M

uslims all over the world celebrate Ramadhan as the month of blessings, forgiveness, and most importantly the month of the revelation of the Koran.

Back to 610 AD at night in Ramadhan, the Prophet Muhammad received the first divine revelation: “Read in the name of your Sustainer who has created”, etc.

Muslims are encouraged to read, recite and appreciate the meaning of the Koran. This month-long reading is God’s teaching of literacy, that being literate is quality cherished by God Almighty.

Once a year Ramadhan comes down to Muslims, now of around 1.4 billon in number, to remind them of the importance of literacy. An illiterate can neither spell God, nor read and write His Words, let alone His unwritten words, namely the whole universe.

The literacy campaign by the Prophet was indeed a strategy not only of education, but also of civilization. Fascinating in particular is the expansion of Islam: Within a century it had spread from Arabia to the Atlantic and Central Europe.

To repeat, this miraculous military achievement was driven first and foremost by commitment to reading, i.e. education. Islam through Ramadhan reiterates literacy skill as basic for development and civilization. Unfortunately, many Muslim politicians and bureaucrats take literacy education easy.

Generally Ramadhan is linked to fasting, which is more universal in practice. To fast means to restrain from, say, eating, drinking or physical exercise for informed reasons.

A diabetic is advised to take less sweet food and drink; likewise an old person is suggested to do less physical exercise. Thus, by norm in any race, ethnicity and nation throughout history, self-control is the wisdom of life.

Fasting is optional yet medically and mentally advisable. However, during Ramadhan all Muslims fast for 29 or 30 days. This obligation applies to every Muslim health wise capable to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from shortly before sunrise to sunset.

Fasting is well defined to avoid physical and mental disorder. As a matter of faith, shaum (fasting) practiced by Muslims is quite distinct in several ways as follows.

First, fasting has two dimensions, physical and spiritual. Physically fasting is to forgo eating, drinking and sex; but spiritually it is to perform a ritual as obliged by God. Fasting, like daily prayers, is ibadah (worship) to God, namely as evidence of piety and submission.

Man is a spiritual being and fasting during Ramadhan is spiritual refinement.

Second, fasting is an individual as well social undertaking. Muslim communities all over the world observe Ramadhan collectively. Fasting is performed at the same time across nations, ethnics and communities.

This is to suggest that all Muslims, despite social and racial differences, are unified by the ritual to build cross-national solidarity and achieve common goals.

Third, fasting varies in degrees. Physical fasting forgoes only physical seduction and temptation, while mental fasting forgoes bad conduct such as idle talk, lying, backbiting, self-overrating and overestimating, arrogance, slandering, defaming, character assassination, and the like. Physical fasting is indeed a prerequisite of the mental type.

Physical fasting should be done in tandem with mental fasting. Most people survive physical fasting, but fail mental fasting. The Prophet Muhammad once said that a number of fasting people were, alas, just enduring hunger and thirst. This suggests that mental fasting is superior to and presupposes physical fasting.

People are now confused and irritated by political hullabaloo, whose end is never in sight. Yes, politics is always noisy and quarrelsome. Or as Groucho Marx puts it, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”

Given that, politicians are responsible for current political backbiting, self-overrating and overestimating, arrogance, slandering, defaming and character assassination.

The month of Ramadhan is the right time for our politicians to ponder and reflect whether they are practicing physical fasting or mental fasting, or neither. Being hungry during Ramadhan is meant to develop empathy toward millions of country men still in poverty. For them decent housing and education is a luxury.

Fourth, fasting is a strictly timed ritual. Only when it is done right will it produce physical, spiritual, moral and social benefits. Obviously fasting instructs us self-discipline in terms of time, laws, and regulations. Muslims — by way of fasting during Ramadhan — are supposed to be exemplary citizens committed to rules and regulations.

Fifth, during Ramadhan family members flock together for dinner and breakfast, a moment of sharing and caring, which can be overlooked throughout the year.

The whole family should be grateful to Ramadhan for it reunites the family, so that family cohesion is assured. Family is the smallest unit of the community, the collection of which forms a nation. Establishing cohesion and brotherhood within a family is tantamount of establishing those within the country.

Sixth, during Ramadhan, Muslims are encouraged to do congregational evening prayers in mosques. The message is clear enough, to develop social cohesion, unity and solidarity. Collective prayer is encouraged to pull together communities falling apart.

We are witnessing the nation falling apart due to political ambition and interest. Many political parties are already in existence and new ones are coming on to the stage. The more parties you have, the more difficult it is to manage the nation.

Seventh, Ramadhan ends with the Idul Fitri festivity, where people — regardless of their faith and religion — celebrate the day.

People, some thousands of miles away, visit each other to ask for true forgiveness. People, especially public figures, hold open house programs to share food and drink. The end of Ramadhan sets a new life afresh to begin a new life. A bright future is in sight.

Evidently, Ramadhan is month of education and social solidarity. It teaches us to live modestly, to speak and act correctly, to develop empathy for the poor and weak, and to work side by side to solve common problems of the nation.

The writer is a professor at the Indonesia University of Education, Bandung.