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Ramadan Fasting During Ramadan, Although They Must Make up the Lost Days Later in the Year

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Ramadan Fasting During Ramadan, Although They Must Make up the Lost Days Later in the Year RT1806_R.qxd 1/30/2004 3:59 PM Page 355 R Ramadan fasting during Ramadan, although they must make up the lost days later in the year. Those Muslims who The rituals of the Islamic month of Ramadan are reg- do not observe fasting without having a legitimate ulated by Islamic law (shari‘a), which jurists (fuqaha’) excuse must pay penance (kaffara) by feeding thirty base on the Qur’an (the book of sacred writings poor people for each day of fasting. accepted by Muslims as revelations made to the The month of Ramadan begins with the appear- Prophet Muhammad by God), Hadith (a narrative ance of the new moon. Islamic jurists maintain that record of the sayings or customs of the Prophet the moon must have been seen with the naked eye by Muhammad and his companions), tradition (what the a Muslim of a good and truthful character (‘adl). If the Prophet Muhammad said and did), and ijma’(general moon is not sighted on the twenty-eighth day of the consensus of the early Islamic community). month of Sh‘aban, which is the month before In the Islamic calendar Ramadan is considered to Ramadan, the month of Sh ‘aban’ may be extended to be the most sacred and blessed month. It is the only twenty-nine or thirty days. month mentioned in the Qur’an (Chapter 2:18). This Fasting consists of not eating, drinking, or smok- is the month when the Qur’an was revealed to the ing from sunrise to sunset. During fasting one is not Prophet Muhammad and when God’s graces are eas- supposed to commit any sins. A man is allowed to ily accessible. Some poets have called it metaphorical- visit his wife only at night. A person must begin his or ly the “king of all months” and the “rose flower.” her fast by saying a formula that expresses the inten- Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. tion of fasting. Early in the morning before sunrise, he The word Ramadan comes from the root r-m-d mean- or she eats a meal (sahur, sahri) and breaks the fast ing “great heat,” which suggests in what season the (iftar) with something small to eat, usually dates, as month used to fall in the solar calendar. In pre-Islamic the Prophet Muhammad did. times it was considered a month of truce. Fighting Several days in the month of Ramadan elevate its was prohibited during this month. This tradition was importance. The sixth day is the birthday of Husayn retained in the religion of Islam. bin ‘Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad; In order to be a Muslim, one must observe five pil- the tenth day is the day of death of Khadija, the first lars of Islam. Fasting (sawm or siyam) in the month of wife of the Prophet Muhammad. On the seventh day Ramadan constitutes the fourth pillar and is obligato- Muslims fought the Battle of Badr against Meccan ry to every Muslim who has reached puberty (baligh) unbelievers in Saudi Arabia. On the nineteenth day and is capable of making rational judgments (‘aqil). Muslims were finally able to conquer Mecca, and Children, old people, and those who are sick and the twentieth day is the anniversary of the death of physically weak are exempt from this obligation. ‘Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Travelers who undertake journeys lasting more than Muhammad and also the fourth caliph of the Islamic three days and pregnant women are also exempt from community. 355 RT1806_R.qxd 1/30/2004 3:59 PM Page 356 Ramadan RAMADAN IN NIGERIA The following ethnographic account describes how Ramadan was celebrated in a Muslim village of the Kanuri people of northern Nigeria. The month of Ramadan (April 2 to May 1, in 1957) is spent in fasting. During that time neither food nor water is taken into the mouth from sunrise to sunset. All Kanuri above the age of fifteen or sixteen keep the fast. For sever- al years before that boys and girls keep a modified fast, in which three days of fasting are followed by nine days in which the fast is not observed. In Geidam all Kanuri outwardly keep the fast, although it was admitted that there were Kanuri who drank water in secret. In Maiduguri there are Kanuri who eat openly in the market-place during Ramadan, but Geidam is too small a town for anyone to violate religious custom so blatantly. As Ramadan in 1957 fell in the hottest and most uncomfortable time of the year, fasting, and in particular abstaining from drinking, is very demanding. Most people radically alter their schedules. During Ramadan they customarily rise at 3 A.M. at the call of a waker, pray and drink something and then remain up doing their work until sunrise (6 A.M.). They then work for an additional two or three hours until the sun is high in the sky, when they retire to sleep until three or four in the afternoon. From four until sunset (6:45 P.M.) people again work, and the women pound and grind millet. At sunset the Ladan calls to announce the end of the day’s fast. People then drink quantities of a porridge made of millet and soured milk (balam). At ten or eleven in the evening people eat the one hearty meal of the day. Activities such as visiting, chatting and strolling continue on into the night. During Ramadan, the entire daily schedule is shifted so that people sleep through the hottest hours of the day, work during the cooler periods at sunrise and at sunset, break the fast with a light meal which is followed by a heavy meal some hours later, and spend much of the night in leisure activities. In actual fact little work is accomplished in this month. As the sun set on Tuesday, April 30th, everyone looked closely for the new moon which would mark the begin- ning of the new month and the end of the fast. The sky was slightly cloudy and the sliver of the new moon could not be distinguished. The following day, therefore, would once again be a fast day. However, two boys came to the Alkali and swore on the Koran that they had seen the moon. In addition, it was announced over the radio that the moon had been seen in Enugu, so that the fast of Ramadan was in fact ended. Wednesday, instead of a fast day, was the festive Ngumari Ashembe (Ashem means fast), the great festival marking the end of Ramadan. Source: Rosman, Abraham. (1966). Social Structure and Acculturation among the Kanuri of Northern Nigeria. Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, pp. 188–190. Most importantly, the Night of Power (laylat During Ramadan prayer is held every night (salat al-qadr) is considered the sacred night. It is commonly al-tarawih). Prayer consists of twenty or thirty-two said to fall on the twenty-seventh day of the month, raka‘at (the ritual of prayer that includes standing but authorities are not unanimous. “Night of Power” while reciting the chapters of the Qur’an, bowing, is also the name of the ninety-seventh chapter of the prostrating, and sitting). Generally, the imam (prayer Qur’an, in which it is called a night “better than one leader) who has committed the Qur’an to memory thousand months.” All Muslims, even those who are recites its portions in this prayer and makes certain not particular in the observance of religious duties, that the whole Qur’an is recited completely by the make certain not to miss prayer on that night. Pious twenty-seventh or the last night prayer of Ramadan. Muslims can be seen standing in prayers the whole The silver of the new moon ends the month of night and asking forgiveness for their sins. Ramadan. The next day, fasting of the month of 356 RT1806_R.qxd 1/30/2004 3:59 PM Page 357 Rastafari Ramadan (‘id al-fitr) is celebrated. Thus, Ramadan is all black people and the origin of life and of civilization, for Muslims the month of fasting, praying, intensive Zion is considered the source of power invested with purification, and sole devotion to God. redemptive significance—a meaning that the Rastafari Husain Kassim counterpose to Babylon—defined as the postcolonial diaspora of the West and the white power structure See also Islam which has historically enslaved, oppressed, and brutal- ized African peoples. Zion or Africa is thus frequently construed in a less literal way to mean repatriation to Further Reading one’s African identity and African culture, even while living in the Babylonian diaspora. Although Rastafari Ali, A. Y. (1989). The holy Qur’an (text, translation and com- have developed elaborate ceremonial complexes (large- mentary). Brentwood, MD: Amana. scale gatherings of community that last for three or Lane, E. W. (1966). Manners and customs of the modern seven days and that mark the liminal status of partici- Egyptians. New York: Dutton. pants as “sojourners” in Babylon) and less complicated Schimmel, A. (2001). Das islamische Jahr: Zeiten und Feste ritual forms (greetings and other speech acts that simi- [The Islamic year: Times and celebrations]. Munich, larly mark the identity of participants), one of the major Germany: Beck. goals of ritual behavior, whether on an individual or a collective level, is to mediate the dynamic tension between Babylon and Zion. The theme of repatriation to Africa courses Rastafari through the history of Africans in the diaspora. Rastafari from its inception has worked to achieve Rastafari has been described as a religion, a subcul- repatriation.
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