Sharing Ramadan: A conversation with Asiff Hussein on the Spirit, Joy, and Inclusivity of Islam’s Holiest Month

By Ifham Nizam 

Ramadan is widely known as the holiest month in Islam, a time of fasting, reflection, and devotion. However, beyond its spiritual significance, Ramadan is also a season of joy, community, and cultural vibrancy—an aspect often overlooked in some parts of the world.

In this insightful interview, Ifham Nizam sits down with Asiff Hussein, author and Vice-President of Outreach at the Centre for Islamic Studies Harmony Center, to explore the deeper meaning of Ramadan, its impact on individuals and society, and how it can be celebrated in a more inclusive and festive manner.

Hussein shares his thoughts on the transformative power of fasting, the importance of fostering a welcoming atmosphere for people of all faiths, and practical steps to make Ramadan a truly national occasion.

Excerpts of the interview

Q: Ramadan is Islam’s holiest month, what are your thoughts on this?

A: Ramadan is something we Muslims look forward to. Most folks think this is simply the Muslim month of fasting somewhat like the Christian Season of Lent, but it’s much more. It was during this holy month that God chose to make His Final Revelation to mankind, the Holy Qur’an.

That was when a forty-year old Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the last in the line of the Great Prophets, retreated for his meditations in the cave of Hira in the heart of Arabia.  The night must have been calm and still, that is until the archangel Gabriel descended from the heavens and asked the quiet, pious Arab descended from the line of Abraham to Read!. Bewildered he replied, “I do not know how to read.” The angel again asked him to read and he replied, “I do not know how to read”  When the Angel repeated it for the third time, the Arab realised that all he had to do was to repeat the words taught to him by Gabriel, a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds: “Read! In the Name of Your Lord, Who created, Created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, Who taught by the pen – Taught man that which he knew not”.

The moon-long fast is another important teaching of Islam that takes place during this Holy Month. Fasting is food for the spirit just as bread and meat are for the body. It instills piety and God-consciousness impressing on us that at the end of the day we are utterly dependent on God and the creation he created for us for our daily bread, we are such dependent creatures without anything that we could call self-sufficiency in the true sense of the word because our bodies don’t produce its own food or nourishment. We owe all that we enjoy to the Mercy of God and God alone. Fasting impresses this on us more than anything else.

Then of course there is the empathy we can feel for the poor and needy because fasting is equally binding on everybody, however affluent one may be. Only a person who has experienced real hunger could feel what its like, and this kindles in one a strong desire to do good and help out one’s fellow humans out of their predicament.

Falooda

And then there are the many physical benefits of fasting, not only in terms of giving one’s body a well-deserved rest, but also in detoxifying the body of natural toxins found in foods and cleansing the digestive system. Other benefits include reducing the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease and even reducing the chances of developing cancer. There is a very simple explanation as to why this happens. Scientists have found that when the human body is exposed to hunger for a fairly prolonged period, it goes through a process called autophagy. When a person’s body is hungry, the cells of his body are also hungry. These hungry cells will eat up dead or damaged cells that are no longer useful. Cancerous cells also fall victim to the process. Thus cancerous cells that have just commenced proliferating, but not to the extent of causing symptoms to appear, will be eliminated in this process. This means that your body would have eliminated this early spread of cancer without you even knowing it.

 Q: You have been advocating for the Ramadan season to be more colourful and inclusive, would you care to elaborate on this?

 A:  I’m talking about the way we in Muslim-minority countries look at it. You will find in Muslim-majority countries that Ramadan is a month of joy and thanksgiving, especially after the fast is broken at sundown.

 In countries like Turkey, Malaysia and across many parts of the far-flung Arab world, one finds many ways where people express their happiness during this holy month. For example, streets would be gaily decorated with colourful drivethroughs and walkthroughs and shops would display brightly lit lights often in the form of crescent and star or Islamic greetings or verses from the Qur’an, there would be beautiful lanterns of myriad colours known as fanoos adorning homes and shops and golden and silver tinsel decorations of star and crescent in homes as if a fairy tale were coming to life. One would find happy families picnicking at Zoos, Parks and other happy spots for their Ifthar or breaking fast. Furthermore, family and friends could be seen gathering to enjoy communal meals at night with cookies for the little ones filled with nuts and coated with sugar, ice cream and other delights. As a result, children in these countries look forward to the holy month with much anticipation, despite having to fast in the day.

The Eid-ul-Fitr festival that follows the moon-long fast is still grander with people in festive mood gathering in the evenings to enjoy communal meals, musical shows and other forms of entertainment including a few fireworks every now and then. Of course, none are so happy as the little children who would be gifted special gift bags of toys and candy and money to spend time at amusement parks. People of other faiths visiting these countries during this season also come to admire Islamic culture and look upon it as a rich and vibrant one.

Asiff Hussein

Unlike in mediaeval Europe where religious celebrations were looked down upon- which is why Oliver Cromwell and his roundheads in their puritanical fervour banned Christmas celebrations in England –Islam allows one ample scope to get into festive mood when the occasion demands. It happened that one day, when an over-zealous companion found some little girls singing in the Prophet’s house and cried out: “Musical instruments of Satan in the house of the Messenger of God!”, the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) rebuked him “Leave them alone, Abu Bakr, every nation has a festival, and this is our festival” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari).

 Although in most Muslim majority countries, Ramadan is a happy occasion which has been made merrier for the sake of children, we do not find this in Sri Lanka since Muslims are in a minority and could simply not be bothered making it a cheerful and colourful event.

However, this has not done the community any good. People of other faiths have as a result come to think of Sri Lankan Muslims as a dull, killjoy community that despises celebrations or decorations of any kind. The children of such communities also grow up thinking of Muslims in this manner, because they see their own festivals and holy days being celebrated with much colour like in the days of Christmas and Vesak celebrations.

Furthermore, Muslim children may -God forbid- also come to look at their culture in the same manner, as a dull, lusterless culture, since they are exposed to other cultures that express their religious occasions in more colourful ways. As a result, some of them await the Christmas season or Vesak with more anticipation than they do our holiest of months or even the festival following it. This is a very sad situation indeed.

Q: So what do you propose should be done towards this end?

A: What I’m saying is that the Ramadan season and festival should be made more pleasant and memorable, not only for our children, but also for people of other faiths, so as to win their hearts and create a love for Islamic culture in them.  In other words, it should be more inclusive and be promoted as a truly national event like Vesak or Christmas.

Sadly, in countries like ours, there are cultural inhibitions, because living as a minority especially in a context where racism has been a force to contend with, has created a narrow, insular mindset within the community itself. This negative attitude favours isolationism and looking inwards rather than reaching out and winning hearts. In the long run, it is also counter-productive.

However, those bad old days are now a thing of the past. We have a very good government in place that is keen on stamping out racism in all its forms and being as inclusive as possible. And yet one may still come across members of the community who feel Ramadan should be kept low key and exclusive to Muslims, but this is more of a Jewish, rather than a truly Islamic attitude.

So what I would suggest is that the initiative to popularize Ramadan should be spearheaded by the business community as they are the best placed to drive this due to two very good reasons, Firstly, the fact that they command considerable respect within and outside the community. Secondly, they own and manage leading business establishments with many branches dealing in a variety of items from garments to toys. These often have frontages facing main arterial roads like Galle Road and are situated in prominent places. Examples are firms like Hameedias, No Limit and Fashion Bug to name a few. Such establishments could make their business places more lively and colourful during the Ramadan period. Surely they have no qualms decorating their establishments for Vesak or Christmas, so why not for their very own festivals?

Q: What are the special features or events you propose that could be adopted by these businesses?

A: To start with, announcing on the large Pilkington windows of their businesses “Happy Ramadan” to show that Muslims too have special occasions and a culture worth telling about which they are justly proud of as equal citizens of our country. They could also consider decorating their businesses with colourful Islamically inspired decorations like bright golden or silver star and crescent symbols and traditional Arabic lamps known as Fanoos which can be imported for the purpose from countries like Egypt. They could also put up canopies or tents with fairground colours like red and white stripes in front or on the sides or insides of their businesses which could be used to distribute traditional Muslim foods like samosas, falooda or Wattalappam to customers on a complimentary basis.

They could also introduce special features like Henna Corner for their female visitors and Calligraphy services for those customers who are interested in taking home a souvenir of their names inscribed in ornate Arabic calligraphy. These services are very popular with people of other faiths and should go a long way in creating a fondness for Islamic culture in their hearts. It also makes business sense because more customers would be attracted to these establishments during the season, so to say. To add to this, they should also consider introducing special prices on their items during this period. Although this will mean discounts from the usual prices, it could attract more people to these shops.

Once such a culture is created, smaller businesses and households should hopefully adopt it as a matter of course, so that such a culture gets broad-based over time to be a truly national occasion.