The holy month is here again: Ramadan Kareem!

Also published in Daily Trust

As Ramadan approaches and indeed begins in less than forty eight hours, Muslims all over the world increasingly imbibe a greater sense of piety to prepare themselves for this annual spiritual exercise in pursuit of the Pleasure of Allah, His Mercy and Blessings, which are particularly abundant and much more easily accessible during the month of Ramadan.

Usually towards the beginning of the month of Ramadan, Muslim scholars and opinion leaders in different Muslim countries and communities around the world sensitize the faithful in their respective countries and communities on various issues related to Ramadan rituals and other relevant issues to enable them utilize this blessed but limited days and nights in order to reap as many rewards as possible.

Priority topics usually addressed towards the beginning of the month of Ramadan differ from one Muslim country or community to another. For instance, in Nigeria where the issue of sighting the particularly Ramadan and Shawwal crescent moons, which respectively determine when to start and end Ramadan fasting has for long been controversial. Consequently, it is not uncommon among the country’s Muslim various communities and individuals to start and end Ramadan fasting on different days ranging between one to two days and sometimes even three days.

This is even though over the past few years the situation has been improving due to the efforts of His Royal Highness Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III who, being the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, has apparently adopted much more transparent and accurate process to establish the sight of the crescent moons.

In other countries like Saudi Arabia for instance where the issue of sighting Ramadan and Shawwal crescent moons is not controversial, authorities tend to issue further regulatory directives to some or all the categories of people vested with the responsibilities of maintaining the public atmosphere befitting the sanctity and serenity of the month of Ramadan.

For instance, the country’s Ministry of Islamic affairs has recently banned the use of outdoor loudspeakers during Taraweh prayers in neighbourhood mosques where Juma’at prayers are not held.
Also even in the mosques where Juma’at prayers are held, which are obviously bigger, and where the use of outdoor loudspeakers is allowed, the decision limits the maximum number of the outdoor loudspeakers to be used to only four while the volume should be put down to below medium level also.

Besides, the imams were also warned against exhausting the congregations by leading them in unnecessarily lengthy prayers or engaging in preaching and use of excessive assonance in Taraweh prayer supplications.

Obviously these directives are aimed at reducing the noise created by the mutually overlapping sounds and echoes blaring from many outdoor loudspeakers on many mosques in close proximity, which sometimes constitute public nuisance.

During Tahajjud prayers particularly for instance, which are performed congregationally in late-night hours, many people in neighbourhoods including the ill, infants, children, the elderly and many others are disturbed and deprived of night’s sleep for the largest part of the night if not throughout the night, for that matter.

Likewise, even though during Ramadan in particular, one is expected to be particularly diligent in his devotion and to gladly endure the attendant “stress” in order to earn the Pleasure of Allah the Almighty, imams are nevertheless expected to always consider that the congregation includes people of various endurance capacity and many others with other personal deficiencies that may not enable them endure more than necessary. After all, unnecessary stress distracts and undermines worshippers’ ability to maintain the momentum of their spiritual devoutness in prayers, which is the essence of prayers and all other worship rites in the first place.

Anyway, the imams were also advised to supplicate with the supplications derived from the holy Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah, which are uniquely encompassing and certainly much more eloquent and linguistically fascinating. By the way, when one prays alone or engages in any worship rites alone, he can go to any extent he can endure, of course within the limits of the Prophetic Sunnah.

Though directives like these can’t be realistically expected let alone enforced in a country like Nigeria due to the unregulated nature of religious affairs in the country, which reflects the general mess characterizing the country at large, yet the few relatively organized Muslim organizations, mosques, Islamic centres and even individual imams can regulate and harmonise their activities in light of these directives.

Besides, such regulations are particularly needed in Nigeria where the situation is even worse as many imams and Islamic scholars apparently regard Ramadan as a session to engage in a struggle to outshine one another, outperform one another in showing off their Qur’anic memorization and recitation skills in Taraweh and Tahajjud prayers and indeed compete in mobilizing bigger audiences attending or listening to their preaching sessions.