If you are in a neighborhood with Muslims, chances are, on a particular period after midnight, you’ll hear voices and the banging of pots and pans. Something’s cooking (pun intended), obviously.
‘Suhoor’ and ‘iftar’ meals
The “noise” suggests that your Muslim neighbors are preparing for early breakfast before sunrise, called “suhoor,” an Arabic word that means “the last part of the night.”
Most likely, it is Ramadan, the holy month and ninth in Islam’s Hijrah calendar, which starts this year on March 11, when Muslims fast from before dawn to sunset.
The month-long fasting has two meals—suhoor, and “iftar,” the breaking of fast after sunset.
‘Gates of Heaven open, gates of Hell close, devils in chains’
Ramadan is a most anticipated period among Muslims. We pray and wish after the last day of Ramadan that Allah will see us through until the next fasting period.
As Islamic religious leaders would say, rewards, even for the small things a fasting person does, are multiplied.
They say that during Ramadan the “gates of Heaven are open, the gates of Hell are close, and the devils are in chains.”
Surely, the Islamic creed puts the burden on the adults to perform Ramadan fasting, the third of the five pillars of Islam.
Ultimately, it is the fear of Allah that makes members of the 1.6-billion-strong Muslims worldwide called Ummah (2010 Pew Research Center), obey the Qur’anic injunction to fast. Its overriding objective is to become and remain God-conscious and righteous during and even after Ramadan.
Essentially, it should make a Muslim a better human being, a person who fears and is close to God, upholds the law, among other virtues dear to Islam, Christianity and other religions, and whose neighbors, including non-Muslims, are safe from his hands.
Special prayers
There are two special prayers during Ramadan, “Taraweeh” and “Tahajud.”
The former is a daily nighttime worship, while the latter is performed on the last 10 days of the holy month, starting at around midnight and lasting before imsak.
Ramadan brings intensified worship. Muslims read the Qur’an more, (at least those who can read the original Arabic version), pray more, supplicate to Allah more, recite His names, besides doing the five daily prayers at dawn, noontime, mid-afternoon, early evening, and late evening.
Fasting obligations
Fasting during Ramadan is an obligation of Muslims who are past puberty.
On the eve of Ramadan, it is a tradition to take a bath, a symbol of cleaning one’s self before the holy month.
The person also recites his or her intent for fasting; at the start and break of fasting, or that it is being done for Allah.
Muslims across the globe who are fit to fast are not allowed a morsel of food, a drop of water or beverage, a puff of smoke and sex from “imsak” (before dawn) until iftar, after sunset. Otherwise it will invalidates one’s fast.
It likewise prevents one from talking, thinking and doing bad things. Backbiting stains one’s fasting.
Exempted from fasting are women who are pregnant, have monthly period and breastfeeding; the sick; travellers; the elderly who are incapable of doing it; and those who have mental health conditions.
Anyone, except the mentally unwell, may perform their missed fasting days when they are already in better situation.
They may do “fidiyah,” or feeding a fasting person, in exchange for one’s missed fast.
Young children are not obliged to fast. But more often than not, they copy what adults do by fasting for half a day, or a few hours.
Meanwhile, married couples who engage in sex during fasting hours, thus break the fast, have to fast for 60 days to replace the missed day, according to religious leaders.
If a person honestly forgets fasting by eating or drinking liquid unintentionally, the person is excused.
Although brushing of teeth is allowed, the water must not touch the throat, or it may nullify the fast.
It is known that fasting has health and medical benefits. But health professionals suggest that healthy food with lots of fiber, fruits and vegetables should be prepared for suhoor and iftar.
The elders and those with diabetes are advised to consult their doctor to determine if they can fast for a long period.
As signalled by iftar, the disallowed practices are already allowed during the entire nighttime—until imsak, before fasting day starts again.
The cycle repeats every day for 30 or 29 days, depending on the Ramadan calendar.
If some say Islamic fasting is difficult, one should think of Jesus Christ, who had 40 days of fasting.
Daily 14-hour fasting
The time of preparing for Ramadan morning meals may differ from country to country, depending on geography and season.
Here in the Philippines, as gleaned from a schedule from National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), imsak is at 4:38 a.m.; “fajr” (dawn prayer) at 4:53 a.m.; and sunset prayer at 6:06 p.m., also the time for iftar
This makes the day-long fast this year will last for around 14 hours.
Imsak’s and iftar’s times change a few minutes as the month rolls on. The NCMF has been consulting the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration of the Department of Science and Technology for the time of sunrise and sunset, thus, making a science-based schedule of fasting.
Families usually set an alarm to prepare food for suhoor. Otherwise, they wake up at dawn, leaving no time to cook.
In some cases, many would fast even without taking suhoor, which is taxing for the mind and body, and not advisable.
Some households forego sleep until the food is cooked for suhoor.
Lent and Ramadan overlap
It should be noted that this year, the Lenten season of Christians—February 14 to March 31—overlaps with Islam’s month of Ramadan—on March 11 to April 8 or 9 (year 1445 of Hijrah, a calendar that follows the moon cycle, 11 days short annually of the Gregorian calendar’s 365 days).
The first day of every Hijrah month is determined only at the sighting of the crescent moon. Thus, every year Ramadan starts 10 or 11 days earlier than the previous one.
Ramadan is followed by Shawwal, the first day of which is Eid’l Fitr, the Festival of Breaking of the Fast.
Fasting at early age
I tried fasting at an early age, when I was not even seven years old due to the influence of family; though not imposed on me.
Surely, it was not every day that I did it, being just influenced by peer pressure. Among children, it’s a bragging right to be able to complete a day of fasting.
Now, with 60 summers behind me, if my health permits, I’ll do it again.
I don’t know if fasting is addictive, but once you’ve been into it, doing it again is second nature. And doing it annually makes it a habit.
Make no mistake, there are adult Muslims who do not fast, and are eating in public without shame.
Most difficult pillar
For me, Ramadan fasting is the most difficult of the five pillars of Islam. It is a sacrifice that tests the body, mind and soul.
The first week is the most trying time as the body adjusts to having no food and water.
Waking up early morning from sleep for suhoor is very trying as I was just in deep sleep and in dreamland, sometimes.
I have to drag my body and force my consciousness to get to the table for suhoor.
Years ago in Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur, an iftar incident has been visiting my mind.
As the time to break the day’s fast was approaching, the pangs of hunger in me was becoming more intense. The temptation to break the fast before sunset was strong.
But breaking it prematurely would be a shame, that made it easier to resist the temptation. Besides, I didn’t want my sacrifice go to waste when it’s only a few hours to iftar.
The challenge is to overcome this deprivation every day for 30 days and hope that I would come out a better Muslim at peace with God and fellow men, regardless of religion and race.
Breaking of fast
Traditionally, the fast is broken by eating dates as was done by Islam’s messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAW). High in caloric content, it provides energy after a day of fasting.
Muslim and Arab embassies usually donate boxes of dates to Filipinos during Ramadan.
The fasting season is also a period when Muslim and Arab embassies in the country, including the diplomatic missions of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, host iftar where non-Muslims are invited, and experience the spirit of the Ramadan season.
Iftar has always been a time of community, of joy, as family members gather with some neighbors and friends sharing in the bounties that God provides on the table.
After imsak, neighbors gather outside their homes, foregoing their return to sleep as they await the dawn prayer, Fajr, the first of the five daily prayers. They resume their sleep after prayers.
Great equalizer
In the NCMF and in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as in other Muslim countries, work hours are shortened during Ramadan to give time for employees to prepare for iftar.
In most cases, office hours in NCMF and in BARMM starts at 7 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, farmers work in the morning and return home at noontime, because having no food and water prove too physically demanding.
In Maguindanao households, iftar includes warm “sindol,” or sliced ripe “saba” banana, with glutinous rice, slices of jackfruit, “natekh” (palm tree “sago”) sometimes with sweet potato, and cooked with coconut milk.
Bread, fried banana, juice, if available, rice and fish, vegetables and fruits (if the budget allows it) are among the frequent menu.
It is said that Ramadan fasting is a great equalizer—the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor both experience the biting pangs of hunger.
However, what divides them is that a rich man’s table shows abundance, while a poor man’s exhibits scarcity.
Somehow, many mosques try to remedy this by organizing community iftars to help lessen the burden on poor families.
Moonsighting
As in the years past, the first day of Ramadan, is determined through the sighting of the crescent moon, through the naked eye as practiced for around a century and a half.
But in this era of modern technology, Moonsighting Committees in various countries use powerful telescopes.
Information reaching the Business Mirror showed the NCMF and the BARMM have scheduled their moonsighting on March 10. If the crescent moon is sighted on that day, Ramadan’s first day will be on March 11; if it is not sighted, then it will be on March 12.
So, the next time you hear the banging of pots and pans and voices from your Muslim neighbors’ kitchen after midnight, mostly likely it’s the Ramadan season.