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since Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:04:17.
By Andrea Useem
Ramadan is in its third week now, and the required dawn-to-dusk fasting often feels like a daily mini–marathon. By late afternoon, hunger and thirst have sucked me dry, leaving me sleepy, slow-minded, and sometimes short-tempered.
I know that the purpose of fasting is spiritual—God will reward us in the next life—but in this lifetime, fasting sometimes makes me an ineffective, irritable person. So I was excited to learn that Harvard psychiatrist John Ratey, MD, had spoken at a recent Renaissance Weekend event about how caloric restriction can improve brain function.
I emailed Dr. Ratey to find out if those benefits might extend to religious fasting, and he sent me a 2006 paper on the brain functioning of men during the Ramadan fast. The researchers studied a small group of healthy men during and after the holy month, looking at their brain activity via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They concluded that "all individual results showed consistent and significant increase of activity in the motor cortex during fasting."
Other research shows similar results
That research builds on the work of other scientists, including Mark Mattson, PhD, who heads a neuroscience lab at the NIH's National Institute on Aging. Mattson has done important research on how dietary restrictions can significantly protect the brain from degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.
In a 2003 article, Mattson and others reported that rats who were deprived of food every other day, or restricted to a diet at 30% to 50% of normal calorie levels, showed not only decreased heart rates and blood pressure, but also "younger" brains, with "numerous age-related changes in gene expression."
Mattson and his colleagues also shared data from research on humans, which shows that populations with higher caloric intakes—such as the United States and Europe—have a greater prevalence of Alzheimer's than do populations that eat less—such as China and Japan. The authors speculate that humans may have adapted to conditions of feast and famine; the stress of having little food, they write, "may induce changes in gene expression that result in adaptive changes in cellular metabolism and the increased ability of the organism to reduce stress."
Although this research is relatively new, with many questions left unanswered, the authors conclude that "it seems a safe bet that if people would incorporate a spartan approach to food intake into their lifestyles, this would greatly reduce the incidence of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke." (Of course, how this recommendation translates for individual people remains almost a complete unknown; consult with your own doctor before restricting your diet in dramatic ways.)
But here's the hard part: Although we know eating too much leads to all sorts of health problems, "it has proven very difficult to successfully implement prolonged dietary-restriction regimens," reports Mattson and his team. Information and doctor's orders are rarely enough motivation.
This last observation gave me hope, because it seemed the authors were overlooking the role of religion; it can inspire people in ways information or experts don't. Would I be undergoing this rigorous month of fasting unless I believed strongly it was the right thing for me to do? Probably not. And the same goes for millions of Muslims around the world.
And many other religions include fasting or dietary restrictions as part of their religious observances. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, for example, fast one Sunday a month. The Orthodox Church in America notes five separate fasting seasons on its website, in addition to individual fast days; during some of these fasts, all food is restricted, and during other fasts, only certain foods are off-limits. Some Roman Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays, and all do during Lent. Many types of Buddhist monks abide by a code that prohibits eating after noon each day.
Science may only now be discovering that some of these religious practices, both ancient and modern, offer nourishment not just for the soul, but for the body as well.
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Obama's Ramadan note shows respect for Islam
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi: Faith and Policy
President Barack Hussein Obama's message Friday marking the beginning of Ramadan was the best we have ever heard from a Christian president. He expressed respect for the Muslim community's values, contributions and the seriousness of his commitment to a new beginning between America and 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
The lunar month of Ramadan is the most important month in the Muslim calendar because the holy Quran was revealed during this time.
This book of 6,232 verses was recited to the Prophet Mohammad by the angel Gabriel throughout his 23-year mission. Yet, the collective spirit of this heavenly call was sent to his heart in one of the blessed nights of Ramadan.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is a time for the fast, a tradition practiced by Moses and Jesus. Islam confirmed this spiritual legacy and called the faithful to complete it by abstaining from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk for the whole month. Children, the elderly, travelers, the sick or whoever may suffer seriously by observing these practices are exempted.
Fasting helps us empathize with the 50,000 kids that die of hunger every day in this world and encourages zakat or charity.
Ramadan gives believers an opportunity to focus on their relationships. Through piety, you please the Lord, and through peace, you please the people.
Because poverty is a primary cause of many social problems in Detroit and the world, fasting is mentioned in the Quran only 13 times, but charity and giving appear 148 times. Charity often benefits the givers more than receivers. It purifies our souls, builds our character and stabilizes our society.
That is why we are called to prayer and charity in this season.
Jesus has been quoted in the Quran as saying, "My Lord enjoined on me prayer, charity and kindness to my mother" (19-31). It takes courage, kindness, and commitment to give. Only those who win the internal battle against greed and selfishness can achieve the spiritual victory of a giving spirit.
Ramadan is a perfect time for transformation and bringing more dedication into our relationships with the Creator and His creation.
The plan is perfect, but not the people. The troubles in our world indicate the failure of the faithful to change it for the better.
Those responsible for killing and maiming innocents in Iraq and Pakistan are a shame and disgrace as are their financial and political supporters in the Arab and Western worlds. Such brutality is all the more barbaric and criminal during the season of peace, prayer and charity and has no place in any faith tradition.
In a state of piety and peace, we must all work together to promote good and prevent evil regardless of our personal and emotional attachments.
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi heads the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights. E-mail letters to letters@detnews.com.
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Ramadan starts a spiritual cycle in which we draw closer to God and family
John Esposito
Times, UK
August 21, 2009
If prayer five times a day strikes some as demanding, how about no food, no drink, no smoking, and no sex — from dawn to dusk for a whole month?
Inspiring, awesome, or extreme? In our secular, materialistic world, some see such religious abstinence as extreme or even harmful. Yet we live in a society in which rigorous dieting and exercise for health are multibillion-pound industries.
Similarly, gruelling marathons and triathlons or 12-to-18-hour professional workdays are often lauded and justified with the modern mantra of "No pain, no gain".
For Muslims the month-long daytime fast of Ramadan, which is just beginning, is a special time set aside to remember God through physical and spiritual discipline: abstinence, devoting more time and attention to prayer and reflection on human frailty and dependence on God, performing good works for the poor and less fortunate.
It might seem curious in the context of fasting to speak of celebration and joy rather than suffering and endurance, but many Muslims look forward to Ramadan. Even many who are not particularly religiously observant in the rest of the year choose to observe this communal fast. It is a time for family and communal gathering, a time to go "home" to share the experience. Every night family and friends come together to share a "breakfast" at dusk. Ramadan's fasting from sunrise to sunset, followed by a breaking of the fast, evening celebrations in which families, friends and neighbours come together to enjoy very generous meals, special desserts and socialising late into the night.
Many go to a mosque to participate in the discipline of reciting the Koran, read in its entirety during this special month.
When my wife and I first travelled in the Muslim world in the early 1970s I was struck by a scroll or wall hanging that I purchased in Damascus, depicting the chapters of the entire Koran divided into 30 sections. I was surprised to learn that it reflected the Ramadan practice of reciting a different Koranic section each night. Koranic recitation (the word Koran means recitation) is meant to transform the person reciting — just as it transformed Muhammad from a Meccan businessman to the Prophet of a major world faith. As the Koran says, "This Koran has been sent down by the Lord of the Worlds: The trusted Spirit brought it down upon your heart" (26: 194).
The month of Ramadan is also the time when Muslims fulfil another pillar of Islam, almsgiving (zakat), the pillar that, as the saying goes, gains Muslims entrance to heaven.
Social justice, a concern for the poor, orphans and widows, and family members is a major Koranic theme. The Koran specifically condemns those who say people are meant to be poor and should be left to their own fate because God wills it.
Like tithing in Christianity, Islam requires its followers to help less fortunate members of the community, but unlike tithing, which is based upon a percentage of one's income, zakat is a wealth tax, requiring one to give 2.5 per cent of all liquid assets each year.
Zakat is not viewed as voluntary or as charity. In Islam, the true owner of things is not man but God; zakat is a required sharing of the wealth that one has received as a trust from God.
But how does zakat play out practically. Many give their zakat to less fortunate family members or those in their community. Others, often those with considerable wealth, distribute their zakat more broadly for philanthropic projects like the building of mosques, libraries, clinics, locally and internationally, scholarships for students, assistance for medical care and social services.
Thus, it is not uncommon for Muslim fundraisers to approach wealthy Muslims at home and overseas during Ramadan for financial support for their projects.
Ramadan ends with one of the two major Islamic feasts (Eids), the Festival of Breaking the Fast, Eid al-Fitr. Relatives often come from far and wide to visit and celebrate together for several days or even weeks. The celebration resembles Christmas or Chanukah in its religious joyfulness, special celebrations and gift-giving.
For many Muslims, the religious experience and joy of Ramadan continues with the opportunity during the following month of pilgrimage, the pilgrimage or Haj to Mecca. At least once, every adult Muslim who is physically and financially able is required to make to make this pilgrimage, becoming a pilgrim totally at God's service.
Just as Muslims are united five times each day as they face Mecca in worship, each year believers make the physical journey to this spiritual centre of Islam, where they again experience the unity, breadth and diversity of the Islamic community.
In the 21st century almost 2 million Muslims gather annually from every part of the globe in Saudi Arabia for the haj. The pilgrimage ends with the celebration of the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha). The "great feast" commemorates God's testing of Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Ismail (in the Jewish and Christian traditions it is Isaac who is put at risk) and final permission to Abraham to substitute a ram for his son.
Across the Muslim world, Muslims follow the drama of the rituals of the haj, which ends with the three-day Feast of Sacrifice.
Ramadan then is not only the beginning of a month-long fast but of a special spiritual cycle of months within which those who participate have the opportunity to draw closer to God, family and community.
Professor John Esposito is the director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for Muslim-Christian understanding at Georgetown University, Washington
