Ramadan Kareem

The concept of sacrifice, whether by giving, service, keeping vigil, self-denial or fasting, is well-established in most religions. The importance of fasting, prayer and meditation pervades Christianity, African traditional religions, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam. In Islam, fasting during the entire lunar month of Ramadan is one of the religion’s five pillars and Muslims all over the world have remained, by and large, faithful to that injunction. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and the month in which Muslims believe that the Koran was revealed and wherein they are required to fast during the daylight hours from dawn to sunset. Muslims are taught that the Koran was sent down during Ramadan, and thus prepared for gradual revelation by Jibraeel (Angel Gabriel) to Muhammad, Islam’s Prophet, on the occasion called Laylat al-Qadr or “The Night of Power”. Muhammad is believed to have taught his followers that the gates of heaven are open all through Ramadan and gates of hell concurrently closed! The first three days of the next month (Shawwal) is spent in celebration of Eid-il-Fitri or the “festival of breaking fast”. Shia Muslims are reported to also believe that the gospel (Injil) was bestowed on Isa (Jesus) and the Psalms (Zabur) to David during Ramadan. Fasting is very important in the Christian faith. Indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the practice of fasting when he fasted for forty days and forty nights right at the inception of his ministry. It is probably not co-incidental that Jesus (unlike Adam and Eve) rebuffed the temptations of the devil at the end of this period of fasting, a demonstration perhaps of the power and grace obtained through the disciplining of body, soul and spirit and the tighter connection and communication with the will and mind of God enabled by humans through fasting. Indeed, Jesus Christ suggests in Mathew 17:21 that certain hierarchies of spiritual problems may be addressed only by prayer and fasting. In the contemporary church, while fasting remains very important, there has been a certain “democratisation” of the practice such that it often happens outside and beyond the Lenten season. Individuals, families, church groups and Christian ministers regularly embrace fasting in multiple seasons throughout the year, though Catholics and “Orthodox” churches retain the traditional Lenten fast as well. In Yoruba society, Ramadan is a season of fellowship, goodwill, giving, sharing, bonding and compassion. I have previously written in these pages on the lessons other Nigerians, particularly in Northern Nigeria, and even religious faithful all over the world can learn from the Yoruba about religious tolerance and harmony. I have also shared my personal experience as a child, teenager and youth with Ramadan in a peaceful multi-religious society. Ramadan was my favourite period of the year to visit my maternal grandparents in Sagamu, especially my grandmother, an Alhaja. Even though it was her period of fasting, for me, it was the season of abundance when you could eat your normal three meals a day and yet break fast with her at dawn and sunset. And, of course, the meals, compensatory of the abstention from eating throughout the day, were of higher quality and quantity! Even though the household was Islamic and I had a Christian upbringing and faith, I never felt out of place in any way. This atmosphere of unity was not peculiar to my family. It was the spirit you encountered everywhere in Yorubaland – in Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ikorodu, Lagos or anywhere else you went during Ramadan or “Ileya” or indeed at Easter or Christmas. In this season when extremists are seeking to destroy the nation on the altar of extremist religious ideology and politicisation of religion, I once again commend the Yoruba example to our brothers and sisters in other parts of the country. Incidentally, that spirit of tolerance and harmony has had positive impact on Yoruba (and Nigerian) society if only you look deeper. For instance, “ajiwere” music, which Muslim youths initially used to entertain the community during Ramadan, evolved into Fuji which was pioneered by Alhaji “Agba” Sikiru Ayinde Agbajelola “Barrister”, Ayinla “Kollington”, and now led by “King” Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (KWAM 1). I believe “Waka” music of “Queen Salawa Abeni” had similar roots. Today, a fusion of Fuji, Yoruba gospel (epitomised in the African Churches such as Cherubim and Seraphim, Celestial, CAC and African Church, but also present in Orthodox and Pentecostal variants), Juju music of King Sunny Ade (KSA) and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, US Hip Hop and Rhythm and Blues has emerged, such that you can see traces of these genres in the “Naija” music of initially Shina Peters and currently Nice, Wizkid, late Dagrin, Wande Coal, and even non-Yoruba stars like Ice Prince who sang “Oleku”. In effect, tolerance and harmony in Yoruba society have permitted a synthesis of multiple streams of music and contributed towards creating something greater than the sum of its parts. I suspect such positive fusion may have occurred in other spheres. I gather the greeting “Ramadan Kareem” means “a generous Ramadan”. May the spirit of material and spiritual generosity (in effect love, peace and unity) be restored in Nigeria and may hateful ideologies and violence be banished from our land. Amen. I wish all our Muslim brothers and sisters a generous Ramadan!