By Anna Piela
As bomb strikes on Rafah continue, Muslims continue to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.
One of the five pillars of Islam, along with the expression of faith, prayer, almsgiving, and pilgrimage, the practice of fasting during Ramadan marks the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s first receiving of the Quran. This holy month is observed by fasting and abstaining from intercourse from sunrise to sunset (young children, the elderly, the sick, pregnant women and travelers are exempt from the fast).
The fast is usually broken in a family or community setting, with a sumptuous meal called the iftar. Ramadan is a month of celebration: Muslim families decorate their homes with lanterns and crescent ornaments and send “Ramadan Mubarak” greeting cards. It is a time of generosity and togetherness.
Ramadan in the midst of Israeli attacks
This year, Ramadan celebrations have been marred with deep sorrow by Muslims worldwide. As of March 18, the death toll in Gaza is more than 30,000 (including over 13,000 children). The number of injured is well over 70,000 (including more than 8,000 children.) This year, those Palestinians in Gaza who have survived relentless Israeli bombing and shelling are starving, so they are unable to celebrate Ramadan intentionally through fasting, nor are they able to break the fast in any celebratory way.
Sahar Khamis, a scholar of Islam and digital communication at the University of Maryland, wrote on her Facebook page: “Let’s keep in mind, as we start these holy 30 days of spiritual uplifting, that while fasting is a voluntary choice for millions of Muslims during these days as a religious observance, famine is a forced condition which threatens millions worldwide in war-torn conflict areas, including Gaza.”
In the Islamic tradition, fasting is a clear way to show sincere thanksgiving for Allah’s bounty. It is also a practice that helps people to develop empathy—those who experience hunger and thirst themselves are keener to support the needy.
However, with the constant military bombardment of Gaza and withholding of humanitarian aid, many Gazans are unable to fast intentionally, and they are unable to break the fast in a joyful manner. In this sense, they are deprived of more than sustenance: they are robbed of a spiritual experience of connecting to God, dispossessed of joy, hope, and religious agency.
Spiritual violence near and afar
This spiritual violence is not spoken of in the media; it does not seem as urgent as the bodily and material harm Israel is causing. Yet, religious agency is important to many Palestinian Muslims, even under these horrific conditions. I have seen photos of families breaking fast with grass soup, a far cry from the typical filling iftar meal. This year, they are forced to risk their lives to procure food at a time when food simultaneously represents survival and religious practice.
While it continues to be important for Palestinian Muslims to celebrate Ramadan—it is a symbol of hope and resistance—it has been very difficult for years. Although this year’s suffering in Gaza is extreme, the month of Ramadan has been a time of mourning in Gaza even before the current round of Israeli atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Ramadan-themed attacks on Gaza have followed similar patterns over the years, explains Isaam Adwan in the Middle East Eye: the Israeli government blocks Muslim worshippers’ access to Jerusalem’s holy sites or issues eviction orders to forcibly remove Palestinians from their homes, as it did in Sheikh Jarrah and many other villages. Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza respond to these provocations by protesting at the eastern borders, launching incendiary balloons, or firing homemade rockets, which are greeted with savage bombings of densely populated locations.
Furthermore:
- During Ramadan 2014, Israel bombed Gaza for 52 days, killing 2,251 Palestinian. Half of them were women and children.
- During Ramadan 2021, Israel bombed Gaza for two weeks, killing 256 Palestinians. A quarter of them were children.
If, as Israel threatens, its invasion of Rafah, a refugee camp with 57,276 people per square mile, commences during Ramadan, it will become a humanitarian disaster.
Spiritual violence in the United States
As Gazans are struggling to survive, subsisting on canned food from aid, supplemented by animal feed flour and grass soup, American Muslims grapple with making meaning of this important Islamic holiday at a time of crisis.
In a Zoom interview, A.N., a Palestinian American who asked to remain anonymous, told me about his fear for his parents and extended family who are in central Gaza. “I haven’t spoken with them for 120 days now,” he said. “I don’t know if they are alive. I know for certain that they don’t have access to medicine they both need.” A.N.’s experience of Ramadan this year has been bitter. “I have never before felt guilty about breaking fast. This year, I feel guilty putting food in my mouth, knowing that my family may not have anything to eat.”
At an interfaith iftar I prayed at two weeks ago at the Muslim Cultural Center in Morton Grove, Ill., speakers reflected on their experience of Ramadan and how different it is from others. Nour Abdelmonem said that this year, watching the news from Gaza, she became sharply aware of the abundance that she enjoys, an abundance that others do not have.
Fatimah Musa, a Palestinian student and poet, wearing a traditional embroidered Palestinian dress called thobe that was passed down to her from her grandmother, pleaded that people look beyond the headlines and see real people suffering from war and famine. “They are not numbers,” she reminded the attendees.
All of them, however, also spoke of hope and resistance. “We come together to stand with our Palestinian siblings, but we also express our hope for a just and peaceful future for all,” said Asif Masood, chair of the Interfaith & Outreach Committee at MCC.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), once said: “When the month of Ramadan begins, the gates of heaven are opened; the gates of Hellfire are closed, and the devils are chained.” (Sahih Bukhari 1800)
May it be so in Gaza and all other war-torn places.
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Rev. Dr. Anna Piela is a scholar of gender, Islam, and new media affiliated with the Department of Religion at Northwestern University. Rev. Dr. Piela is an ordained American Baptist USA minister who serves as the senior writer at American Baptist Home Mission Societies and the associate editor of The Christian Citizen magazine. She also serves as the co-associate regional minister for white and multicultural churches in the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago region.
Rev. Dr. Piela writes about Christianity, Islam, women in ministry, and interfaith issues for religion-focused media outlets, including the Religion News Service, Sojourners, The Revealer, and Religion and Politics. Her work has been cited in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Muslim Girl. You can learn more about her on her website: annapiela.com