Eugene weekly., November 06, 2003, Page 12, Image 12

A Jihad
against
the Self
M uslims observe holy
I
By Kaukab Jhumra Smith
slip off my shoes at the threshold of the Abu-Bakr As-Siddiq
Islamic Center, lining them up alongside pairs of varying
sizes. A handwritten notice on the door urges people to leave
their shoes outside: “This is a house of worship,” it says. I follow
Abdullah Al-Heymare, the slight, voluble owner of Crescent
Autos, inside the only mosque in Eugene. It is my first time here.
With an aging coat of pale pistachio paint, the Islamic Center
on West Broadway looks like a well-worn family home. The front
yard boasts fig trees and rose bushes, and on the porch two small
children in crocheted white caps try to entice a cat out from be-
hind a chair to play.
Abdullah leads me through a well-laid out facility: a spacious
kitchen, and a slightly dusty library stacked with books and tapes.
We go through a rec room of sorts, where the two little kids have
begun a game of ping-pong. Worn cushy couches group together
on the room’s other side, and pictures of Muslim holy sites line
the wall. The sparse prayer room, carpeted in cream, holds a sin-
gle bookshelf in the corner. No other furniture is required, as con-
gregations pray on the floor. Today is Friday, the holy day of the
week, and we are here for afternoon Jummah prayers.
This is also the last Friday before the beginning of Ramadan,
the ninth and holiest month of the Muslim lunar calendar. When a
pale new crescent appears in North American skies, Ramadan in
Eugene will begin: This year, it started on Monday, Oct. 27.
Ramadan is the month when a billion Muslims around the
12 NOVEMBER 6, 2003
Patrick Delinde Smith
month of fasting and
introspection.
world undertake a “jihad against the self,” refraining from food,
drink, sex and all negative or hurtful actions, from dawn to dusk.
A three-day celebration called Eid-ul-Fitr — coinciding nicely
with Thanksgiving this year — will crown their month-long exer-
cise in self-discipline.
M
uslims believe Ramadan marks the month that God
unveiled the first verses of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy
book, to the prophet Mohammad. It’s a striking
story: As Mohammad meditated and fasted in a cave on Mount
Hira outside Mecca, a strong force gripped his chest and com-
manded him “Recite!” Frightened, Mohammad refused, saying
he did not know how. The force, the angel Gabriel, squeezed him
again, commanding “Recite!” Mohammed again refused. The
third time, Mohammad found himself reciting Arabic verses com-
manding worship of the God who created each human from an
embryo. Initially unwilling, Mohammad became God’s messen-
ger, and so “Al-Qur’an” literally translates as “The Recitation” of
God’s word.
More than 12 years later, Mohammad received a revelation
making Ramadan a month of fasting.
O believers, fasting is prescribed to you
as it was prescribed to those before you,
so that you might learn self-restraint.
Stressing that God does not wish believers undue hardship, the
verses lay out certain conditions: If you are traveling, sick, preg-
nant, nursing or menstruating, you are not required to fast. Once
able, you can make up a missed fast any other day of the year, or if
still unable, feed a poor person in lieu of each missed fast.
This Friday before Ramadan, Talal Al Rahbi, a Lane County
employee and graduate student in public policy, refers to these
Qur’anic verses as he leads the mosque’s congregation. Like
everywhere else, Muslims here often take turns leading prayers as
Islam maintains no clergy.
In his sermon, Al Rahbi emphasizes that the concept of
Ramadan extends far beyond foregoing food and drink. Fasting is
a jihad al-nafs — a struggle against the self, the original spirit of
jihad in the Qur’an. Often misunderstood to mean “holy war,”
jihad means to strive in God’s cause, not by fighting with arms,
but by positive action. And so, to fast during Ramadan means to
strive for discipline not just over your hunger but also over im-
pulses such as anger, dishonesty, laziness, gossip and prejudice.
“Allah does not need you to leave your food and drink (if) you do
the same bad things as before,” says Al Rahbi.
After a month of such self-restraint, Abdullah Al-Heymare
tells me, your conscience continues its fast through the year.
A
s difficult as fasting can be, some Muslims thrive in its
challenge of constant self-awareness from the dawn
meal of sahoor to the sunset meal of iftar.
“I find that I can think much more deeply,” says Maryam Rankin,
a retiree who converted to Islam 17 years ago. “I don’t know how to