Let's Talk About Ramadan

Learn about Ramadan in this enlightening conversation with Elzia Sekou and Zimirah Jazwierska. This youth content comes from the Mile Hi Church youth and family ministry with help from the Interfaith initiative.

Transcript

Hey everybody,

Stacey here.

Have you ever heard of a holiday called Ramadan?

I have,

But I actually don't know a whole lot about it.

And I'm curious,

And maybe you're curious too.

When I got curious,

I asked a couple of my friends,

Elzia and Zamira,

About it,

And they had an amazing conversation that I want to share with you now.

Take it away,

Guys.

Well hello everyone,

This is Reverend Zamira,

And I am so excited to be here with Reverend Elzia today.

He is going to talk to us about Ramadan.

Welcome Reverend Elzia.

Oh,

Thank you Reverend Zamira.

I am so happy to be here and excited about this conversation.

Oh,

Thank you.

Well,

We are going to talk about Ramadan.

So first of all,

Tell us,

What is it?

Well Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar,

Which is based on a lunar calendar.

And the significance of it is,

It is the month that the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

And so it's also the month of fasting,

Which is one of the pillars of Islam.

And during that time,

Because it's based on a lunar calendar,

The time of fasting is either 29 or 30 days based on the sighting of the new moon.

And I guess the last thing,

The new moon for the Islamic calendar is quite different from the astronomical new moon,

Because the astronomical new moon is nothing.

It's just black sky.

Whereas for those calendars that are on a lunar calendar,

You have to see a slither of the moon.

So,

And that's when the fast starts when they see that slither.

Okay.

All right.

So this is going to be a really holy and special time for those that practice Islam.

And so you told us that it's in the ninth month.

Could you just paint a little bit of the scene?

What does it look like?

How do you celebrate in your family and within everyone,

Kind of throughout the religion of Islam,

What does it look like?

Yeah.

Well,

It really is a special time.

Because fasting is the fourth pillar of Islam,

Or the third pillar,

It depends on who's counting,

But it's really the fourth.

So it is the time where you really focus your spiritual consciousness on God and your connection with God.

And so during the time of Ramadan,

And because it's on a lunar calendar,

The time of fasting varies.

So like this year,

It'll be around the beginning of April.

So it's coming up real soon.

And so from there,

You fast from the morning,

Just before the morning prayer,

And you have a meal called Iftar,

Which is when you eat before the sun rises.

And then you have,

I mean,

You have Sahur before,

And then you have Iftar when the sun sets to break the fast.

And so it could vary anywhere from 10 hours to 14 hours,

Depending on the time.

And because it's a lunar calendar,

It goes backwards in the calendar about two weeks every year.

So that sets the stage,

Right,

Of the getting up in the morning,

Trying to get a small meal,

And in the evening,

Breaking the fast.

But I think the essence of it is,

At least for me,

Was each day the Quran is divided into 30 parts.

And so each day during Ramadan,

You read 1 30th of the Quran,

So that at the end of the month,

You've read the whole Quran.

And additionally,

There are additional prayers,

And there's a prayer called Taraweeh prayer,

Which happens after the last nightly prayer.

And in that prayer,

If you have a Hafiz Quran,

Someone who knows the Quran by heart,

They will recite 1 third of the Quran each night in prayer,

So you may get to hear the Quran twice.

So that sets the spiritual stage.

And then the breaking of the fast is a communal event.

So people are there,

And because most prayers are performed in the congregation during that time,

They try to be all the time,

But sometimes that's not possible.

But especially during the month of Ramadan,

Everyone makes an effort to have a communal prayer.

So you break fast,

And it's a little bit of a feast,

And people are sharing and excited,

And then they go into the prayer.

So it's a real spiritual and communal time during the fast,

And it really sets a spiritual tone for the rest of the year,

If it's embodied during that time.

Oh,

That sounds so beautiful.

I wonder if you have kids,

Is there any special celebration for the kids during this time?

So during the time,

So one thing about the fast,

If you're elder,

Or if you're pre-puberty,

You don't have to fast,

But oftentimes they do.

But once you reach puberty,

Then you fast,

And then the celebration comes at the end of the month of Ramadan,

There's the Eid,

That's called Eid al-Fitr,

Which is the festival for breaking the fast,

Lasts several days.

And in a lot of ways,

It's kind of like a Christmas where you exchange gifts and cards,

And you go to different relatives and friends' house and have meals.

It's a very festive time,

And people traditionally dress up in bright colors or in their traditional colors to celebrate the breaking of the fast.

That sounds like so much fun.

What a celebration.

Really fun for kids,

Too.

Yeah,

That's all they love.

And so during this festival,

It's a time,

You've talked a lot about the spiritual reflection and the prayer and that it's a time to get closer to God.

Is it also,

You said it's a communal time,

A community,

What's the focus on helping others or doing good deeds and things like that?

Exactly.

So another one of the pillars of Islam is Zakat,

A charity,

And at the end of that month,

There is a mandatory charity or Zakat,

As it's said in Arabic,

To pay during the end,

Which is to give a tenth of your wealth to the needy.

And so that's the last part of the celebration or ritual,

If you will,

Of Ramadan.

And it said that until that Zakat or until that charity is paid,

All of your prayers and blessings and things that you've done during the month won't get tallied up,

If you will,

Until you've given that charity to give to those who are less fortunate and you know,

Begin to try to help those who are less off than ourselves.

Oh,

I so love that because that makes giving a spiritual practice part of your getting closer to God.

Exactly.

That's really wonderful.

Yes.

And that's the key part because it is one of the pillars.

One of the five pillars of the faith that if you don't do it,

It kind of nullifies your belief in the system.

That's such a good point.

Wow.

I love it that there's these beautiful pillars that organize your practice.

And you know,

That kind of relates to how we've been talking this month about the golden thread of truth and how that moves through all faith traditions.

And so how would you see how it moves through Islam or through Ramadan,

The time of Ramadan?

Well,

You know,

The Jewish faith is also based on a lunar calendar.

So there's a commonality there.

But I think one of the biggest golden threads is this spiritual connection to oneness of God.

I mean,

Especially within the monotheistic faiths,

Christianity,

Judaism and Islam,

They're all built on the foundation,

If you will,

Of Abraham,

Who established the monotheism.

And so it keeps that oneness as a foundation,

No matter how it may be expressed.

The foundation of it is there's one God,

There's one faith.

You can call it many things in terms of a religion.

But the faith is that there is a supreme entity that goes by many names that has mankind's best interests at heart.

And so if we can all follow that golden thread,

That whole concept of want for your brother what you want for yourself,

Or want for your sister what you want for yourself and treat your neighbors as yourself.

Each religion has the same thing said in a different way.

It would really be a capstone of how we can live our life as one human family.

Oh,

That's so beautiful.

Thank you,

Reverend Elziah.

And thank you for talking with us today.

And if I was going to wish someone,

Do you wish someone well during Ramadan or do you say happy or do you how would you say you greet someone?

You could say Ramadan Mubarak or Ramadan Kareem is gracious Ramadan,

Ramadan.

And then the same thing is said during the Eid Mubarak or Eid Kareem.

Very simple,

But it's a glorious and it's funny in some ways.

One of the raves now is intermittent fasting.

And Ramadan is the ultimate intermittent fasting.

It's so true.

Well,

I guess we will wish you then a Ramadan Mubarak.

And thank you so much for being here and talking with us today.

Thank you.

Ramadan Kareem.

As-salamu alaykum.

Hey friends,

Thanks so much for taking some time to share and thank you for listening.

I am always so grateful when we get to spend time together.

Until next time.

Reviews

Fascinating- thanks 🙏🏼