Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting from dawn to dusk (mid-May to mid-June this year), arrives at a difficult time for Muslim-Americans. Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center that tracks hate crimes reports that faith and race-based attacks against Muslims, Jews, Blacks, Hispanics and immigrants have risen since the election of Donald Trump. The Supreme Court’s decision to hold hearings on the president’s Muslim travel ban has also given anti-Muslim animus a boost, forcing many of us to rethink what it means to be an American.
Despite these dark developments, Muslims will welcome Ramadan with hope and optimism. This is what the month is about: confidence that the clouds will fade and the sun will shine as we strive to affirm God’s living presence and unite with other Americans to serve the common good.
What is it about fasting that inspires such confidence? The Koran explains: “Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may learn self-restraint.”
Self-restraint both prohibits and promotes. The first includes abstaining not only from food and drink (often the easier part, even at 15 hours or more) but more importantly, from anger, arrogance, backbiting, lying, schadenfreude, solipsism, religious chauvinism, money mania and similar vices. The second includes a combination of gratitude, magnanimity, empathy, humility and moderation but above all, patience. Patience is the unifying virtue, which is why sabr, the Arabic word for patience, occurs over 100 times in the Koran.
Living up to the moral and spiritual demands of fasting is a struggle, especially when we recognize that God has no use for our hunger and thirst if we don’t curb our wayward thoughts, bad habits and dark desires. For me, patience is the elusive goal. . Patience gives me a keener sense of the value of time. Tolstoy was on to something when he said the two most powerful warriors were patience and time. Honoring time has helped me fast from the small screen and social media while gaining a deeper insight into “Memento Mori”: Remember, you will die.
If we claim that practicing self-restraint in Ramadan makes us better human beings, it must reflect in the way we interact with our families, communities and the larger society. Given the current political climate, meaningful engagement with our fellow Americans from all walks of life and spanning all faiths is critical.
A day before Thanksgiving in 2016, our Evergreen Islamic Center received a hate mail warning about the “new sheriff in town – President Donald Trump” who will do to us “what Hitler did to the Jews. You Muslims would be wise to pack your bags and get out of Dodge.”
When word leaked out, we were overwhelmed by the support we received from our neighbors, activists, reporters, politicians and law-enforcement officials. Their support continued into the 2017 Ramadan months later when larger than usual number of them joined us for community Iftar (breaking the fast) at sundown on Sundays.
This year we expect to host even more Americans during the Sunday Iftars. We particularly hope those who have misgivings about us and want to ask the hard questions will join us, too. We don’t have all the answers. All we know is that discussing concerns honestly and openly in mutual respect can remove fear and prejudice.
If nothing else, we hope they will come for the food, for one of our most heartening lessons of Ramadan has been that few things in life forge friendship more fiercely than food, spicy or not.
Hasan Zillur Rahim is a professor of mathematics at San Jose City College and the Outreach Director of the Evergreen Islamic Center (www.eicsanjose.org) in San Jose.
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