This past week was the start of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. For 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, Ramadan involves not only prayer but also sunrise-to-sundown fasting and nightly feasting. While the pandemic has resulted in increased precautions at holy sites and mosques and in family homes, the fundamentals of this month remain the same. Let us take a few minutes to examine not just Islam but the broader sociological topic of religion.
Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, is a monotheistic religion, meaning that its followers worship a single god. Like the other two religions, Islam has its notions of the sacred, things set apart and requiring special religious treatment, and the profane, ordinary and familiar realm of everyday existence. The Qurʾān is the sacred text for Muslims, and as such, it should be handled with respect. This is different from how you would handle a school textbook or a tabloid magazine. In fact, all religions with sacred texts prescribe how to handle and even dispose of them. In addition to religious texts, physical spaces can also be sacred. The holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia are sacred cities. Non-Muslims cannot visit Mecca and are restricted in certain parts of Medina. While nonbelievers may scoff at these restrictions or even violate them, it is important to remember that the followers of the religion are the ones who get to decide what is sacred and what is profane in their religion, not outsiders or nonbelievers.
In addition to the notions of sacred and profane, religions also have beliefs, ideas generally held to be true within society. Not surprisingly, the beliefs of one religion may be radically different from another. Even within the same religion, there may be different branches with very distinct belief systems. Under Islam, the branches are Sunni, Shi’a, Ibadi, Ahmadiyya, and Sufism. These branches can be subdivided further into various sects. The behaviors or practices in these branches and sects may vary from one another. What often doesn’t vary is the strong sense of solidarity or belonging the adherents feel toward their particular group. Note, in this context, solidarity refers to group unity and does not necessarily imply fundamentalism, a strict adherence to conservative religious ideology. One can have a powerful sense of belonging to any group of any ideological strip — whether conservative, liberal, or somewhere in between.
This sense of belonging brings up a good point. We often think that belief is the core requirement for religious adherence. In fact, according to Durkheim, the solidarity or group unity people feel toward their religion is not simply about the beliefs they share but also the practices or rituals they engage in. Sociologically, this speaks to the notion of religiosity, the beliefs and behaviors associated with transcendent or spiritual concerns. During Ramadan, these practices include the suḥūr or predawn meal, abstaining from food and even water throughout the day, ifṭār the communal meal that breaks the daily fast, and prayers throughout the day. These rituals, in conjunction with beliefs, not only strengthen Muslims’ connection to God but also to Islam and each other.
Thompson is a co-owner of UITAC Publishing. UITAC’s mission is to provide high-quality, affordable, and socially responsible online course materials.
Images used in this blog:
- Photo From Wikimedia Commons by openclipart: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Ramadan_kareem.svg/.This image has not been altered.
- Photo From Wikimedia Commons by مريم خالد الرواحي: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A9.jpg/.This image has not been altered.
