Ramadan: faith and piety

We, the Islamic Ummah, have been blessed with another Holy Month of Ramadan. Fasting in this month has two fundamental features, each of which is a source of abundant blessing. These features are FAITH and PIETY. Alhamdulillah! Almighty Allah says:

“O you who believe! Fasting (in the Month of Ramadan) has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become the pious.” [Quran 2: 183].

It is instructive to note that the opening clause of the verse – O you who believe! – is an elliptical construction. Elliptical is the adjective form of the term “ellipsis” in English Grammar. This term implies omission from a sentence or any other construction a word or words that can be understood from contextual clues. Indeed, the full version of the clause is: “O you who believe IN ALLAH!” In Arabic the noun form of the verb “believe” is “IIMAAN”, which is a synonym of the English noun “FAITH.” So, “BELIEF in Allah” means “FAITH in Allah.” By this semantic analysis, the opening clause could be rephrased as “O you who have FAITH in Allah!”

Also, the ending phrase “the pious” in the verse deserves grammatical analysis for justification of contention and maximization of comprehension. In English Grammar, the phrase in question – “the pious” – is a Collective Adjective that has the capacity to serve as a Plural Noun. Similar constructions are “the rich” implying all rich people, “the poor” implying all poor people, and

“the intelligent” implying all intelligent people. Clearly, the noun (as the act) form of the adjective “pious” is “piety.” The Arabic version of “pious” is morphologically related to the Arabic noun “At-Taqwa”, which means PIETY. PIETY can be explained as righteousness or fear of Allah. It is important to note that the ending clause too is elliptical. Yes! “So that you may become the pious” could fully be rephrased as: “So that you may attain the fear of Allah.” There could be other varieties of construction depending on the level of textual analysis.

As the verse stands, we may be right to reason that fasting in the Month of Ramadan establishes a symbiosis (healthy relationship) between FAITH and PIETY. We could rightly assume that FAITH is the requirement and PIETY the result of fasting. Simply, this implies that one must be faithful to qualify for fasting and should be ready to become pious after the fasting provided one complies with all the rules of the spiritual exercise.

It is pertinent to observe that the two features of fasting seem to share similar semantic properties in the context of the verse under review. For instance both of them are abstract words of positive connotations and emphasize sacrifice in service to the Common Creator The Almighty Allah. In simple language, both of them highlight the foundation of Islamic moral system: Al-amru bil ma’ruuf, wan-Nahyu ani-l munkar – Commanding good deeds and forbidding bad deeds.

That is why all Muslims are encouraged to uphold all kinds of virtue and refrain from all kinds of vice in the holy period of Ramadan. The abstinence from food, drink, and other worldly desires during fasting should be seen as sacrifice to attain the highest level of purity. Other forms of prayers in Ramadan should be spiritual investment for heavenly dividend. Surely, when we are constantly reminded of FAITH and PIETY, we would continue to regard Ramadan as an opportunity to sacrifice satanic desire, devote ourselves to Allah, and increase our reward from Allah. Ramadan Mubarak!

By Abubakar Mohammed Marzuq Azindoo, Coordinator of Students and University Relations, University of Applied Management (UAM), Germany – Ghana Campus, McCarthy Hill, Accra and Tamale

Email: azindoo200@gmail.com Tell: 0244755402