IB_14

6-7 / 21

Issue 14 Page 6
Page 7 Issue 14
RAMADAN MUBARAK!
HAPPY RAMADAN!
The month of Ramadan has once again begun.
This month is a very special time in a Muslim’s
heart and soul. It is a time that Allah has bestowed
much blessings in our lives. It is also a time for
forgiveness, repentance, and an opportunity to
earn countless rewards.
It is very important to increase one’s worship
during Ramadan by reading Quran, praying ‘ex-
tra’ prayers--such as Tahajjud and Taraweeh, and
being kind and doing good deeds. These good
habits during Ramadan should also, God-willing,
continue after the month of fasting has ended.
Fasting develops self-control and helps us to over-
come selfishness, greed, laziness and other faults.
It is an annual training program to refresh us for
carrying out our duties towards the Almighty,
the Creator and Sustainer. Fasting gives us the
feeling of hunger and thirst. We experience for
ourselves what it is like to have an empty stom-
ach. This develops our feeling for the poor and
hungry people.
Fasting teaches us to control the love of comfort.
Also, it helps us to keep our sexual desires within
control. Hunger, comfort, and sex are three fac-
tors which must be kept under control to behave
as the Almighty’s servants.
The purpose of fasting is to make a Muslim able
to control his passions, so that he becomes a
person of good deeds and intentions. Anger, a
common human weakness, can also be brought
under control by fasting. A Muslim is expected
to keep away from all bad actions during his fast.
He should not lie, break a promise or do any
deceitful act.
On both the individual and social levels, fasting
has many virtues and benefits. Of these we can
mention the feeling of sympathy for the poor. Af-
ter all, man’s sense of compassion springs from his
feeling of pain, and fasting is a practical means to
develop compassion in his spirit. In this regard, it
is reported that Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) was
the most generous among people, and he was
especially generous during Ramadan.
Moreover, fasting establishes equality among
the rich and the poor. In a way, it is a compul-
sory experience of poverty in that it is meant to
make all people share an equality, not diversity,
of feeling and to sympathize with one another
through a collective sense of pain, not through
a discord or diversity of desires. It is also during
fasting that Muslims can really sympathize with
the starving people everywhere in the world and
see the hardship that they go through everyday
of their lives.
However, the mere abstinence from food and
drink is not the real meaning of fasting that God
enjoined on the righteous.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) declares: “God does
not accept the fasting of those who do not
restrain themselves from telling falsehood
or from doing false deeds.” The basic truth of
fasting in Islam springs from God’s Watch over
the faster, as well as the latter’s carrying out of
his fast for the cause of none but God.
To this effect, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) explains:
“God will forgive all the sins of those who fast
during Ramadan out of true belief and in an-
ticipation of God’s Reward in the Hereafter.”
Fasting also promotes the Islamic form of so-
ciability. Muslims are urged to invite others to
break the fast with them at sunset, to gather for
the Qur’anic study, prayer and visitations. This
provides a better chance for socialization in a
brotherly and spiritual atmosphere.
Hazrat Zaid bin Khalid al-Juhani (R.A.A.) related
that the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said: Anybody
who offers meal for the breaking of the fast
of another person, earns the same merit as
the one who was observing the fast without
diminishing in any way the recompense of the
fasting person. (Tirmizi)
A quote from another Hadith states: “The month
of Ramadan is the month of endurance and the
reward for endurance is paradise. It is a month
whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is for-
giveness and whose end is freedom from hell.”
EAT DATES - THEY ARE GOOD FOR YOU!
During the month of
Ramadan, there is an
abundance of dates
everywhere we turn.
There is good reason
for this, as Muslims
generally break their
fast by eating dates.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him) is reported to have said, “If any one of you is fast-
ing, let him break his fast with dates. In case he does
not have them, then with water. Verily water is a puri-
fie .”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to break his fast
by eating dates before offering the Maghrib prayer, and if
ripe dates were not available, he would substitute them
with dried ones. When even these were not available, he
used to have a few sips of water, according to some ac-
counts. Dates contain sugar, fat, and proteins, as well as
important vitamins. Hence the great importance attached
to them by the Prophet (PBUH).
Regarding the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) breaking his
fast with fresh dates, dried dates, or even water, there is of
course a subtle reason for this. Since dates travel faster to
the liver and are converted more quickly than other nutri-
ents, particularly if they are moist, the liver accepts their
contents more readily and hastens their distribution to the
rest of the body, which is thirsting for energy. So dates are
the perfect food with which to break the fast, since they
quickly supply the body with the energy it needs.
Dates are also rich in natural fibers and therefore the eat-
ing of them helps to fight many of the ailment with which
we commonly suffer today. Modern medicine has shown
that eating dates is effective in helping to prevent abdom-
inal cancer. Dates also surpass other fruits in the sheer va-
riety of their constituents. They are the most wholesome
food among fruits because of their hot and moist sub-
stance. Eating dates in the morning on an empty stomach
kills intestinal worms and other parasites, for dates have
an antidotal potency which inhibits their growth. Dates
contain calcium, sulphur, iron, potassium, phosphorus,
manganese, copper, magnesium, and volatile oils.
Dates and date palms are mentioned in the Qur’an
20 times, thus showing their importance. The Prophet
(PBUH) likened a good Muslim to the date palm saying,
“Among trees, there is a tree like a Muslim. Its leaves
do not fall.”
Dates were the food Almighty Allah provided for Sayyidah
Maryam (Allah be pleased with her) when she felt labor
pains and after she gave birth to Jesus (PBUH) under the
palm tree. Allah Almighty revealed to her the following:
“Shake the trunk of the palm tree, and it will drop ripe
dates on you, so eat, drink, and comfort your eyes with
what Allah gave you.” (Qur’an 19:25)
Experiments have also shown that dates contain some
stimulants which strengthen the muscles of the uterus in
the last months of pregnancy. This helps the dilation of
the uterus at the time of delivery and reduces post-natal
bleeding.
Dieticians consider dates the best food for breast-feed-
ing mothers. This is because dates contain elements that
assist in alleviating depression and enrich the breast milk
with the nutrients needed to make the child healthy and
resistant to disease.
Another factor making dates the ideal food is their digest-
ibility. Within half an hour of eating them, the tired body
regains new vigor. The reason for this is that low blood
sugar is the main cause of hunger, not an empty stomach
as is often assumed.
When the body absorbs the nutritional essence of a few
dates the sensation of hunger is abated. Many who break
the fast with dates afterwards find themselves unable to
eat much. It would seem that taking dates after fasting
helps one avoid overeating.
Aishah (R.A.) used to prescribe dates for those suffering
with giddiness. It is now well known that low blood sugar
and low blood pressure are among the causes of giddi-
ness.
She was also reported to have used dates combined with
cucumber to treat her over-slim condition. She said “they
fed me with every type of food to gain weight, yet I did
not put any on. Then they added cucumber and fresh
date to my diet and that did it.”
As previously mentioned, dates are rich in several vita-
mins and minerals. When the level of trace elements in
the body falls, the health of the blood vessels is affected,
which leads to increased heart rate and a consequent in-
ability of the heart to perform its functions with normal
efficienc . As dates are rich in calcium, they contribute
to healthy bones. For this reason it is recommended that
children and older adults, especially women, eat plenty of
dates to strengthen their bones.
Dates are also important in maintaining good vision and
are effective in guarding against night-blindness. In the
early years of Islam, dates were served as food for Muslim
soldiers. As the best stimulant of the muscles, they are the
best food for one about to engage in battle.
The Prophet (PBUH) would sometimes combine dates
with bread. At other times he mixed ripe dates with cu-
cumbers or combined dates with ghee. He took all variet-
ies of dates, but preferred the variety called ‘ajwah.
Dates are variously classified as food, drink, fruits, sweets,
nutrients, and medicine. Cured dates are called ‘ajwah
in Arabic. Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) related the
saying of Allah’s Messenger (PBUH), “Ajwah date is an
excellent remedy.” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)
According to another narration, “Ajwah date is certainly
an excellent and sufficient food.” Dates are also among
the fruits of Paradise, as noted in the hadith:
“Ajwah is from Paradise and contains an antidote
against poison.” (Reported by at-Tirmidhi)
Islamic Dietary Laws