The BBC thought of the day for September 1st 2008 featured Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad. It’s well worth a read/listen. After the Rihla, he has become one of my favourite thinkers ever ever.
The text can be found below, and the audio can be found here. If you search his name, his other appearances on this BBC programme come up as well. 
Thought for the Day, 1 September 2008
Abdal Hakim Murad
Good morning.
Today is Day One of the annual Muslim Challenge known as the month of Ramadan. It’s always a tough endurance event: no food or drink from dawn till dusk, and since God is the referee, cheating is not possible. So simple, but so compelling is the idea, that even people relaxed about the other duties of the faith make an effort. The result is that should you take a walk across London, tomorrow morning at about half-past three, you are likely to see lights on in about a tenth of the capital’s households. Those within are eating a very early breakfast, fortifying themselves for the rigours of the day ahead.
This might seem like a private Muslim eccentricity. But the Koranic verse which brought this commandment indicates that in fact there is nothing original about it. ‘O you who believe!’ it tells the Muslims, ‘Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was for those who came before you.’ And even the slightest study of most major religions will confirm that just about every faith, in one form or another, recognises the advantages of fasting.
But what, exactly, are the advantages? The same verse goes on to explain: we are to learn self-restraint. And this is, generally-speaking, the key benefit of fasting, recognised by most of the sages and saints of every religion. We have a tendency to binge, to splurge, to splash out; while religion wants us to be focussed on much higher things. Perfect stillness in meditation is not easy if one is able to reach for a doughnut. Tell the beast within that it must wait, and there is some chance that the soul will find the calm which it needs.
Nowadays we would probably call this ‘impulse control’. True, our secular age is often more worried about the health and beauty consequences of a supersized diet, than it is about the wellbeing of the soul. But even the most devoutly secular person will recognise that self-restraint is precious.
Yesterday, I returned to my endless conflict with the weeds in my garden. I know that when tackling the mortal enemy that is ground elder, or convolvulus, I have two options. Either I slice it off at ground level, which is quick, and fun, but allows it to reappear all too soon. Or I reach for the roots, which takes time and effort.
Weak human beings, Muslim or not, know that long training is needed before we gain the patience to uproot our tendency to crave and yearn for what is unnecessary. Fasting, in Ramadan, is a rigorous discipline, an opportunity to gain in self-restraint. We are unlikely to abolish the weeds in our souls, but when properly trained by this annual endurance event, we can keep them under control, and hope that, with God’s help, we can start to enjoy the experience of detachment.
copyright 2008 BBC
