Ramadhan fasting month is good training ground<\/p>\n
By Santi W.E. Soekanto<\/p>\n
The holy month of Ramadhan starts this week. Moslems will not
\neat or drink from dawn to dusk for the entire month. Non-Moslems
\noften wonder how those observing the holy month stay healthy. The
\nfollowing article looks at how fasting trains Moslem and what
\nspiritual benefit they get from it.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"Lebaran is coming, we're fasting in a happy
\nspirit, a whole day for adults, a half day for children,\" goes
\nthe popular song by the Bimbo group. It will be heard almost
\neverywhere when the fasting month of Ramadhan comes.<\/p>\n
The song conveys more than just the happiness of the
\ncelebration at the end of the Ramadhan holiday, Lebaran or Idul
\nFitri. It tells how the fasting month is a training camp and that
\nchildren should be gradually introduced to it.<\/p>\n
This is exactly the sentiment felt by most Moslems as they
\nprepare to greet the holy month.<\/p>\n
The fasting month is a training ground which, when observed
\nfaithfully, makes us better persons, several Moslems told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
They also see the ritual daily abstention from food, drink and
\nsex as a chance to advance spiritually.<\/p>\n
In addition, they see the month as a period of \"bonus giving\",
\nwhere even the smallest good deed is repaid by Allah many times
\nover. They hope that fasting will purify them, provide them with
\nthe opportunity to pay penitence, and make them as pure as babies
\nwhen the month is over.<\/p>\n
According to prominent psychiatrist, Dr. Dadang Hawari,
\nfasting has at least three benefits.<\/p>\n
\"Psychologically, fasting trains Moslems to be more resilient
\nin handling stress and more patient in the face of aggravation,\"
\nhe said. \"It is a time to exercise self-control... people who are
\nmentally healthy are able to control themselves.\"<\/p>\n
Socially, fasting sharpens Moslems' awareness of other people
\nsuffering.<\/p>\n
\"We are taught that nobody can be considered a man of faith if
\nhe can sleep while his neighbor is hungry. Fasting sensitizes us
\nto other people's hunger,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In addition, Islam teaches its believers to give more during
\nthe month. The alms and other forms of donations they give to the
\npoor not only controls social jealousy, Dadang said, but also
\nensures that no Moslem will go hungry during Idul Fitri.<\/p>\n
Finally, fasting helps Moslems advance spiritually.<\/p>\n
\"If you fast until the end of Ramadhan, you hope that Allah
\nwill reward you with forgiveness for your past and future sins.
\nThis give you a sense of relief,\" he said. \"The feeling that
\nAllah forgives us is an immense spiritual feeling.\"<\/p>\n
Psychologist Ida Poernomo Sigit Sidi also saw Ramadhan as a
\nchance to strive for \"psychological liberation\".<\/p>\n
\"The feeling of being forgiven our past sins motivates us to
\nbe even better in the future,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She said the most important thing in observing Ramadhan,
\nespecially for the busy people in cities like Jakarta, is to
\ngradually loosen the \"busy trap\" and enter the \"calm sanctuary\"
\noffered by the act of fasting.<\/p>\n
\"There are people who just go through the motions,\" she said.
\n\"They fast, but their minds are not in it. They don't catch the
\nessence of Ramadhan because they are trapped into daily
\nroutines.\"<\/p>\n
She said the month is actually a good time to take a breather
\nand consolidate oneself by paying more attention to other ibadah
\n(worship), such as the evening tharawih prayers and reading the
\nholy Koran.<\/p>\n
\"Which is why I hope that I won't get invited to too many fast
\nbreaking dinners. I hope more Moslems will devote more of their
\ntime this Ramadhan to their families,\" she pleaded.<\/p>\n
Most of the people that the Post interviewed agreed that they
\nsaw no reason for their productivity to decline during the fast.<\/p>\n
\"If anything, fasting motivates me to work harder and be more
\nproductive,\" Wisnu Pramudya, a Moslem youth activist and reporter
\nfor Sahid Moslem magazine, said. \"I learn from history, that it
\nwas during the holy month that Prophet Muhammad performed many of
\nhis great achievements.\"<\/p>\n
Wisnu said that during the Badar and Khandaq wars in 630 AD,
\nProphet Muhammad led a small number of Moslem troops to defeat a
\nlarger number Quraish tribe soldiers.<\/p>\n
It was also during Ramadhan that Prophet Muhammad returned
\nvictoriously, without even taking his sword out of its sheath, to
\nthe city of Mecca which once betrayed and chased him away, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Moslems must understand that Ramadhan is not an excuse to
\nslacken our work habits,\" Wisnu said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ramadhan-fasting-month-is-good-training-ground-1447893297",
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