Ramadan and Desire-Management

RAMADAN AND DESIRE-MANAGEMENT sunset. Throughout this month, believers can eat and drink during the night, but not in the daytime. According to Islamic teaching, fasting is not simply about experiencing hunger and thirst. In fact, hunger and thirst are symbolic of purifying the soul and training ourselves to control or manage our desires. The Prophet of Islam has said that one, who fails to abstain from using abusive language and persists in his evil habits, will not have his abstinence from eating and drinking accepted by God. (Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith No. 1689) The fact is that everyone has enormous desires, everyone has an ego and there are many negative thoughts hidden in the human heart. To live the life of a true believer, one is required to control one’s desires and to try to live a life of self-restraint. According to Abu Huraira, the Prophet of Islam once observed: ‘When any one of you is fasting, he should refrain from all indecencies. He should not raise his voice. If anyone fights with him or abuses him, he should not retaliate, but simply say that he is fasting.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1894) By giving up eating and drinking in the month of Ramadan, a person tries to train himself for a greater form of fasting, that is, refraining from all kinds of evil habits by managing our desires. Psychological studies show that if someone forms a habit over a period of a whole month, this habit becomes a part of his second nature. In one sense, fasting in the month of Ramadan is based on this human psychology, which is used to bring about moral training in self-discipline and desire-management. Self-disciplined behaviour has the greatest value in the life of a man or a woman. It makes one a predictable person and a good member of society. Self-discipline makes one a man of principle, thus enabling one to perform one’s duties. It develops a mature personality and makes it possible for one’s potential to be utilized in significant ways.