Eid-ul-Fitr: The day of thanksgiving
M. Hamza Haniffa
The recital of the 'Takbeer' heralds the end of the month of fasting in the month of Ramadan and the dawn of the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr.To the Muslim, Eid-ul-Fitr or the Ramadan festival is the day of thanksgiving and rejoicing on the successful completion of a month of fasting. The time of joy should be shared by everyone, rich and poor, and this is why we have been ordered to pay Zakat-ul-Fitr before the Eid so that the needy could also participate in the festival.
Muslims revise their approach to the Divine Book AFP
In the life of a Muslim, fasting occupies a very important place as one of the five pillars of Islam - the others being the Kalima, by which the Muslim bears witness that there is no god but Allah, none worthy of being worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger; the obligatory five-times-a-day prayer; the annual obligatory poor-rate or Zakat; and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
By these practices, satisfactorily carried out, the individual of no worth is made worthy, and is enabled to conquer his self, the appetitive or animalistic self. With his personality thus fortified he is endowed with the opportunity as a Muslim poet said "of becoming the master of the sun and stars, of rising higher than even the angels".
Ramadan may come and go but it does not end for the true Muslim. It needs not, and must not end with the end of the month for the spirit of Ramadan with all its spiritual virtues should be maintained throughout the year.
The restraint decreed on food and rink and conjugal relations can be relaxed but love towards fellow beings, understanding how the less-fortunate people live, charity in abundance and continuation of religious practices can help us to live a good life winning the pleasure of the Most Compassionate Allah.
The deep effect on a Muslim's entire life that Ramadan has had should give us a new concept of life and outlook. If the true spirit of Ramadan has been absorbed and maintained, then we Muslims could well accept Ramadan as his or her future guide rather than as a month of restraint that is over.
As Ramadan is also the month which the Holy Quran was revealed, it's important that we also revise our approach to the Divine Book. For those who heard it for the first time from the lips of the Prophet the Quran was a living reality. They had absolutely no doubt that, through him, Allah was speaking to them. Their hearts and minds were therefore seized by it. Their eyes overflowed with tears and their bodies shivered. They were completely transformed by it into a new life and totally life-giving entity.
Those who grazed sheep, hearded camels and traded petty merchandise became the leaders of mankind.
We still have the same Quran, millions of copies of it are in circulation day and night it is ceselessly recited, words pour out incessantly to explain its teachings and to exhort us to live by it.
Yet, eyes remain dry, hearts remain unmoved, minds stay untouched and lives remain unchanged.
Let us on this Eid-ul-Fitr, reinvigorated by the fasting, resolve to make ourselves live by the Quran, and become worthy of the description Allah gives in His Book by calling the believers the 'Khaira Ummah' - the best community evolved for mankind. Eid Mubarak.
The writer is Chairman, Al Islam Foundation
