Obedient Angel
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Join date : 2011-04-30
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 | Subject: Ramadan: The Misunderstood Significance  Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:34 am | |
| This is a conversation that took place last Ramadan (2010) between a Muslim Egyptian and an English Catholic friend. It shows how non-Muslims in the West misunderstand the significance and atmosphere of Ramadan.
Marawan: Salam Robert. This is how we love Ramadan. It is a classic of Ramadan in
Egypt. Listen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F092GKuCOXs
Lyrics:
Ramadan has come back again,
And we are excited,
After its absence,
Which has been too long.
Then sing all month long,
Sing and say,
"WELCOME RAMADAN!
Oh Ramadan has come back to us.
WELCOME RAMADAN!
Oh Ramadan has come back to us.
WELCOME RAMADAN!
Ramadaaaaaaaaaaaan has come back to us." :-)
You are stay away and abandon us
and our hearts are with you.
And throughout the year, you visit us just once,
And we wait for you.
Since when we have been counting the days,
preparing and arranging things for you.
Since when we have been counting the days,
preparing and arranging things for you.
"WELCOME RAMADAN!
Say with us "WELCOME RAMADAN!
'Oh Ramadan has come back to us.'
WELCOME RAMADAN!
Say with us "WELCOME RAMADAN!
Ramadan has come back to us.'
WELCOME RAMADAN!
Ramadaaaaaaaaaaaan has come back to us."
Ramadan has arrived and we are happy with it.
Sing with us and say "Welcome Ramadan!"
Ramadan has come after its absence...
You leave us for a long time and you forsake us while our hearts are attached to you ..
And in a year, you visit us just once and we wait for you.
Since when we have been waiting for you, calculating the time left before your coming again
Since when we have been preparing for your coming?
RAMADAN GANA = Ramadan has come!
Ahlan Ramadan = Welcome Ramadan!
The day of seeing you when you come to us is like seeing a bridgeroom
We feel happy and we hang adorning decorations.
We run and hello you and say "Ramadan has come to us. Welcome Ramadan!"
O Mesaharati! Beat your drum under our window in its beautiful nights!
(Mesaharati = A traditional man walking in the streets with a drum beating it before dawn to wake people up to eat sth before starting to fast.)
Marawan: Do Christians fast? Is it enjoined it the NT?
Robert: Fasting is mentioned in the NT. The Pharisees asked Jesus why his disciples did
not fast. He said the bridegroom (himself) is with them; when the bridegroom
is gone, then they will fast.
Marawan: Strange! What does this mean?
Robert: Why?
Marawan: Why not fast while he was there?
Robert: A bridegroom implies a wedding - a time of happiness. The disciples are happy
because Jesus is with them; consequently mourning is inappropriate; the time
for that will be when he has gone.
Marawan: Is fasting considered mourning then?!
Robert: Yes, the imposition of suffering, accepted as penance.
Marawan: Mmmmmmmm ..
Very different from Islam in this respect. We have a fast as a penance for
some sins, yes, but not that in Ramadan at all.
Robert: So what does fasting represent in Islam?
Marawan: In Islam, despite some suffering if Ramadan comes on hot days, Ramadan is
considered a month of blessing and happiness -- the most blessed month of
the year. It has a special taste and feeling. The atmosphere is different in its
nights.
Marawan: Streets are ornamented and lights are everywhere.
Children play with lanterns, etc.
Robert: I love this.
Marawan: It is a month of blessings and serenity not a penalty or a month of suffering
as you think of it.
Robert: I see that.
Marawan: If you understood Arabic, you would realize in the nasheeds sung in
celebration of it that we miss it.
Robert: I understand. I sympathize.
Marawan: We feel it is like a beloved that has forsaken us and we wait for it
impatiently.
Wish you could be here in Ramadan. Though it has lost a lot of its traditions
the spirit is still there. One of my Christian friends waits for Ramadan
impatiently every year because of the general spiritual festive ambiance it
creates.
Robert: I would love it. Ramadan is not understood at all in the West.
Robert: But isn't it odd to fast because you are happy? Why is Ramadan a happy time?
Fasting does not make you happy - it is discomfort.
Marawan: You do not fast because you are happy. It is the other way round. You are
happy because you fast. In so doing you overcome your desires for food
and drink, etc.
You are happy because first you overcome these instincts ... desires in
obedience of Allah and the reward is great. You are happy because you bear up
some hardship for Allah's sake. Moreover, fasting does not mean just
abstaining from eating and drinking, etc, but from anything that is wrong in
words or deeds. In addition it is time for doing a lot of extra special worship
acts which give matchless spiritual delight.
The miserable people in Ramadan are those who feel miserable in Ramadan are
those who cannot fast for one reason or another. Women on the days they
cannot fast feel so sad, and they mostly just eat or drink something to mark
that they are not fasting because it is haram to do during these days and
abstain from eating or drinking for the rest of the day.
Similarly, those who cannot fast due to a medical reason feel so bad.
Those who observe Ramadan well through fasting rightly... and who spend its
nights doing the night prayers (especially those after Ishaa and those before
Fajr) come out of it with their sins forgiven. That is why it is said that the one
who misses Ramadan has lost a great deal indeed.
Robert: I see.
Marawan: After Ramadan, we have Eid Al Fitr.
Eid = Feast
Fitr = breaking the fast
The happiness of the believer on that day lies in 2 things: winning the great
reward of having observed Ramadan and celebrating breaking the fast.
Then, you resume enjoyment of what he abstained from before in
obedience of Allah{SWT}, and you feel "Yes! Thank Allah{SWT} I did it! I
managed!" And the delight is unmatched.
Apart from this spiritual value, of course, Ramadan is meant to make us
feel the suffering of the poor who can find no food, and hence we become
more compassionate towards them.
In Egypt, there are very nice nasheeds here that mark the beginning and
end of Ramadan. They are on TV and the radio all through the month --
lovely songs which have a special feeling.
When it approaches, one of the traditional songs is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWBUOcxnM0
Welcome O month of Ramadan!
Welcome!
Your nights have come back to us safely ..
After our waiting impatiently and longing for you,
You are back o Ramadan!
Welcome on your arrival …
And may we be able to fast you all through our lives.
After our waiting impatiently and longing for you,
You are back o Ramadan!
...
By the end of the month, the TV and radio start broadcasting another
traditional song:
The crescent will be sighted soon again,
And the days have fled so quick.
It is still too early, O month of fasting!
It is still too early!
It is still too early, O month of fasting!
It is still too early!
Your crescent offered its greeting,
so we returned it.
Your beauty lifted our spirits
with its wonderful appearance.
The joy comes from your greeting
not from bidding you good bye.
Oh guest whose time is so precious!
Your love is supreme of its kind,
Ingrained in one's soul,
and rooted in instinct.
Your days are so few,
while longing is overwhelming.
Your absence will be too long
for commendable patience to handle.
It is still too early!
Give us a chance to get enough of you.
It is still too early, O month of fasting!
It is still too early!
You leave your orphans not noticing their tears,
While you fill them with joy with your coming
And light their candles.
You leave on your departure an Eid day on earth,
O one coming with joy and leaving with joy (the Eid).
It is still too early, O month of fasting!
It is still too early!
The crescent will be sighted soon again,
And the days have fled so quickly.
It is still too early, O month of fasting!
It is still too early!
It is still too early, O month of fasting!
It is still too early!
…
:-)
Marawan: Thus, it expresses sadness that it is leaving us while we still have not had
enough of enjoying it.
Robert: I see. we have a completely wrong idea.
Marawan: Wrong idea about what?
Robert: Ramadan.
Marawan: How?
Robert: To us it seems a long and inhuman period of fasting, especially during long
summer days and heat. I have heard you are not even allowed to swallow
your saliva.
Marawan: What! Who told you this?
Robert: Yes. There was a problem with a Muslim boy in the school I taught at. He used
to spit: an ex-soldier who had worked in Libya told him it was not Ramadan so
he could swallow his saliva. He brought in his Imam to support him, but the
Imam supported the school - he was allowed to swallow his saliva, since it was
not Ramadan.
Marawan: God God!! Where did they get this from?
Robert: Glad you agree. I could tell you a lot of horror stories.
Marawan: I wish you could spend Ramadan here.
In Egypt, in particular, it is always said to have a special taste.
Robert: Yes, it would be wonderful. And I would love to meet your friends.
Marawan: As I told you, one of my Christian friends just loves it.
She always insists to have iftar with one of her Muslim friends in Ramadan.
Of course, when Ramadan comes in Summer like this year, sometimes you
get thirsty but the day passes quickly, and the spirit of it is still unmatched.
The happiness one's feeling in observing it is unmatched.
Robert: Wonderful. How wrong can you be?
Marawan: You cannot imagine how it feels when you suffer thirst on some days when
it is too hot and God helps you survive it. The thrill you feel on the moment
the Adthan of Maghrib comes and you drink happily thanking God you
managed to survive it is indescribable.
Marawan: One keeps pleading God not to deprive him/her of not observing the
fast, night prayers, intensive Qur'an reading, etc. for any illness or
circumstances. When this happens, the spiritual loss is unbearable.
This is a link about Ramadan in Egypt. Ramadan lanterns for children is among the traditions, of course not religious ones.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/ramadanlanterns.htm
These are also more pictures:
https://theislamichaven.forumotion.com/t217-manifestations-of-celebrating-ramadan-in-egypt
Marawan: Children should not fast till they reach the age they can bear it. They enjoy it
though.
Robert: In some ways, it is like Christmas.
Marawan: But the spiritual significance of Christmas , I think, has been minimized in
many ways. It is more commercial now. This is not the case with Ramadan.
Ramadan is basically about spirituality.
Robert: We have a completely wrong idea about Ramadan!
Marawan: I hope now it is corrected :-) | |
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