�鶹��

Available for over a year

Good morning Over the weekend, signalled by the new moon, Muslims here in the UK and around the world will start the month of Ramadan. Packs of dates are being opened, prayer mats lined up, and plans for extra worship are being written. This month is the most holy time of the year for Muslims. There’s a verse in the Qur’an that reminds us that fasting was nothing new - fasting has been and continues to be part of many faiths and traditions. In the Qur’an it says ‘You who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may be mindful of God’. Being mindful. A period of self-examination when I ask myself what has changed for me since the last Ramadan, how has my relationship with God deepened? What do I need to do to be a better Muslim. The physical hunger I experience through fasting reminds me that I can take control of my desires and it is also a way to remember those less fortunate. Ramadan is a time for introspection and nurturing individual spirituality. But that inner work has to be manifested outwardly too. Prophet Muhammad taught this regularly, “don’t make Ramadan just about going without food and drink, ” he said. During Ramadan, Muslim communities in Britain will be thinking about Muslims in other countries too and how they can help them. What will Ramadan be like for those sheltering underground in Ukraine this year? How will it be for a mother with children, living in a refugee camp, having fled the war in Syria? What about the Uyghur Muslims - denied the opportunity to observe Ramadan, or – at best - having to practice it in secret. So as well as the inner work the other work of Ramadan is about service to others, charity and public shows of support for people in need. It’s about using our hands and bodies to help and serve others. Raising money. Feeding people. Visiting the sick. Looking beyond ourselves, not just our own needs. And the teachings remind us that we should ‘give charity so secretly that the left hand does not know what the right hand has given” This year – as every year - charity fundraising events for people in those countries and those closer to home will take place up and down the country and on dedicated TV channels. The communal Iftar – the breaking of the fast meals - are an opportunity to feed people who have been fasting as well as offer hospitality to others. And we receive it too - next week a London synagogue is hosting Muslims for a fast breaking meal, for the 9th year running. The inner and outer work – the two essential sides of Ramadan start this weekend, for me that starts alone with my Quran and my prayer mat.