Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

H i s to r i cal Introduction and Overv i e w 7lim paradigm of viewing Islam in terms of two related sets of obligations:those to God (hablun min Allah) and those to one’s fellow human beings(hablun min al-nas). It is in the latter that one can most clearly recognize somethingof the potential social import of zakat for Muslim societies. In fact, sincethe 1990s, progressive reinterpretations of zakat have been advanced by suchMuslim thinkers as the Indonesian Masdar F. Mas’udi in attempts to realizethe potential of this third pillar of Islam as an instrument of social justice(Mas’udi 1993).The actual transferal of resources associated with z a k a t are guided by a complexof Islamic legal rulings and also vary according to local practice across differentMuslim societies. In many communities, however, Muslims make a paymentof z a k a t during the last days of the Islamic lunar month of Ramadhan.That month is also the annual occasion for observing the fourth pillar of Islam,s a w m . At a minimum, s a w m entails abstaining from all food, drink, andother physical pleasures such as smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset eachday of the month of Ramadhan. Beyond this, however, most Muslims stress theinterior dimensions of the fast as being just as important as the physical discipline.For example, one will often hear Muslim sermons during Ramadhanthat expound upon the need to control one’s emotive states as much as one’ssensual appetites—especially since some people may be a bit crankier thanusual due to hunger or caffeine deprivation.Despite such restrictions, however, Ramadhan is a very special time in Muslimcommunities, an occasion for both pious devotion and pleasant camaraderie.After sunset each day, people gather in homes and mosques to breakthe fast together. These nightly communal meals are often followed by prayers,readings from the Qur’an, and discussions of religious and other topics, althoughthe foods eaten and the nature of conversations vary considerablyacross Muslim communities. The end of Ramadhan is marked with great celebration,with round after round of visits and feasting with family and friendsbeginning immediately after prayers on the first morning of the next month.These end-of-Ramadhan celebrations are one of the two major annual festivalsof the Islamic lunar calendar. The other is observed at the culmination of theformal rites of the h a j j .H a j j , the fifth pillar, is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca during the lunarmonth Dhu’l-Hijja. Muslims consider it a good thing to visit Mecca at any timeof the year, but only a pilgrimage during the appointed season is recognized ash a j j . For more than fourteen centuries, the annual rites of the h a j j h a v ebrought Muslims from different regions to Mecca to worship together as ac o m m u n i t y. Over the centuries, as Islam expanded beyond the Arabian peninsulaand out of the Middle East, the pilgrimage brought together Muslimsfrom widely diverse regions and cultures, helping foster ties between geographicallyfar-flung areas of the Muslim world and cultivating a sense of com-