Ramadan: A Month About Much More Than Fasting
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2023
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ramadan Mubarak! We check in with people of the Muslim community, their intentions, traditions and plans for making the most of this holy month.
Ramadan has begun, which means that close to two billion people worldwide will be abstaining from food and water from sunrise to sunset. But Ramadan is about much more than fasting. It is one of the most sacred periods for Muslims. The vastly diverse global community of Muslims spends the month of Ramadan exploring the deeper and personal meaning of their faith. It is also a time for the community to practice generosity–to themselves and others.
To celebrate and learn more about this holiday, host Kai Wright speaks to Ahmed Ali Akbar, a James Beard award-winning writer and the host of the Crooked Media podcast Radiolingo. Akbar is also the creator and host of See Something Say Something, a podcast focused on the Muslim American experience. Together, they explore how Ramadan celebrations can evolve over time and take calls from listeners who are celebrating.
We also hear from producer Rahima Nasa about her plans for Ramadan from trying new recipes to learning about different Islamic cultures. You can follow her celebration on our Instagram @noteswithkai. She’ll be posting weekly throughout the month.
Companion listening for this episode:
Face the Darkness, Welcome the Light (12/20/2021)
Do you need a revival? On the longest night of the year, join us to celebrate Yalda, a poetic Persian tradition.
“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.
We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter @noteswithkai or email us at notes@wnyc.org.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Are you celebrating Ramadan? |
| 0:03.6 | I am. |
| 0:04.6 | What is significant about Ramadan, Timo? |
| 0:07.2 | Ramadan is the month that we celebrate mostly as self-discipline, so when you don't |
| 0:13.4 | eat or drink for a long time in sake of being innocent, God, it's a test. |
| 0:19.2 | You got to a world power struggle, but the practice comes with its own reward. |
| 0:24.5 | It's just getting closer to God and forgiveness and just reflection and being a better person. |
| 0:31.3 | That's what the whole month is about. |
| 0:32.9 | It's about coming back to your core, coming back to the religion and sort of reaffirming |
| 0:38.6 | everything. |
| 0:39.8 | That means, as a lot, that's, that's each of us how to be very disciplined, that's |
| 0:44.2 | and that's reflects on our work life and everything. |
| 0:47.3 | We say, you know, you think God for everything. |
| 0:54.5 | It's notes from America, I'm Kai Wright and Ramadan bark. |
| 1:15.8 | It's the first week of Ramadan, so that means as many as 2 billion people all over the |
| 1:21.6 | world are abstaining from food and water when the sun is out, and when the sun sets, |
| 1:27.0 | they'll take their first bite of food together, which is such a powerful idea to me. |
| 1:33.4 | But the month is, of course, about much more than fasting. |
| 1:36.5 | It's about being generous with yourself and with others, and given the fact that the Muslim |
| 1:41.9 | community is just wildly diverse, the traditions and rituals that emphasize this idea of generosity |
| 1:48.6 | are often informed by local realities. |
| 1:51.7 | As people move around and grow with their families, they often start their own traditions |
... |
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