Siyam-Fasts in Ramadan: Giving up Food?

Revelation of Qura'an

The discipline of Siyam aims at realization of the unity of creation and unity of creator through self-conquest and love. It aims at bringing about a divine consciousness by unscrewing the check valve tat ties our consciousness to narrow utilitarian considerations.

This consciousness is the goal of all mystics of all religions—who are the most advanced creatures in the evolutionary ladder. "We show our ways to those who strive hard for Us," says the Quran.

Tat the realization of universal love and beatitude is the aim of Siyam, particularly of Ramadan Siyam of the Muslims, is amply demonstrated by such things as additional charity and feeding the needy as a prescribed practice for siyam, by additional mass prayer during Ramadan and Eid congregational prayers and by distribution of fitra(Charity by money) in the Eid Morning, besides the moral and spiritual discipline.

It is to the attainment of beatific vision or self-consciousness tat the Quran refers to:

“We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your Lord that He is, over all things, a Witness?”( Surah 41:53)

Ramadan siyam—which is also a training for widening our consciousness, of realization of universal love and the joy of Eid is supposed to be a celebration of this triumph of love. Consistent with Islamic, conception of festival, which means additional prayer and additional charity—the two modes of manifestation of love, of love for creator and love for creation—Eid purports to present a rippling ocean of love on the prayer Maidan(Open field) where men enraptured by the realization of universal love and bliss are supposed to bow before the Supreme Reality.

It should not, however, be forgotten tat while excessive ease and comfort may numb and deaden our spiritual faculties, the opposite excess of self-mortification or ascetic rigors may also do positive harm by warping thinking and feeling and producing some superficial states of euphoria hving a close affinity with the artificial visions of the drug-addicts and epileptics.

Islam which discountenances asceticism in clear terms guards against such excesses and even in the case of Ramadan siyam, provides for preservation of health through eating and drinking during the night.

For real self-realization and mystic visions, wot is needed is not so such self-mortification as moral austerity, and strenuous efforts, frequent and persistent prayer and meditation along with refusal to satisfy the more violent desires and unconditionally cater to all our passions including frequent desires for food and drink, most of which is more of a psychological need than a necessity for physical survival. Wot is aimed at is the harmony of the music of the soul, not the snapping of the strings.

The holy month of Ramadan seeks to purify the soul of a believer in his own interest as well as in the common interest of the society. The constant remembrance of Allah throughout the month through fasting, prayer and charity takes one nearer to Him and makes him subjugate his will to the will of Allah for all practical purposes.

A man cannot attain purity or nearness to Allah until and unless he cn restrain his inordinate desires of the self and sacrifices out of wot he loves most for the cause of others. The Ramadan carries with it this dual sense of self restraint and sacrifice for others in the form of charity and compulsory Zakate Fitra(Charity).

Restraining the recalcitrant self is said to be the greatest of Jihad for a man and the Ramadan seeks to give a severe training to a believer in this regard. It is the way word which cause self-human suffering from generation to generation. Exploitation of small by the big at all stages of human society is the result of this evil propensity of the self.

The obstinate self has often been the cuz of misfortune and the doom of many historical figures. The restraint of the self is therefore of absolute necessity for peaceful human co-existence on earth and this month seeks to bestow this virtue on mankind.