Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- It is an obligation upon every Muslim to propagate Islam and introduce its illuminating teachings to others, Muslims and non-Muslims.
2- Ramadan which is a season of spirituality needs to be introduced to others. The best way to introduce it to others is to make them feel that it is special.
3- This can be done when we stick to the best of deeds and the lofty manners during the month commemorating its being special and, by this, we as Muslims are ourselves special.
Responding to the question, Dr. Muhammad M. Abu Laylah, Professor of Islamic studies and ex-head of the English Department, faculty of languages and translation at Al-Azhar University, states:
Fasting as such is a human phenomenon, which is noticeable in all religions, whether primitive or developed, Divinely revealed or man-made. Allah Almighty says: {O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off evil.} (Al-Baqarah 2:183)
Ramadan has a special appeal to all Muslims, even to our young children. It captures our souls. Fasting increases our goodness, cultivates our nature, and sharpens our consciousness of Allah.
It disseminates brotherly feelings towards the community and all humanity, and above all sharpens in us the sense of responsibility towards one another.
It helps us attain self-control and provides us with the ability to resist lusts and base desires during our fasting-time. Ramadan enables us to encounter hardships.
In Ramadan, we don’t only abstain from food, drink, smoking, marital sex, but also we abstain from all kinds of immoral acts and obscenity. Our social, religious, charitable acts are combined in our fasting. So, the month of Ramadan is an intensive course in physical and spiritual hygiene.
We fast also to honor the Revelation of the Quran in this blessed month. The Quran is our guide and rule to advance in this world and to draw ourselves closer to Allah.
During the blessed month of Ramadan, millions of Muslims gather in mosques during the daytime for reciting and reflecting on the Quran. During the night, they gather to pray in congregation and listen to lectures from Muslim scholars. All these merits help us to be more adaptable, sociable, and practical.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.