muslims have failed to understand the meaning and virtues of it. One such example of it is recently released, now viral, a video produced by group of young Brits, “The Honesty Policy” dancing to the tune of Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy.”
"We Brits have a bad rep for being a bit stiff, but this video proves otherwise," The Honesty Policy, the group behind the no
w-viral video, wrote on its blog. "We are HAPPY. We are eclectic. We are cosmopolitan. Diverse. Creative. Fun. Outgoing. And everything you can think of,” reported CBC.
However nothing could be far from the truth, that is, with each passing years it can be said that we are witnessing Ramadan traditions disappearing as it positioning itself to compete with other popular holidays, such as Christmas, where materialistic aspect of Ramadan is on the climb and the importance on the spiritual aspect in a free fall.
The dangerous part of it is that among its uniqueness, in comparison to other Holidays, such as Christmas, where a month of hype reaches a culmination for one or two days, where Ramadan it is the entire month which can be commercialized into a humungous hype, and people are capitalizing on it. That’s is the sad and bare naked truth.
“Islamic scholars believe economic developments, changes in lifestyle and technological advancements have resulted in Muslims straying from the spiritual essence of Ramadan. Ramadan is a special month for Muslims, a month of prayer, worship and observance,” reported the Middle-east popular English News daily, Gulf News.
This is a month of embarking on a spiritual journey; a month to recalibrate our relationship with our creator, and perform a self-evaluation. This is a month that supposed to give us a dose of reality by observing fast, realising how a large majority of people live around the world, compelling us to be generous and charitable in giving. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be happening.
“However, in the last decade, many have noticed that Ramadan traditions and rituals have been replaced with new emerging trends that lack spirituality,” added the article in Gulf News.
We are witnessing similar rise of commercialization of Ramadan here as well. Popular chain stores featuring “Ramadan” sales. Restaurants offering popular buffets, get together at Coffee Shops replaces going to Taraweeh, and Breakfast at Timmy’s relaces Qiaym ul Lail.
Dr Ahmad Al Qubaisi, a prominent Islamic scholar, attributed the lost spirit of Ramadan to many social, political, economic, material and psychological factors, as well as to growing consumerism.
He believes that the spirit of the fasting month is totally lost in Arab communities in general.
"Ramadan is a month during which options are open for Muslims to purify their souls, but it has become a month of breaking routine daily habits only. Instead of getting closer to God through prayer, people consume large quantities of food, spend many hours watching Ramadan programmes and sleep after dawn.
"People must make the most of this month to repent and go back to God but, unfortunately, this chance is totally missed because people are overwhelmingly involved in material matters that have nothing to do with the spiritual nature of the month.”
He said people mainly focus on food and not on the true essence of Ramadan, while women waste so much time cooking instead of seizing this precious chance to worship God and enjoy the spirituality of the month.
This can also be attributed to the dominance of materialism and consumerism over spiritual things, he added.
As we all note, locally, there are more people attending the mosques during Ramadan, less and less praying. More families are attending the mosques but often parents don’t know where their children are when a mosque, nor do they encourage their children to join the prayers. For children this has become a month long party or event at the mosque. Families are competing with each other in out doing over Iftar parties.
We hope to highlight such things as they are our own shortcomings, and without realizing we are causing more damage to our own self and our children than we realize when we engage in such frivolous activities, thus setting up new meaningless traditions which takes us away from Allah.
We pray that May Allah guide us all to capture the true spirits and meaning of Ramadan, and reconnect us with our creator, focus on the importance of Ramadan, fasting and zakat, and pray for those in need, those suffering.
During the last ten days of Ramadan let us all reach out to Allah and seek his forgiveness for our individual and collective sins. (Ameen).
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