CHITRAL: The holy month of Ramazan is in full bloom and Muslims world over are refraining from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk. The discipline is a part of the many religious rituals which are obligatory for Muslims.

The specialty about fasting in Ramazan is that it is a most solemn ritual observed by even those who are careless about offering daily obligatory prayers, which comes before fasting in the list of Islamic religious commandments.

The benefit of fasting which is supposed to clean a person spiritually has also been acknowledged to benefit the health by cleaning the internal body aka ‘autophagy’.

It is however observed with regret that the holy exercise which is supposed to rejuvenate a person spiritually does not have that effect which it is intended for.

Reason for the lack of effect of religious fasting on a person’s conduct of daily chores of life is that the religious preachers do not connect the two. Day in and day out we listen to sermons preaching that fasting washes away sins. One yearn’s to hear from a preacher to avoid sins not only in Ramazan but beyond Ramazan too. In Ramazan only eating and drinking during daytime is prohibited (haraam) but sins like telling lies, cheating, forgery, hypocrisy etc which are haraam throughout the year are not emphasized even during Ramazan.

It would be in the best interest of Islam and humanity to CONNECT the offering of rituals with conduct of a person in everyday life, in the month of Ramazan and the year round. .. CN report, 27 Mar 2023.