Lessons of Ramadan

We are now at the end of Ramadan, and on Friday 15^th June we will be celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr.

The Holy Quran explains to us what is the purpose of fasting in these words:

“O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil…. And those who find it extremely hard may effect redemption by feeding a poor person. So whoever does good spontaneously, it is better for them; and that you fast is better for you if you know.” (2:183–184)

The Holy Quran also tells us that the greatest evil is to ignore the suffering of our fellows. That is why we say that Islam means I Shall Love All Mankind. And this is the message of the holy month of Ramadan. Just as an athlete goes through a long period of training, putting his or her body through the most difficult of trials in order to achieve an objective, so do Muslims put their bodies through a hard training to learn that whatever their circumstances, they must learn to smile and be good to others.

We pray that after Ramadan we do not forget what we learned during this training. We are facing harsh trials of prejudice against Islam. Muslims are being tortured and killed in Israel, Palestine, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, to name just a few places. Sadly, in Muslim majority countries Muslims themselves are killing each other over political and religious differences and this has continued during Ramadan.

We urge our brothers and sisters to take the moral high ground and show that we shall adhere to the highest moral standards even under the most trying of circumstances, as evidenced by our actions during Ramadan.

The Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam) was established in Lahore in 1914 to promote the informed understanding of Islam in the West. In the UK it operated the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking until the early 1960s. Its new headquarters is at Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, HA0 4JQ, UK. In 1924, in Berlin, it built the first mosque in Continental Europe of the modern era. The German Government recognises the Berlin Mosque as part of the German national heritage. From its European and other centres around the world this organisation has taught that Islam promotes peace, harmony and mutual respect between all communities and nationalities.

• Submissions in 2016 to UK Parliament Inquiries:
  • Countering Extremism
    • Our submission: pdf • html
  • Sharia Councils:
    • Our submission: pdf • html