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   The Fourth Pillar of Islam: The Fast of Ramadan   
      
   Description: An introduction to the fourth pillar of Islam, the fast of   
   Ramadan, its spiritual benefits, and the concept of fasting in world religions.   
      
   Fasting is not unique to the Muslims.  It has been practiced for centuries in   
   connection with religious ceremonies by Christians, Jews, Confucianists,   
   Hindus, Taoists, and Jains.  God mentions this fact in the Quran:   
   "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for   
   those before you, that you may develop God-consciousness." (Quran 2:183)   
   Some Native American societies fasted to avert catastrophe or to serve as   
   penance for sin.  Native North Americans held tribal fasts to avert   
   threatening disasters.  The Native Americans of Mexico and the Incas of Peru   
   observed penitential fasts to    
   appease their gods.  Past nations of the Old World, such as the Assyrians and   
   the Babylonians, observed fasting as a form of penance.  Jews observe fasting   
   as a form of penitence and purification annually on the Day of Atonement or   
   Yom Kippur.  On this    
   day neither food nor drink is permitted.   
   Early Christians associated fasting with penitence and purification.  During   
   the first two centuries of its existence, the Christian church established   
   fasting as a voluntary preparation for receiving the sacraments of Holy   
   Communion and baptism and for    
   the ordination of priests.  Later, these fasts were made obligatory, as others   
   days were subsequently added.  In the 6th century, the Lenten fast was   
   expanded to 40 days, on each of which only one meal was permitted.  After the   
   Reformation, fasting was    
   retained by most Protestant churches and was made optional in some cases.    
   Stricter Protestants, however, condemned not only the festivals of the church,   
   but its traditional fasts as well.   
   In the Roman Catholic Church, fasting may involve partial abstinence from food   
   and drink or total abstinence.  The Roman Catholic days of fasting are Ash   
   Wednesday and Good Friday.  In the United States, fasting is observed mostly   
   by Episcopalians and    
   Lutherans among Protestants, by Orthodox and Conservative Jews, and by Roman   
   Catholics.   
   Fasting took another form in the West: the hunger strike, a form of fasting,   
   which in modern times has become a political weapon after being popularized by   
   Mohandas Gandhi, leader of the struggle for India's freedom, who undertook   
   fasts to compel his    
   followers to obey his precept of nonviolence.   
   Islam is the only religion that has retained the outward and spiritual   
   dimensions of fasting throughout the centuries.  Selfish motives and desires   
   of the base self alienate a man from his Creator.  The most unruly human   
   emotions are pride, avarice,    
   gluttony, lust, envy, and anger.  These emotions by their nature are not easy   
   to control, thus a person must strive hard to discipline them.  Muslims fast   
   to purify their soul, it puts a bridle on the most uncontrolled, savage human   
   emotions.  People    
   have gone to two extremes with regard to them.  Some let these emotions steer   
   their life which lead to barbarism among the ancients, and crass materialism   
   of consumer cultures in modern times.  Others tried to deprive themselves   
   completely of these human    
   traits, which in turn led to monasticism.   
   The fourth Pillar of Islam, the Fast of Ramadan, occurs once each year during   
   the 9th lunar month, the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic   
   calendar in which:   
   "...the Quran was sent down as a guidance for the people." (Quran 2:185)   
   God in His infinite mercy has exempt the ill, travelers, and others who are   
   unable  from fasting Ramadan.   
   Fasting helps Muslims develop self-control, gain a better understanding of   
   God's gifts and greater compassion towards the deprived.  Fasting in Islam   
   involves abstaining from all bodily pleasures between dawn and sunset.  Not   
   only is food forbidden, but    
   also any sexual activity.  All things which are regarded as prohibited is even   
   more so in this month, due to its sacredness.  Each and every moment during   
   the fast, a person suppresses their passions and desires in loving obedience   
   to God.  This    
   consciousness of duty and the spirit of patience helps in strengthening our   
   faith.  Fasting helps a person gain self-control.  A person who abstains from   
   permissible things like food and drink is likely to feel conscious of his   
   sins.  A heightened sense    
   of spirituality helps break the habits of lying, staring with lust at the   
   opposite sex, gossiping, and wasting time.  Staying hungry and thirsty for   
   just a day's portion makes one feel the misery of the 800 million who go   
   hungry or the one in ten    
   households in the US, for example, that are living with hunger or are at risk   
   of hunger.  After all, why would anyone care about starvation if one has never   
   felt its pangs oneself?  One can see why Ramadan is also a month of charity   
   and giving.   
   At dusk, the fast is broken with a light meal popularly referred to as   
   iftaar.  Families and friends share a special late evening meal together,   
   often including special foods and sweets served only at this time of the   
   year.  Many go to the mosque for the    
   evening prayer, followed by special prayers recited only during Ramadan.  Some   
   will recite the entire Quran as a special act of piety, and public recitations   
   of the Quran can be heard throughout the evening.  Families rise before dawn   
   to take their first    
   meal of the day, which sustains them until sunset.  Near the end of Ramadan   
   Muslims commemorate the "Night of Power" when the Quran was revealed.  The   
   month of Ramadan ends with one of the two major Islamic celebrations, the   
   Feast of the Breaking of the    
   Fast, called Eid al-Fitr. On this day, Muslims joyfully celebrate the   
   completion of Ramadan and customarily distribute gifts to children. Muslims   
   are also obliged to help the poor join in the spirit of relaxation and   
   enjoyment by distributing zakat-ul-   
   fitr, a special and obligatory act of charity in the form of staple foodstuff,   
   in order that all may enjoy the general euphoria of the day.   
   http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/47/fourth-pillar-of-islam/   
   Thank you   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)