Faith, Fanaticism and food in Islam

Contemporary Review, Jan, 2002 by Roger Kershaw

Another type of restriction on human feeding, one that greatly cements solidarity among Muslims, is the annual one-month fast. It may be useful to note, first of all, that the Muslim year is a lunar year of twelve months, that is, about ten days short of a solar year. No thirteenth month is inserted every third (or second) year as the Chinese do, in order to bring the calendar back into sync with the sun. Consequently, the Muslim festivals fall on earlier dates in the Gregorian calendar in each succeeding year. In A.D. 2001 Ramadhan 1422 was in November-December, but Ramadhan 1427 can be expected in late September 2006. At all events, the potential effect of a holy month that is out of step with the secular calendar of the rest of the world (and which Muslim countries themselves use for most practical purposes) is to heighten a feeling of solidarity-in-distinctiveness. An 'ethnic boundary' is secured.

More important than the timing, however, is the genuine physical hardship for those who take the fast seriously, since the rules require total abstinence from food or drink (and tobacco) between sunrise and sunset. In the northern summer, with which the Prophet was unfamiliar, this is an incredibly Draconian requirement. As for the Arctic Circle, a Muslim would simply have to invoke the rule that no penance or restriction should result in a Muslim's death. Fortunately, it is permissible to postpone the fast and 'catch up' at some later date.

The rigour of the fast is attested by the fact that Muslim states mobilise their police forces to check up on any breaches, at least in public places. Some states allow shorter working hours in government offices. The ethical rationale of the fast is to teach self-discipline, humility, and empathy with the poor. In modem times, medical arguments have been introduced: purging the body, losing weight, etc. But most fundamentally, it is God's command, as conveyed by the Prophet over thirteen hundred years ago. Correct fasting is argued to shorten any period in purgatory that might be due for expiation of sins, before the chosen are admitted to heaven. Socially speaking, shared obedience to the true and correctly understood God, plus the special rigours of the fasting itself, enhance a subjective sense of world-wide fellowship -- within the favoured, universal umma (community of believers) of which Muslims are already members.

It can easily be imagined that the denial of food and water for fifteen hours or so in a hot climate can induce a feverish and suggestible state, sometimes hallucination, even without the sense of ethnic excellence aroused by any rigorous ritual, or emotive sermons, or motivational fatwa (rulings). Pride in self-sacrifice during this most holy of months can merge with a readiness for martyrdom. Western colonial governments of old had to look out for rebellions fomented by the ulema (religious scholars). In Algeria in the past decade, the cutting of hundreds if not thousands of Muslim throats in villages considered loyal to the established power (the anti-Islamist military) reached its highest levels during Ramadhan. In November - before the Northern Alliance swept into Kabul - the U.S. administration was under great pressure to consider a bombing halt over Afghanistan during the sanctified ninth lunar month.