Aruba Obeid: "Imagine yourself swimming ... and you call out for help"

At this point in the month of fasting, most Muslims are past the initial focus on the nagging physical need for food and drink. The fast is a daily and even an hourly struggle, but the immediate effect of giving up daytime coffee now is past, for example. There’s a pace of the month that includes a deeper attention to spiritual reflection. Aruba Obeid, a pharmacist shown at right with two of her children, talks about these deeper themes of the fast:
    Ramadan really is not about food—or the lack of food. It is a fast, but the point of it is to think about so much more than food. It’s about humbling. It’s a time of purification. Ramadan teaches us patience.
    It’s almost as though Ramadan greets us each year, like a gift of God coming to us, a time of the year when we remember our purpose in life once again. Imagine yourself swimming, perhaps, and you’re in trouble and you call out for help. Well, Ramadan is like that – a helping hand that comes to us each year from God.
    It’s a misconception that this is a hard thing, an uncomfortable thing. We not only welcome Ramadan—but Ramadan welcomes us. This season surrounds you. You taste this season. You move in this season in a new way. You can feel the experience every day as God holds you and shows you the way to move forward in a good way in your life.
    Ramadan is a time of great happiness and unity. We feel energetic and excited even as we are humbling ourselves throughout the month. It’s as though God is telling us we’ve got another opportunity to learn how to live as good people. God is saying to us: Yes, you can be more humble. You can be more patient. You can be more kind. You can help the poor. Ramadan is about everything except being self-centered.
    Ramadan is when we all are reminded who we need to be within a larger community. Ramadan is all about sharing with others.

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