Ahmad Chaar: "Putting ourselves in others' shoes ..."

Ahmad Chaar is a business analyst, one of many young Muslim professionals whose worldviews are shaped by Islam toward a compassionate concern for the needy. He talks about Ramadan as a time of trying to appreciate the experiences of other people — and he points out that even his Christian friends sometimes forget the deep connections between these religious experiences. Here are Ahmad’s words:

    Ramadan is a time of putting ourselves in each other’s shoes.
    If you’re Christian, you can put yourself in our shoes. I get questions about the fast from people who are Christians and I explain to them: You know, fasting isn’t new to Christians. It’s in your faith as well.
    Inwardly, during Ramadan, I’m increasing my closeness to the Lord throughout the month. But I’m also increasing my awareness of the needs of other people in the world.
    My Mom would say this to me when we break the fast at night: “Ahmad, be thankful for this meal, because you fasted all day — and then there was this meal for you. In so many places around the world, when the day is done and people are hungry, they have no meal. Their hunger and their thirst goes on.”
    One of the most important things that I get out of the fast is thankfulness to God. Most of the year, we forget how many blessings we receive each day. Most of the time in our lives, we tend to focus on luxury and pleasure in our lives, thinking about what we want to have. Then, in Ramadan we take some of our basic necessities away. We become hungry and thirsty to the point that our mouths are dry and we feel the effects. Now, luxury and pleasure take the back burner. We’re now thinking on a deeper level.
    Do you realize that, if you have a cup of clean water to drink, you’re doing better than half of the people in the world. There’s a 50-50 chance in the world that we will be born into the half of the world with clean water to drink. I’m nowhere near as aware of that as I should be, but Ramadan makes me think about this again.
    And we’ve got so many more resources than just clean water! We should be thankful for what we have in life, but we also should remember all the needy people who do not have such blessings. We need to share with them.

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