Even the worst masochist would not call starving a pleasant experience. Provision of food is, perhaps, the most significant motive factor in all human and animal activities. And yet we find that most prophets and saints, since time immemorial, have felt compelled to risk losing their popularity by imposing fasting on their followers. What could be the wisdom behind such a politically imprudent preaching? The conservation of food? The realization by everyone of the feeling of hunger in order to commiserate with those who are not fortunate enough to get regular meals? Probably. But when the injunction comes from the Qur'an it has to have a more fundamental and universal implication, and the answer seems to have been made available by modern science. Within every human and animal being there is an alarm system, and an emergency reserve system which is essential for its survival in difficult situations. Examples of the alarm system are thirst and hunger, which warn an individual that fresh supplies of water and food are required to maintain the body. If water or nutrition is not received within a certain time of the alarm then the process of conversion of various surplus substances within the body, and even within each cell, is carried out to sustain life.
It is interesting that even millennia ago when in most parts of the world food and drink were not as plentiful as they are today, Someone was Wise enough to anticipate that a time would come when there would be enough and easily available food for practically every human being at least in some places. And the lives of people would be so well organized that many of them would hardly ever feel any appreciable degree of hunger or thirst, the alarm and emergency provision systems becoming effectively dormant. If this continued for a few generations, due to the evolutionary nature built in all living beings, the human race would cease to have these useful systems by virtue of its own efficiency. And then, if there was a global natural calamity or man made disaster such as a nuclear holocaust, mankind would be very ill equipped to cope with the difficult conditions, and the entire species might be wiped out. So, that Someone, who also happened to have designed the systems, made the prophets ask their followers to fast and protect the human race from extinction. Anyone who doesn't fast in the month of Ramadan is, thus, not carrying out his duty towards his or her future generations. Also, it is not surprising that most religions predict some sort of holocaust at some time in the future in which only the pious would survive.
The fasting season and procedures differ in different religions. The established Islamic custom is to refrain from food, drink (including water) and carnal pleasures from nearly a half hour before sunrise till a few minutes after sunset during the month of Ramadan, which is counted according to the lunar calendar and rotates through the seasons in about thirty three years, since the lunar year is only 354 days long. The lunar month starts with the appearance of a new moon or crescent and ends with the appearance of the next one. The lunar cycle takes approximately twenty nine and a half days to be completed, and so lunar months are either twenty nine or thirty days long depending on the sighting of the moon. It is possible to calculate and predict exactly when the new moon would become visible at a given location based on the periodic cycles of the earth and the moon; and some times the duration of visibility may be only a few minutes or even seconds. Short duration visibility may not result in sighting due to various natural phenomena such as atmospheric turbulence, wobbling of the earth on its axis etc. It should be a purely individual decision as to when one begins or ends one's fast; but public disputes arise because the first day of the month following Ramadan (the month of fasting) is a public holiday and a day of celebration and feasting, an occasion many politicians and self-styled clergy try to exploit to consolidate their followings.
Even the worst masochist would not call starving a pleasant experience. Provision of food is, perhaps, the most significant motive factor in all human and animal activities. And yet we find that most prophets and saints, since time immemorial, have felt compelled to risk losing their popularity by imposing fasting on their followers. What could be the wisdom behind such a politically imprudent preaching? The conservation of food? The realization by everyone of the feeling of hunger in order to commiserate with those who are not fortunate enough to get regular meals? Probably. But when the injunction comes from the Qur'an it has to have a more fundamental and universal implication, and the answer seems to have been made available by modern science. Within every human and animal being there is an alarm system, and an emergency reserve system which is essential for its survival in difficult situations. Examples of the alarm system are thirst and hunger, which warn an individual that fresh supplies of water and food are required to maintain the body. If water or nutrition is not received within a certain time of the alarm then the process of conversion of various surplus substances within the body, and even within each cell, is carried out to sustain life.
It is interesting that even millennia ago when in most parts of the world food and drink were not as plentiful as they are today, Someone was Wise enough to anticipate that a time would come when there would be enough and easily available food for practically every human being at least in some places. And the lives of people would be so well organized that many of them would hardly ever feel any appreciable degree of hunger or thirst, the alarm and emergency provision systems becoming effectively dormant. If this continued for a few generations, due to the evolutionary nature built in all living beings, the human race would cease to have these useful systems by virtue of its own efficiency. And then, if there was a global natural calamity or man made disaster such as a nuclear holocaust, mankind would be very ill equipped to cope with the difficult conditions, and the entire species might be wiped out. So, that Someone, who also happened to have designed the systems, made the prophets ask their followers to fast and protect the human race from extinction. Anyone who doesn't fast in the month of Ramadan is, thus, not carrying out his duty towards his or her future generations. Also, it is not surprising that most religions predict some sort of holocaust at some time in the future in which only the pious would survive.
The fasting season and procedures differ in different religions. The established Islamic custom is to refrain from food, drink (including water) and carnal pleasures from nearly a half hour before sunrise till a few minutes after sunset during the month of Ramadan, which is counted according to the lunar calendar and rotates through the seasons in about thirty three years, since the lunar year is only 354 days long. The lunar month starts with the appearance of a new moon or crescent and ends with the appearance of the next one. The lunar cycle takes approximately twenty nine and a half days to be completed, and so lunar months are either twenty nine or thirty days long depending on the sighting of the moon. It is possible to calculate and predict exactly when the new moon would become visible at a given location based on the periodic cycles of the earth and the moon; and some times the duration of visibility may be only a few minutes or even seconds. Short duration visibility may not result in sighting due to various natural phenomena such as atmospheric turbulence, wobbling of the earth on its axis etc. It should be a purely individual decision as to when one begins or ends one's fast; but public disputes arise because the first day of the month following Ramadan (the month of fasting) is a public holiday and a day of celebration and feasting, an occasion many politicians and self-styled clergy try to exploit to consolidate their followings.
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