“Allahumma Laka Sumtu Wa Ala Rizq-ika-Aftartu (O Allah! For You, I have fasted and upon Your provision, I have broken my fast),” murmured Udayan Moitra, a lecturer of management science at a private institution in the industrial city of Durgapur, while breaking his Ramadan fast at a local mosque with others.

For Udayan, a tireless youth in his 40s, it’s nothing new; rather, it’s become an inescapable practice of his life for 27 years. He said, “To love and devote my life to Allah, the Almighty, I never felt the need to alter my religion. I’ve been brought up in a disciplined and devoted Hindu family, and I’m equally cosy with Satyanarayan Puja and Lakshmi Puja at my home. Who said Allah is just for my Muslim brothers and sisters alone? I’m a firm believer in the country’s traditional ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb’—a composite culture of the central plains—and also would like to remain a strong believer in the cultural and spiritual coexistence that our ancestors had knitted with their utmost sincerity.” The same Udayan is seen chanting “Amrta-Upastaranam Asi” (You are the all-spreading immortality) while breaking his Ekadashi fasting after sprinkling water drops on food offered by his wife, Subhashree Banerjee, a Sanskrit teacher with a government girl’s school in Raniganj town. The same Subhashree has been preparing his attire for Eid Namaz since after their marriage in 2012.

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Like Udayan in his mid-40’s, Jayashree Shukla, a researcher of heritage structures in her mid-50’s in Delhi, comes from a Hindu Brahmin family and has been practising Ramadan fasting since 2014. She said, “I was working at the Jama Masjid in Delhi, and it was the month of Ramadan fasting. They offered me iftar plates brought from their home. I reciprocated the other day, and one day I felt like going for a fast with them, and this continued for several days. I felt quite fit even though I fasted, with certain positive changes both physically and mentally. Each year, I continue the practice during Ramadan.”

Is it really a fact that the Ramadan fast works well for health?

Apart from the hard-bitten religious pundits having their spiritual obligations and explanations, modern medical science has revealed how giving a break to the stomach may lead to a healthier life. According to medical experts, a month-long detox fast not only exploits the extensive use of fat reserves but also cleanses the human body of harmful toxins present in fat deposits. “With the month-long overhaul of the digestive system, the body detoxifies naturally, provided it’s followed properly. Many start taking food aggressively during Iftar, which I would, however, choose to break in further intermittent fasting for a much healthier practice,” suggested Dr Satyajit Bose, a leading cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon in Bengal. Ramadan fasting can have a significant impact on cardiac health as it reduces blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which helps lower inflammation and improve blood flow, the cardiology experts claimed.

Besides, Ramadan fasting invites an ‘autophagy’ – a cellular degradation and recycling process that is highly conserved in all cellular organisms—to destroy invading viruses and bacteria and also to get rid of damaged structures. In 2016, Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his discoveries on how cells recycle their content—the process of autophagy, incidentally. He insisted that fasting for 12 to 24 hours triggers autophagy and is taught to be one of the reasons that fasting is associated with longevity, improved blood sugar control, weight loss, and improved brain function.

How was the practice of Ramadan fasting introduced?

The word Ramadan is derived from the word Ramida (R-M-D), a classical Arabic root meaning scorching heat. It is believed to be one of the names of God in Islam, too. That’s why many Hadiths (mainstream schools of Islamic thought) suggest that it’s prohibited to utter only ‘Ramadan’; instead, in reference to the calendar month, it’s necessary to say the ‘month of Ramadan’.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the month when the Quran was revealed as a guide for humanity. It’s a month for fasting and the special Tarabi prayer practised worldwide by Muslims. Hazrat Muhammad is said to have received his first Quranic revelation on Laylat al-Qadr (one of the five odd-numbered nights that fall during the last 10 days of Ramadan).

A commemoration of Hazrat Muhammad’s first revelation, “Ramadan fasting from dawn to dusk is practised annually as one of the Five Pillars of Islam from one sighting of the crescent moon to another,” said Professor Saifullah, HOD, Bengali of the Aliah University, Kolkata. “It’s introduced to realise how the poor have-nots suffer due to prolonged hunger.” It’s obligatory for all adult Muslims who are not sick, over-aged, travellers, breastfeeding, pregnant, or diabetic.

Muslims take a pre-dawn meal termed Sehri or Suhur for a commitment to fasting for the day till the sunset. The fasting breaks immediately after sunset with a brief feast called Iftar. Qari Fazlur Rehman, who has been performing as the Eden Imam (chief leader) of Eid Namaz in Red Road, Kolkata, for 30 years, explained: “Muslims were first commanded to fast in the second year of Hijri (624 CE) when Hazrat Muhammad returned back from Mecca to Madina.” The practice of fasting, however, was evident prior to that, when the pre-Islamic pagans of Mecca fasted on the tenth day of Muharram (one of the four sacred months of the Islamic calendar when warfare is banned).

(Photographs by Biswajit Ghoshal at Tipu Sultan Mosque, Kolkata)