Ramadan offers chance to oppose extremism

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During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Muslims reflect on their faith as they conduct their daily fast from dawn until dusk in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which marks the anniversary of the revelation of the Islamic holy book, the Koran.

The end of the month of fasting is marked by Eid al-Fitr, which means the "festival of the breaking of the fast", which continues over several days.

The first day of Eid starts in the UK this Friday, beginning with morning prayers, followed by feasting and celebrations with family and friends.

Ramadan is also a time for charitable deeds, which for some Muslims in the US this year has meant helping raise funds to rebuild black churches in the American South that have been devastated by fire.

Imam Zaid Shakir, an Islamic scholar at California's Zaytuna College, explained why on one of the fundraising pages.

He wrote that the US Muslim community understood "the climate of racially inspired hate and bigotry that is being reignited in this country.

"We want to let our African American brothers and sisters know that we stand in solidarity with them during this dark hour."

Community division

However, that sense of some communities dividing increasingly along ethnic or religious lines is one that has also been felt in parts of Europe and the UK, not least as the self-styled Islamic State (IS) and other extreme Islamist groups continue to dominate the headlines, exacerbating concerns among non-Muslims over what Islam means for some of its younger followers today.

Some Islamic clerics around the world have used Ramadan as a chance to reflect publicly on how to reform the religious discourse within Islam to keep up with the challenges of 21st Century life, and to oppose extremism.

In Egypt and elsewhere, some Islamic scholars have discussed ways to renew the interpretation of the Koran, while in the United Arab Emirates, a popular American scholar of Islam warned that renewal was needed within Islam. Others stressed the necessity for a greater emphasis on tolerance of difference, mercy and mutual respect.

Those efforts to discuss religious reform to a faith followed by around 1.6 billion people, or a quarter of the world's population, are aimed in part at ensuring that extreme interpretations of Islamic tradition do not gain a greater following.

Militant violence has escalated in the Middle East and elsewhere with the spread of IS. Slick online propaganda appeals to some Muslims in Europe - and to rather more young people in countries such as Tunisia or Saudi Arabia - some of whom are attracted to its austere interpretation and claim to be the "real" Islam.

Gentle reforms

In January, the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi called for a revolution in Islam, saying that outdated interpretations had made the Muslim world a source of destruction.

However, others do not want a revolution within Islam but reinterpretations, or gentler reforms.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, American scholar Sheikh Hamza Yusuf urged a return to the core tenet of mercy in Islam, describing the religion as a house that had been neglected and was in need of renovation.

"The water taps aren't working, the plumbing's not working. The house is in disarray," he told the Associated Press.

"You don't destroy it, you don't set it aside. You renovate it."

He said Muslims should not oppose even strong reforms, nor feel that everything needed to be changed.

"Because of the urgency of the situation, some people are waking up... and thinking we better do something," he said.

Difficult times

Efforts to reform Islam are not new, and not everyone thinks they are necessary.

But many Muslims would agree that these are difficult times for Islam.

For centuries, Islamic theologians, legal experts, poets and scientists advanced not only their understanding of how Islam applied to their times, but also led global philosophical and legal debates, and discoveries in medicine and the sciences.

In the UK, a new Muslim video on-demand channel that launched earlier this year, focusing on Islamic life across the globe, hopes to aid better understanding of Islam in the 21st Century.

Alchemiya is the brainchild of two British Muslims, and offers documentaries and entertainment.

After the end of Ramadan, the channel will be looking for fresh funding to help it expand for a global Muslim audience.

London-based imam Ajmal Masroor, one of its co-founders, says its aim is to celebrate Islam.

"Unfortunately, Islamic hatred has become very fashionable or acceptable today, because the media has portrayed it in this way.

"Every time you switch on the television, it's something about Muslims or something about terrorism, and the two have become synonymous for some people.

"Our channel isn't a reaction to that - our channel is a challenge to it."

The channel's appeal is that unlike many other Muslim channels, it won't focus on news or politics, but seeks to serve a new demographic: global urban Muslims (Gummies) - the growing Muslim middle-classes.

Alchemiya's Navid Akhtar believes there is a real gap in that market, not least in Muslim majority countries such as Malaysia or Indonesia.

"They are really interested in what it means to be a Muslim dealing with the realities of 21st Century Islam.

"When I go there, they say, 'Wow, you're from London, you Muslims are so cool,' with the kind of creativity that comes out of London, the ideas we have here. There's an enormous demand for products coming out of Muslim London."

Ramadan:

During Ramadan Muslims endeavour to adhere to three types of worship: Sawm (fasting), Zakat (charity) and Salat (praying).

It was in the ninth month in AD610 when Muslims believe the Koran was first revealed by God to his messenger on Earth, the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims decided this event should be commemorated with a period dedicated to extra worship. The key tenet became fasting.

The first fast is believed to have occurred in AD624 when the Prophet Muhammad persuaded the residents of Medina, in modern-day Saudi Arabia, to forgo their food and give it to poor worshipers who had followed him from Mecca.

Muslims try to purify body and mind during Ramadan. Besides fasting from dawn to sunset, Muslims also abstain from sex, smoking and avoid gossip to concentrate on personal reflection and prayer.

When the sun has set, the fast is broken with friends and family, in a ceremony known as the iftar. After 30 days the end of Ramadan ushers in a festival known as Eid al-Fitr. This is when Muslims can collectively end their period of fasting with a celebratory party

Ramadan: What do I need to know?

The idea is for Alchemiya to show a different side of the modern Muslim world - one seen all too rarely on the news today.

For Navid Akhtar, this Ramadan has been a chance to establish a broader understanding with friends of what their faith means to Muslims today, in the West and elsewhere.

"Growing up, Ramadan was a very private affair for my family as immigrants from Pakistan, living in east London. My life was split into two between school, friends and my traditional Pakistani family, and never the twain did meet," he says.

"Thirty-five years later, what has changed? I now have close relationships with non-Muslim friends who are really aware of what Ramadan means to me.

"One of my partners at Alchemiya, David, has been fasting all month, despite being resolutely atheist, for no other reason than a human desire for empathy.

"He has called it his 'non-Muslim Ramadan' and it's a great example of how we in the UK are finding ways to understand each other, and go beyond the stereotypes."