“Do you not get grumpy when you’re fasting?” My boss asked me again this week, days before Ramadan was expected to be announced.
For the second year in a row, I laughed his question off. It is one of the rare occasions when my inarticulate persona comes in handy and helps me to wriggle out of a tricky situation.
Correlation between fasting and a lack of control over one's emotions is frequently drawn: a hungry man is an angry man – or so we are told.
The old adage has led us to believe that a fasting person is more likely to lose their composure than someone with a full belly.
Although it may appear to be an exaggeration, there may be some truth to ‘hanger’ – hunger-induced anger.
Each year, traffic authorities record a surge in road accidents during Ramadan and particularly just before iftar, the first meal to break the fast at sunset.
Ramadan is a month for self-control and inner strength. It tests your ability to stay away from food and drink for a specified length of time. But the greater challenge is how you control your emotions and actions during those hours.
A Hadith that best summarises this aspect of Ramadan was narrated by Abu Hurayrah. It says: “Fasting is a shield; so when one of you is fasting he should neither indulge in obscene language nor should he raise his voice in anger. If someone attacks him or insults him, let him say: ‘I am fasting!’”
After decades of observing the Ramadan, I can say with some degree of confidence that this is more easily said than done. People often become irritated or easily upset during fasting hours.
As a child, raised in a deeply religious family, my siblings and I would keep ourselves busy by playing until sundown to turn our attention away from food. But as dusk approached, our patience would wear thin and would begin to quarrel over silly matters.
My father would typically defuse the situation by telling us to drink some water. We would naively say, “But we are fasting and it is not sundown yet."
Then he would gently chastise us, saying, “You have broken your
fast by quarrelling. There is no point prolonging your hunger.”
The lessons learnt as a boy from my father, an Islamic scholar who published dozens of books, stay with me to this day.
In Islam, Ramadan is described as a month of reflection, devotion, generosity and sacrifice. In fact, it epitomises all these virtues and a lot more.
Prophet Mohammed once said: “Ramadan is the month, whose beginning [10 days] is mercy, its middle [10 days], forgiveness and its end [10 days], emancipation from the fire [of hell].”
In fact, there are several hadith that highlight how Ramadan has the power to bring about a transformation in a person’s life. Fasting is not an end in itself, it is a means to a much higher goal.
Prophet Mohammed said: “Anyone who does not refrain from lying and acting upon them – Allah has no need of his refraining from food and drink.” [Al Bukhari]
As the UAE celebrates the Year of Tolerance, there is no better season than Ramadan to show to the world the sense of accommodation that prevails in this country. Both the fasting and non-fasting population here are extremely careful of each other’s’ sensibilities during the holy month.
While there are certain officially sanctioned dos and don’ts, a majority of the population follows etiquette of their own volition.
The reduced work hours, the free iftar meals at mosques and the long Eid holidays also reflect the spirit of generosity that cuts across the barriers of religion, nationality and language.
This is my sixth Ramadan in Abu Dhabi. The way the city, as a whole, looks forward to the spiritual spectacle is just amazing.
The illuminations that run along the city roads lend a festive fervour to the month that begins deep into Shaaban – the month prior to Ramadan.
Laylat Al Qadr prayers at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque on the 27th night of Ramadan, of which I was part of a couple of years ago, is a soothing experience.
Though we are away from home, my wife and I are fortunate to have a very closely connected Indian community – of whom the majority are Hindu – as neighbours who occasionally treat us to iftar and suhoor.
So in response to my boss: should you find me grumpy this year, and I bet you will not in the next week or so, do not blame the fasting.
I will put it down to the pain of separation that is entwined with the holy month. Ramadan Kareem!
