Private Opinion

Ramadan Blogging: Day 11

Sunday was the first big community iftar at MCA which a couple of thousand people attend and break their fast together. We decided to skip the iftar because it is too crowded and weekend is the only time we can cook and eat at home during Ramadan. So, we prepared haleem, chicken biryani etc. over the weekend.

What I really missed at the community iftar was the speech by Imam Zaid Shakir who is one of the most influential American Muslim voices. He is an African-American convert to Islam and has been trained in the traditionalist Islamic school of thought. I reached the event late and couldn’t really understand his speech completely. However, I would like to share the short-talk he gave for three minutes after the isha prayers.

Imam Shakir related some early Islamic scholar’s statement that three things lead to the ruination of a man: lot of eating, lot of sleeping and lot of talking. He said that during Ramadan all the three things are automatically reduced. Since we stay late and get up early, the sleeping time is reduced. Eating is automatically reduced and people tend to talk only important things during the month.

At least that is the way it should be.

Bill Moyers interviewed Imam Shakir a few months back and you can watch the video at PBS website. An excerpt:

BILL MOYERS: You moved out of the Baptist frame and you tried transcendental meditation. You tried communism. You tried a lot of things, and finally something happened that attracted you to Islam. What was it?

IMAM ZAID SHAKIR: I think a lot of elements in various systems and theologies that I studied before Islam and found them lacking for one reason or another, Islam addressed all of them– all of those issues and brought them all together. So, it had the–

BILL MOYERS: How so? Help me to understand that. What was it?

IMAM ZAID SHAKIR: So, I’ll give you an example. It had the spirituality of transcendental meditation through what we call “vicar” and Koran recitation — things that are very soothing to the soul. But, it also had a social activism component that transcendental meditation didn’t have.

It had the social activism of the communists with God. So, a lot of things that were absent in those things I studied before Islam were present in Islam. And, they were brought together in a very integrated way that led me to believe personally that this is from God. [PBS]

Picture Courtes: Zaytuna Institute.