Gorilla’s Guides

Sawm is Islam’s FOURTH PILLAR. For the entire month of Ramadan all Muslims who have reached puberty, and who are in good physical and mental health are required to fast. The word literally means ‘to abstain’ and in Islamic law means abstenton from:

• Eating,
• drinking,
• sexual activity
• vices such as smoking

Westerners and non-Muslims almost invariably - and mistakenly, use the name of the month - Ramadan, during which Sawm is undertaken as the name of the fast itself. This is a very basic misundertanding:

Sawm

Means the religious fasting - abstaining from particular activities that takes place during the month of Ramadan.

Ramadan

Means the 9th month of the Hijra calendar, which is the calendar used in Islam. It is the month in which the revelation of the Qur’an began and and is the month during which the religious fasting festival of Sawm takes place. Devout Muslims recite the Qur’an in its entirety during this month.

The name “Ramadan” goes back to pre-Islamic times and refers to the heat of the summer.

At the end of the month of Ramadan is the feast of Eid al-Fitr

Sawm lasts for the entire lunar month of Ramadan and ends with the major religious festival of Eid al-Fitr. The act of fasting takes place from daybreak until the sun disappears under the horizon. The night is a period of eating, celebration, sleep, and of performing religious duties.

As well as fasting Muslims are particularly expected to engage in charitable works and to visit and comfort the sick and the poor. Indulging in vice or behaviour such as telling lies or speaking maliciously are considered to be particularly repugnant at this time.

If a Muslim deleiberately breaks one of the rules by engaging in forbidden behaviour the fast is broken for that day and must be made up after Sawm. Muslims - even those who would condider themseslves as devout are generally keenly aware of these obligations, and often in general follow them strictly. Once the sun is below the horizon people wait for a signal that mark the end of Sawm for that particular day. These signals vary from place to place Examples are ceremonial firing of a cannon, drumming, calls from the mosques, or announcements made on television and radio.

Sawm is mentioned in several places in the Qur’an but the key passages are in Surah 2.

2:183 O YOU who have attained to faith! Fasting is ordained for you as it was ordained for those before you, so that you might remain conscious of God:

2:184 [fasting] during a certain number of days. But whoever of you is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days; and [in such cases] it is incumbent upon those who can afford it to make sacrifice by feeding a needy person. And whoever does more good than he is bound to do does good unto himself thereby; for to fast is to do good unto yourselves - if you but knew it.

2:185 It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see this month shall fast throughout it; but he that is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days. God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; but [He desires] that you complete the number [of days required], and that you extol God for His having guided you aright, and that you render your thanks [unto Him].

2:187 IT IS lawful for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding the [day’s] fast: they are as a garment for you, and you are as a garment for them. God is aware that you would have deprived yourselves of this right, and so He has turned unto you in His mercy and removed this hardship from you. Now, then, you may lie with them skin to skin, and avail yourselves of that which God has ordained for you, and eat and drink until you can discern the white streak of dawn against the blackness of night, and then resume fasting until nightfall; but do not lie with them skin to skin when you are about to abide in meditation in houses of worship. These are the bounds set by God: do not, then, offend against them - [for] it is thus that God makes clear His messages unto mankind, so that they might remain conscious of Him.