Fundación Mezquita de Sevilla Fundación Mezquita de Sevilla y Centro Cultural Islámico de Sevilla®
Talk given at the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation on May 30, 2019 – 25 Ramadan 1440, by Hafith Luqman Nieto, vice president of the Seville Mosque Foundation .
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Peace be with you.
When we extend this greeting, we are making a supplication, a dua: that peace and contentment with reality be with you.
The word we use in Arabic is salam, and from the very root of this word comes the word Islam.
Islam, as a proper noun, refers to the set of beliefs and practices that bring us peace and contentment, with ourselves and with our circumstances, by being connected to the reality of our existence.
We call this person a Muslim.
The one who is subject to Reality and in connection with it.
I wanted to start here because I would like to take a step back before talking about the Ramadan fast.
To understand why Muslims fast, or why they perform certain acts of worship and why they shape their lives in a particular way.
The first thing necessary is to ask ourselves what reality the person who calls himself a Muslim submits to.
Because it is from this recognition of reality that everything else arises.
The study of this recognition and knowledge of reality, in the formal sciences of Islam, is called aquidah, which is the science that deals with belief, we could also call it theology.
But this term does not include all the connotations of aquidah, belief for Muslims is as much what we believe, of which we are rationally convinced and our hearts are at ease with it, as our actions.
For in Islam belief and behavior are two sides of the same coin.
Form and essence are part of the duality of the processes of the universe.
The question, then, is what reality does the Muslim submit to?
He submits to the reality of his own existence and, consequently, of everything he observes that is not him, the universe.
When we reflect on our existence, which is the first empirical reality we face, we have to come to the conclusion, if we are honest in our investigation, that our existence, both physical and psychic, is absolutely circumstantial.
There is no necessary cause why we exist and why we are the way we are, and yet we do it.
Gasset already said it: “I am me, and my circumstances”.
This paradox, which has no solution, is extensible to the rest of the processes in the universe.
The human being is nothing more than a process within another process of greater magnitude that we call the universe.
As the Qur’an says: The creation of the heavens and the earth surpasses the creation of men; however, most men do not know. (The Forgiver (or The Believer) 40:57).
The human being is not one and the universe another, but it is one within the other.
A smaller unit within a larger one.
Therefore, by reflecting on your own being, you are reflecting on the universe.
We also find this in the Qur’an: We will make them see Our signs on the horizon and in themselves until it becomes evident to them that it is the truth. (They have expressed themselves clearly, 41:53) One of the classic questions of philosophy is: why does something exist instead of nothing?
This proposes a primary duality.
Existing versus non-existence.
Something versus nothing.
And the Muslim reflects on himself, in order to understand the nature of this paradox, affirms its existence, however circumstantial, as certain.
And he is presented with a second duality: the duality between a physical reality that he knows to be perishable and a non-physical one, of an invisible nature, that he perceives to be linked to his physical reality and conditioned by it, but not necessarily ultimately dependent on it.
He recognizes himself as a single being with a dual expression.
The finiteness of one of these realities indicates to him the necessity that it should have arisen at a given moment.
The human being, as Muslims and in this dimension in which we live, is not understood in the dual sense proposed by Descartes, as a separation between matter and spirit, although this is the appearance, but as a single being with a dual expression, since as Muslims we understand that, in this world, all matter has a spirit and every spirit a matter.
Therefore, matter is the expression of a spiritual reality and spiritual reality needs a material expression.
Form and essence go hand in hand.
From an Islamic perspective, I don’t think, therefore I am.
I exist because I think and I think because I exist.
And just as this is something that he recognizes in himself, he recognizes it in the larger process of which he is a part.
We also find this in the Qur’an: Do you not see that Allah is glorified by all who are in the heavens and on the earth, as well as the birds with their wings spread in the air?
Each one knows his own prayer and his way of glorifying.
Allah knows what they are doing . (The Light, 24:41).
Therefore, in this context, belief is not only a series of cognitive schemas or paradigms of thoughts, but these are reflected in a way of acting.
In fact, we all act according to a belief, whether we do so consciously or not.
In this sense, the apparent duality between matter and spirit, between biological and psychic reality, is nothing more than the expression of the same phenomenon: existence.
And as you transfer this to the universe, you find this same duality.
In order not to overwhelm with examples, let’s look at one of the most basic of this duality: the apparent dichotomy between Newtonian mechanics and quantum physics.
According to Newtonian mechanics, the human being and the universe are completely determined to a form and laws, whereas, according to quantum physics, the universe, in its smallest known constitution, and therefore most basic, is indeterminate, it is an uncertainty.
And yet, both approaches are a necessary part of how we conceive of existence.
They are the very expression of a reality.
It is this apparent duality that indicates to us an underlying Agent of unity.
The same agent that determines matter, that determines that we exist, instead of not doing so.
We could continue to expound on this topic, which is a very broad subject of study, but I just wanted to highlight, from this brief exposition, two principles that are fundamental to understanding Islam and Muslims, and, therefore, the subject we are dealing with, the Ramadan fast.
The first, which is that it is to this underlying Reality of Oneness, and present in all the processes of the universe, that the Muslim submits.
The second, that essence—or spirit, or consciousness, or psychological processes—are necessarily bound up with a form.
Form is the expression of essence.
This is nothing new, it was already discussed by Plato and Aristotle, or by St. Thomas Aquinas.
Therefore, for the Muslim, the one who has recognized—and therefore has no choice but to accept—this reality, the subsequent question is how do I shape this reality?
That is, how do I make my day to day, my daily life, reflect this reality and not make me forget about it?
And this is when he recognizes the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and all the previous prophets, and the men and women of knowledge of today.
Men whose awareness of this reality, what in Arabic is called taqwa, was the deepest and whose actions were in accordance with this recognition and aimed at living in a way that they would not forget, on the contrary, that they would be a constant memory.
Let every action be dhikra-remember-.
It is on the basis of this reflection that the entire formal edifice of what we understand today as Islam is built.
It is from this reflection that the five pillars of Islam emerge, one of which is the fast of the month of Ramadan.
Fasting is a practice common to all spiritual traditions, Eastern and Western, since the effect it has on the human being is structural. Fasting is a defining action of what it means to be human: there is no other creature who, being hungry or thirsty and having food or water ahead of him, is able to abstain from taking it.
It is the effect of this abstention that causes the greatest impact on the person.
The key to fasting is not that it is an esoteric practice to obtain a higher state of consciousness, although this may be a collateral benefit, the secret of fasting is in mere abstention and the possibility that this opens up.
Formally, as almost all of you will know, the obligatory fast of Muslims is the abstention from ingesting any substance, solid, liquid or gaseous, and the abstention from sexual relations, between sunrise and sunset, for a period of 29 or 30 days, which is how long this month of Ramadan lasts.
We will talk about the nature of this time of fasting and what it means cyclically.
This would be the most basic definition of fasting, although it involves many more things.
In a Hadith, or saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him, we see that he says: “Whoever does not give up false speech and evil deeds, Allah does not need him to give up his food and drink.”
(Bukhari)
Imam al-Ghazali says: ” There are three degrees of fasting: the fasting of ordinary people, the fasting of the elite, and the fasting of the elite of the elite.
As for the fasting of the common people, it is to prevent the stomach from fulfilling its desires, as mentioned.
As for the fasting of the elite, it is in restricting hearing, sight, tongue, hands, feet, and all extremities from evil deeds.
As for fasting the elite of the elite, it is fasting from the heart of unworthy worries and worldly thoughts, and completely restraining it from everything that is not Allah, Almighty ”.
From this we understand that the fasting of the Muslims, in its most perfect form, is a total fast.
It is a fast that affects the whole ego.
Fasting, the mere act of abstaining from food and drink, has a seismic effect on the solid conception of our identity.
When we emerge from our mother’s womb and during the first months of life, it is through food that our identity begins to solidify.
When I talk about identity I mean the idea we have of ourselves as opposed to everything that is not us, the other.
When the child cries, whether from hunger or cold, fear or anxiety, calm is found in the mother’s food.
This is the original connection that is established with this world of forms.
On the one hand, this gives us a feeling of unity and on the other, when food is delayed or does not arrive, of separation.
And this creates a first perception, necessary at this stage, but harmful if maintained in adulthood, that in the ‘other’ we find the solution to our uneasiness.
The child, in this state, does not have the tools to understand what is happening to him since at this moment what he needs is love and affection, and this is a situation of being a pure receiver.
As we grow up, we develop patterns and learn behaviors that give us a sense of who we are, that solidify it.
We look for the fault we find in ourselves in the other, both physically and emotionally, and if this continues, we end up eating the ‘other’.
Or, to put it another way, we are incapable of seeing the other as a reality separate from us, but in the same process, and it becomes a projection of ourselves.
We look outside for what gives us reality inside.
What we seek to ignore, through this established patterns of food and behavior, is to face the paradox we mentioned earlier: that there is no reason why we exist, other than that we do.
This paradox, when not confronted and reflected upon, creates a void of meaning in the human being.
We try to fill this void by looking for meaning in the external, in the other, whether material or emotional, to the point of entering into a relationship in which both the material and the emotional alien to us is what defines us.
And since this is apparently solid, our idea of ourselves solidifies.
On the other hand, the person who has received this love and affection, through food initially, but in their early stages of life in general, has a cellular memory of the unity inherent in existence based on love and is able to face this paradox by confirming that separation and unity are part of the same reality.
Speaking from my own experience, and probably if you ask any Muslim who fasts during Ramadan, they will tell you that during this month the patterns are altered, those of eating, those of sleep, those of behavior.
The breaking of these basic patterns when we fast, and depending on our capacity to abstain from everything that indicates our solidity, opens up the possibility of turning to ourselves, of facing the circumstantial reality of our existence.
Shaykh Abdalaqadir says in a fundamental work for understanding Islam, The Way of Muhammad: ” The whole pattern of ‘I’ opens up so that the fasting person can see it… He realizes that the constancy he imagined the ‘I’ to have was nothing more than a superficial illusion, fed on patterns of habits and behavioral structures specially designed to confer that illusion of solidity.
It begins to know itself as a reality that shudders, vanishes, melts and is in motion… When the veils are lifted, the Light appears more clearly ”.
In the breaking of these patterns, during the time that the fast lasts in this month of Ramadan, we find the possibility for the person to face his dynamic reality in relation to himself and to the time and place in which he has to live.
Precisely understanding the fast of the month of Ramadan as something that we have to do while ‘nothing changes’ in our daily lives, which on the one hand is impossible and only brings us frustration and wishes that this month ends as soon as possible, is a very common mistake.
The mistake lies in believing ourselves to be the ultimate reality of our circumstantial existence and living disconnected from the dynamic reality of existence.
Part of the causes of the natural disasters we observe today lies in this basic fact.
In another transmission of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, we find a definition of fasting that links with these words: ” Every action of Adam’s son is for himself.
Except fasting, which is Mine and I repay it ”.
(Bukhari and Muslim).
All actions carried out by human beings, Muslim or not, are proactive.
In them we are the ones who do.
We reflect on the belief, do ablution ( wudu), prayer (the Salat), give Zakat and go on pilgrimage (Hajj), and each of these actions has a primary meaning.
But we also work, we interact, we have a family or partner, we study, etc.
Even when we do nothing, we are deciding ‘not to do’.
It is for this reason that all the actions that Adam’s son does are for himself.
We are the actors and the beneficiaries of our actions.
In all of them, those that are connected with worship in a formal sense and those that are not, the beneficiary is ourselves.
But fasting is different.
During fasting we abstain.
It is not even that we decide not to do anything, since it is not our decision, but that we refrain from doing things that in another context are perfectly valid, necessary and praiseworthy.
As we have said before, this quality is intrinsic to the human being.
The benefits of fasting that have been conveyed in the Hadith are all connected with Allah’s unique prerogative, mercy, forgiveness of faults or acceptance in the Garden, since the reward belongs to Allah.
And part of the secret of this reward is to provide us with the possibility of opening ourselves to the experience of Reality.
The nature of fasting as abstention is something that is unacceptable, if not understandable, today.
At the present time in society, as Byung Chul Han, the South Korean philosopher based in Germany, says, we live with an excess of positivity.
We live in a constant state of need to produce, both socially and personally.
Everything we do is subjected to the logic of production, even meditating or praying becomes something material, productive and useful when the purpose is to control anxiety and fears in order to continue producing.
It would be the subject of another talk to explore how these values or priorities are connected to the myth of progress which in turn is connected to the normalization and massive implementation of usury.
In this context, fasting is absurd, and there are many articles that call for exploring the economic damage of fasting in the month of Ramadan – obviously with the final idea of eliminating it – or, on the other hand, help us to carry out a ‘productive’ Ramadan.
And this does not mean that the month of Ramadan is a time of inactivity and laziness, on the contrary, it can be a month, and this will also be confirmed by many of those who fast, of a lot of activity.
When we fast we abstain, we are saying ‘no’ to matter.
When we fast we ‘stop doing’ in order to let things arise on their own and to be able to contemplate them as they are, and it is precisely from this abstention that many of the benefits and rewards of fasting arise.
When we try to cover this basic nature of fasting and incorporate it into our idea of how things should be, fasting doesn’t fit.
Because fasting is designed not to fit. We must be aware, on the other hand, that while fasting is often highly recommended in the Sunnah – the practice handed down from the Prophet (peace be upon him) – he forbade continued fasting.
Because the human being lives in this reality of form and meaning and has to recognize and give his right to each one.
Let us return, once again, to fasting as a possibility of opening up to reality.
Reality understood as Truth, and truth understood as Alétheia, the pre-Socratic concept proposed by Parmenides and recovered by Heidegger in his magnum opus ‘Being and Time’.
Alétheia means, literally, ‘that which is not hidden, which is evident’.
And as Heidegger proposes, to understand the primordial nature of Being as something that is revealed, that is made manifest, not by our conception of how things are, which is something circumstantial, but because we allow reality to emerge above our conceptions of what Reality is.
Parmenides differentiates between doxa -opinion- and aléthia -truth-.
This means that we all have an opinion, a conception of how things are, of what something is.
When we face ourselves and the ‘other’, we do so from a paradigm of thought, pre-established cognitive schemes.
These schemes are useful for streamlining our functionality in everyday life.
But they stand between us and Reality.
Without being aware, by applying these cognitive patterns and schemes we are not letting what we are, or what the other is, show itself to us in order to understand it, but we are projecting our paradigm of thought on the other and based on this we attribute a meaning, a reality.
Fasting – abstention – opens up the possibility of dismantling the apparent solidity of these patterns, based on which we get an idea of what we are and what the world is, in order to let Reality emerge.
This possibility of openness during fasting, which is made cyclically obligatory for Muslims, does not appear in a contextual vacuum, another key point to understand Ramadan is the special nature of the time in which it takes place.
The month of Ramadan is not special because we fast in it, the month of Ramadan is special and that is why we fast in it.
Nature, both human nature and the functioning of the universe, is cyclical and dynamic.
The different times of the year promote some activities or others.
We plant in one season and harvest in another.
The very life of the human being goes through different phases, even each of our days has different moments.
Day is not the same as night, nor morning or afternoon.
To a large extent today we pretend to live outside of these cycles, we pretend to maintain a fixed constant and we want to live in continuous stability ignoring change.
But there is no greater illusion than to ignore that everything is constantly changing.
The different actions that we know as the pillars of Islam connect us to this undeniable reality and are predisposed in a pattern that reminds us of it.
While the first pillar, the Belief that manifests through the Shahada, is continuous, it is not fixed. In a well-known and lengthy Hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him), when asked by two of his Companions why his remembrance of Allah and the affairs of the next life varied, he replied: “By the One in whose hands is my life, that if your state were the same when you are in my presence and you were always remembering Allah, the angels would greet you in your beds and in your ways, but Hanzala (who was one of the Companions who asked) [y dice literalmente] time and time.”
That is, there are moments dedicated to the affairs of this world and others to remembrance and worship.
Fasting is not continued.
We obligatorily fast one month of twelve months a year and the supererogatory fast, in its most extensive application, must be like the fast of the Prophet David, every other day.
This is the recommendation of the Prophet in the Hadith.
The rest of the pillars of Islam are also established to remind us of these times, prayer is done five times a day, the fast of Ramadan and Zakat is usually carried out once a year.
The pilgrimage, the Hajj, once in a lifetime.
And they are indicated at precise times of the day or night, of the year and of life that are connected both to external circumstances, such as the arrival of a specific time of the day or the year or having the means and the ability to do so, and to internal circumstances.
The month of Ramadan is marked by the lunar calendar, which causes it to oscillate throughout the solar calendar year according to the lunar orbit.
It is a time that structures our internal reality in the same way that the seasons or the passing of the days structure our external reality.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was aware of the predisposition of this time of year and even before receiving the Revelation he would retreat to the cave of Hira during this month to immerse himself in remembrance, contemplation and reflection.
It was in this month that he received the first Revelation of the Qur’an, and this is the month in which there is one night that is better than a thousand months.
This night, which is known as the Layltul Qadr, or the Night of Decree.
The passing of the seasons, the different natural laws that operate in the universe, or the obligatory acts of worship, are all part of the rites of Allah.
The way He has established the outer and inner workings of the universe.
Allah says in the Qur’an: And whoever is reverent with the rites of Allah… it is part of the Taqwa (awe-imbued reverential consciousness) of the hearts. (The Pilgrimage, 22:32)
The word that has been translated as ‘rituals’ is ‘sha’air’ which includes the meaning of ‘to perceive, feel and experience’.
As we have said, Allah’s rituals do not refer only to acts of worship and that which He has entrusted to us, but to the constancy of natural processes in general.
We observe that nature is governed by a series of natural laws, the orbits of the planets, the succession of day and night, gravity, etc.
Being respectful of this means that we recognize them and act accordingly.
Among other things, they serve to maintain sanity and a way of functioning consistent from the ultimate perspective that all these phenomena are indeterminate at the quantum level. Allah says in the Qur’an: “They ask you about the phases of the moon, say: they serve to indicate to men the time and the Hajj.”
(The Cow, 2:189).
In other words, the different phases of the moon, and by extension the orbital phenomena of the stars, serve to keep a calculation of time.
In general, the external phenomena of nature and their cyclical and constant repetition help us to maintain sanity when conducting our affairs in this world.
If we refer to the apparent duality of existence that we mentioned in the beginning, in which every form has an essence and every essence a form, just as externally we are guided, and in a certain way subject to respect for these natural patterns, our internal reality is guided, and in the same way subjected, to the same thing. to one cyclical and dynamic patterns that indicate certain moments as more propitious for one type of action and others for others.
The month of Ramadan is one of these patterns in which the encounter with Reality is fostered and fasting is the tool that prepares us to make this encounter possible.
This is one of the reasons why the most important Revelation of all was given in him: the Qur’an.
When we ignore external patterns or try to alter and change them, the consequences are obvious in natural imbalances.
Likewise, ignoring internal patterns has disastrous consequences on the internal ecosystem of the human being.
Let us recap what we have said so far.
We have said that the Muslim is one who recognizes the dual appearance of the phenomena he observes in the universe and in himself and recognizes the Reality of Oneness underlying them.
He recognizes this reality and submits to it.
To the question of how to live in consequence of this Reality he recognizes the messengers of this Reality, the Prophets, who have been men who lived in constant awareness of this Reality and whose actions reflected this.
And to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, as the last of them.
In the same way he recognizes that this knowledge has been transmitted and recognizes the men and women today who live according to it, and therefore follows them.
He accepts from them their guidance and practices as the best expression of this remembrance, which brings contentment and acceptance with his paradoxical existence, and therefore fasts.
Fasting, in turn, opens up to him the possibility of experiencing the dynamic and circumstantial nature of his existence so that Reality in turn emerges without the interference of his circumstantiality.
The dynamic nature of nature’s patterns shows you the dynamic nature of the patterns that guide your inner reality and you accept them.
In this way, he respects both his physical and biological nature and his spiritual nature, understanding both as the expression of his existence.
This, in turn, brings him into harmony with the processes of the universe of which he is one more process, and in this way, by submitting, he is freed.
All this, in turn, can be seen synthesized in two verses of the Qur’an.
The first one says: Believers!
Fasting has been prescribed for you just as it was prescribed for those who preceded you. May you have Taqwa!
(The Cow, 2:183) That is, both you and those who have come before you have been prescribed fasting so that you will have Taqwa, as we have said before, the reverential consciousness of the Reality, Allah, which leads us to act in accordance with it.
In the next verse we are told: Have Taqwa from Allah, and Allah will teach you.
(The Cow, 2:282) One interpretation of the apparent meaning of these verses might be: Fast, fasting will give you Taqwa, awareness of Reality, and awareness of Reality will give you knowledge.
Therefore, we could say that the purpose of fasting is knowledge.
I do not want to end without mentioning a characteristic of this special month which is Ramadan and what happens in it that almost all Muslims recognize.
It is a month in which it is shared, a month in which people come together, a month in which generosity and good deeds increase.
This arises naturally among Muslims as a result of fasting and the nature of this time.
It is also something that many of the Hadith of the Prophet call us to, peace be upon him.
It is, therefore, a month of celebration.
In which we celebrate our human nature through fasting and abstention, but also through sharing our food with others, caring for others, coming together to celebrate the recognition of Reality.
It is a month in which, in short, we fulfill our most inherent purpose and that most characterizes us as human beings, the knowledge and worship of Allah.
And this, in turn, brings with it a deep joy that makes us overcome the difficulty that fasting entails.
This month of celebration culminates with another celebration: the day of Eid.
A day in which Muslims rejoice and thank Allah that, once again, he has given them the opportunity to experience something so profoundly beautiful and in which they reaffirm life, but from a new understanding of reality.
Because as no day is the same as another, there is no Ramadan like another.
And while fasting is an individual thing, an act of pure worship that only one is aware of and in which there is no room for arrogance or pride, sharing these special moments is something in which we can all take part.
To conclude with a hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The fasting person has two moments of joy: one when he breaks the fast and one when he meets his Lord.”
(Muslim)
It is therefore a joy for me to share this moment of joy with you.
