The holy month of Ramzan, an obligatory fasting period for all adult and able Muslims, is also a training period for self-improvement as it provides an opportunity to drop bad habits, revealed the scholars and community members. The month is about adopting good habits in a manner that will ensure that they last a lifetime.
“One of the objectives of Ramzan is to keep a person motivated and train him/her to abstain from all sorts of vices,” said Asifuddin Muhammed, scholar and president of Islamic Academy for Comparative Religion, Hyderabad.
“The top don’ts are: Drinking, smoking, telling lies, anger and ego. When we strictly practise to stay away from these for a month, we lose the bad habits for life,” said Faraaz Farshori, a solutions architect with SumTotal Systems, while speaking of a few of the things one must stay away from.
He added, “One also has to abstain from sexual intercourse from sunrise to sunset.” While scholars and the elderly speak of how one can benefit by spending more time reading the Holy Quran and offering prayers, youngsters and working professionals from the city share how they abstain from spending time on social media because it might lead to arguments or fights on the online forum.”
“I abstain from even listening to any kind of gossip and do not take part in any discussion where I don’t have anything good to say.”
Fasts to be 14 hours:
Maulana Mohammed Qubool Pasha Shuttari, president of Ruyat-e-Hilal committee and also of Majlis-e-Ulema-e-Deccan said, “The committee has not sighted the moon in Hyderabad or any other nearby cities or towns but the month of Ramzan has been declared and the first Roza is to be observed on Friday.”
This year, the fasts are 14 hours 48 minutes long and will start at 4.10 am and end at 6.58 pm. Rozas this year are longer than last year but as the days go by, the time will reduce, but it will continue to be 14 hours for the next one month.
The devout have already begun preparations for Sehri as they have to be up by 3 am for prayers and also for a small meal to see them through the day. Yakoob Hasan, a scholar, said, “Eating at night is important as it will give the required strength to sustain through the next day. People must eat light and healthy. Many who work in professional set-ups skip night food as they can’t sleep but then they are not able to fast as they become weak..”
The TS government on Thursday permitted the Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) to hold meetings on June 19, July 10 and July 17 at the Macca Masjid during the holy month of Ramzan.
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