October 9, 2005

Rev. Henry Ticknor
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Shenandoah Valley

Ramadan: A Month of Blessings and Virtue

The year was 610 of the Common Era and an Arab businessman, Muhammad ibn Abdallah, had gone to a cave near the summit of Mount Hira, just outside of the city of Mecca, to pray, to fast, and to gives alms to the poor.

As a businessman and trader, he had become increasingly critical of the lax moral standards and polytheistic practices of the inhabitants of Mecca, and over time he had begun to lead a more and more contemplative life in the desert.

One night during this time of deep contemplation and meditation the angel Gabriel came to him in the form of a man and the angel said to him, "Proclaim!"

When Mohammad replied that he was no prophet or proclaimer the angel took Mohammad and held him in a vice-like embrace. The angel said to Mohammad a second time, "Proclaim!" and for a second time the man responded I am neither a proclaimer nor a prophet.

And so the angle embraced him for a third time and when Mohammad had reached the end of his endurance, the angel again said, "Proclaim!" and as Mohammad protested for a third time the angle said, "Proclaim in the name of your Lord who created! Created man from a clot of blood. Proclaim: your Lord is the Most generous, who teaches by the pen; teaches man what he knew not."

When Mohammad revived from his trance-like experience he hurried back to his home and declared that he was now either a prophet or had gone mad.

His wife embraced him and replied, "Rejoice, O dear husband, and be of good cheer for you will be the Prophet of this people."

The vision that Mohammad had in the cave that night returned repeatedly and the message was always the same to go out among the people and to proclaim the word of God.

"We can imagine the spiritual anguish, the mental doubts, and the waves of misgivings that followed in the wake of the experience," writes the religion scholar Huston Smith. "Was the voice really God's? Would it come again? Above all, what would it require?"

The answer to these questions is provided by Karen Armstrong in her book Islam. Mohammad once wrote, when I heard the words of the Quran my heart was softened and I wept, and Islam entered into me.

Encouraged by his wife, he devoted himself to the reform of religion and society. But his journey was not to be an easy one. His preaching was met with ridicule, persecution and insult primarily because he proposed a new social order of equality and justice for all.

Mohammed told his followers that God's revelation to humanity has proceeded through four great stages. First, through Abraham God revealed the truth of monotheism, God's oneness.

Second, through Moses he revealed the Ten Commandments. Third, through Jesus he revealed the Golden Rule; we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. But a final prophet was needed to teach us how we should love our neighbors, and so the Seal of the Prophets was Mohammed himself.

In the first three years of his ministry Mohammed converted a total of thirty persons to Islam, most of whom were family or friends. The leaders of Mecca condemned and persecuted Mohammed and his followers for threatening the power structure itself.

He preached radical egalitarianism and democracy, with every person being equal in the eyes of Allah, no matter how much they possessed.

Like the prophets of the Old Testament, Mohammed cried out for justice and proclaimed that a Muslim's duty was to "Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and free the captive if he be unjustly confined. Assist any person oppressed, whether Muslim or non-Muslim."

The flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina marks the beginning of the Muslim era. However, in 630 Mohammad returned Mecca and conquered it. He died at Medina in 632. It was during this time, that Mohammad revealed the messages he received from God that are contained in the Koran.

The word Islam means "surrender to the will of Allah," the all-powerful, who determines humanity's fate. Again, according to Karen Armstrong, "a Muslim was a man or a woman who had made this submission of their entire being to Allah and his demand that human beings behave toward one another with Justice, equity and compassion."

Good deeds will be rewarded at the Last Judgment in paradise, and evil deeds will be punished in hell. Within a century after the prophet's death, Islam had spread quickly, stretching from Spain in the west to India in the east.

For a time, Islam succeeded in uniting an Arab world of separate tribes and castes, but disagreements concerning the succession of the prophet soon caused a division between two groups, Sunnis and Shi'ites.

The Shi'ites rejected the first three successors to Muhammad as usurpers, claiming the fourth, Muhammad's son-in-law Ali, as the rightful leader. The Sunnis, who derive their name from the Arabic word for, tradition, are the largest division of Islam today.

If a Muslim were asked to summarize the way Islam teaches people to live the answer might well be, "It teaches them to walk the straight path." This is a reference to a verse in the Koran that saysin part:

In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate;
Praise be to Allah, Creator of the worlds,
The Merciful, the Compassionate,
Ruler of the day of Judgment.
Thee do we worship, and Thee do we ask for aide.
Guide us in the straight path ,
The path of those on whom Thou hast poured forth Thy grace.

The primary way Muslims follow this straight path is to live according to what are known as the Five Pillars of Islam.

The first of the Five Pillars is Islam's creed, or profession of faith, known as the Shahada which can be stated in the single sentence, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is God's prophet."

The second pillar of Islam admonishes the faithful to be constant in prayer and to keep their lives in perspective. Muslims believe this is perhaps the most difficult lesson for people to learn.

According to Huston Smith "One of the crucial events in Muhammad's life was his renowned Night Journey to Heaven. On a certain night he was spirited on a wondrous white steed with wings to Jerusalem and upward from there through the seven heavens to the presence of God.

God instructed Mohammad that Muslims were to pray fifty times a day. On his way back to earth he stopped in the sixth heaven where he reported his instructions to Moses. Moses was incredulous. 'Fifty times a day!' he said in effect. 'You've got to be kidding! That will never work. Go back and negotiate.' Mohammad did so and returned with the number reduced to forty, but Moses was not satisfied. 'I know those people,' he said, 'Go back."

This routine was repeated four more times, with the number reduced successively to thirty, twenty, ten and then five. Even this last number struck Moses as excessive. 'Your people are not capable of observing five daily prayers,' he said. But Moses refused to go back to negotiate further with God. "I have asked my Lord until I am ashamed, but now I am satisfied and I submit.'

So this is why Muslims to this day pray five times a day: on rising in the morning, at noon when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, mid-afternoon, sunset and before sleeping.

The third pillar of Islam is charity. Islam reflects the adage to those to whom much has been given, much is expected in return. Those who are fortunate should aid those less so.

The fourth pillar is the observance of Ramadan. More about this in a minute.

The fifth and final pillar of Islam is pilgrimage. If it is physically and financially possible every Muslim, male and female, is expected to travel to Mecca where God first revealed himself to Mohammad.

But let us get back to Ramadan. Ramadan, known as the month of "blessing," is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

Each year Muslims set the time for the start of Ramadan using a lunar calendar--that is, with the sighting of the new moon. This year Ramadan began October 5. At many mosques during Ramadan, about one thirtieth of the Qur'an is recited each night. In this way, by the end of the month the complete scripture will have been recited.

One of the essential elements in the observance of Ramadan is fasting. The practice of Fasting serves many purposes. While they are hungry and thirsty, Muslims are reminded of the suffering of the poor. Fasting is also an opportunity to practice self-control and to cleanse the body and mind. And in this most sacred month, fasting helps Muslims feel the peace that comes from spiritual devotion as well as kinship with fellow believers.

Ramadan is considered holy for two reasons. First, it marks the time when Mohammad received his initial revelations and second it commemorates the time when he left Mecca to settle in Medina.

Ramadan is called "the month of blessings" because it is believed that Allah showers great blessings on all those who keep the fast, and who keep to the spirit of fasting during that time - in other words, all who refrain from dishonesty, slander, cruelty or greed will be rewarded in heaven.

Ramadan is also described as, "a month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which Allah... sends down Mercy, decreases sins and answers prayers. During Ramadan, it is said, Allah boasts about you to His angels."

Which of us could not benefit by incorporating the principles of Ramadan into our life? How might our spiritual journeys deepen if we took them as seriously as do Muslims during their "Month of Blessings?"

Ramadan calls everyone to consider the ultimacy of Life. It is a time to set aside trivial activities, the busyness of living, and to recognize that all human beings are responsible for their actions and accountable for their sins.

It is a time to remember how important family is and how blessed we are when we have family and friends who love us. It is time to look within and without; to consider the transcendent and the immanent powers that govern our lives.

Ramadan ends with the festival of Eid, which occurs this year on November 4. Literally the "Festival of Breaking the Fast," At Eid people dress in their finest clothes, and like neighbors of ours in Chantilly, they adorn their homes with lights and decorations, give treats to children, and enjoy visits with friends and family.

A sense of generosity and gratitude colors these festivities. Although charity and good deeds are always important in Islam, they have special significance at the end of Ramadan. As the month draws to a close, Muslims are obligated to share their blessings by feeding the poor and making contributions to mosques.

I suppose that the central teaching of Islam that each of us might draw from in our own lives is the emphasis on social justice. Again, according to Karen Armstrong, "Muslims were commanded as their first duty to build a community characterized by practical compassion, in which there was a fair distribution of wealth. This was far more important than any doctrinal teaching about God."

For most Muslims the effort, known in Arabic as Jihad, to live in the way God intended for human beings was the ultimate effort of life.

It's interesting to note that Armstrong insists while the Quran does call for some segregation of women and the wearing of veils, it also makes men and women partners before God with identical duties and responsibilities. The women of Medina took full part in public life...they did not seem to have experienced Islam as an oppressive religion; though later "as happened in Christianity, men would hijack the faith and bring it in line with the prevailing patriarchy."

But like so many religions today, including Christianity and Judaism, Islam has come under the strong influence of religious fundamentalists--or as some have called them Islamists. In an exploration of the apparent rise of intolerance for western life among many groups of fundamental Muslims, one writer said this "They (the fundamentalists) establish their authority principally by reading and interpreting with a narrow lens the historical realities of religious authority."

So this then is the final question: which Islam are we to believe in? Are we to honor the Islam of Ben-Laden and al-Qaeda or the Islam preached by the prophet Mohammad himself?

Likewise, we must ask which Christianity are we to believe in? The Christianity of Jesus as it is interpreted by the traditional peace denominations such as the Quakers and the Mennonites or the Christianity of U.S. politics that claims God to be on our side against the axis of evil?

The Muslim poet Saadi wrote:

To worship God is nothing other than to serve the people.
It does not need rosaries, prayer carpets, or robes.
All peoples are members of the same body, created from one essence.
If fate brings suffering to one member, the others cannot stay at rest.

And so, as we move through this month of Ramadan may we be mindful of the true meaning of this sacred time. May we be called to be our better selves--may we be called to help our neighbors and those we do knot know who struggle with everyday life...who lack so much of what we take for granted.

During this month of Ramadan may we be called to consider the ultimacy of Life. May we be called to ponder what is most important in our lives and may we be called to renew of promises, our vows of love, and our aspirations.

May we, too, find a time to set aside trivial activities, the busyness of living, and remind ourselves that we are our brother's and our sister's keeper; that we are the keepers of this planet and protectors of all the creatures we share it with.

During this month may we come to recognize that we are responsible for our actions and our words. Indeed, may we come to believe that we are accountable for our behavior.

And during this month of Ramadan may we take the time to remember how important family is and how blessed we are when we have family and friends who love us.

During this month may we take the time to look within and without. May we be open to r the transcendent in our lives and to all the possibilities of life.

May we search and search for meaning in our lives without losing hope; the journey of love is a very long journey. May we experience a month of blessings and virtue. For truly, ours is no caravan of despair.

Amen

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