Lesson video

Hello there, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marx, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're going to be doing all about the Muslim practise of of sawm, which is fasting during Ramadan, and it's one of the five pillars.

It's also in the 10 obligatory acts, and it's a very important practise within Islam, and we're going to be using theology as one of our disciplines for this, as well as using social science.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson today, you'll be able to explain how and why Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan.

So let's start with our key terms, fasting, not doing certain actions such as eating or drinking.

Iftar, a meal in the evenings, which is the breaking of the fast for that day during the month of Ramadan.

Night of Power, the night that the first revelation of the Qur'an came to Prophet Muhammad.

And Ramadan, a month when Muslims take part in an obligatory fast.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So our lesson today will have two sections, sawm, fasting during Ramadan, and the importance of sawm.

So let's start with our first section then, sawm, fasting during Ramadan.

What are some of the hardest things that people might do? What could be the hardest possible thing for people to do? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, Lucas, Izzy and Alex have also been thinking about this question and here's what they've come up with, I wonder if it's the same as you.

Lucas says, "Learning a brand new language could be really hard, learning a whole new way to speak." And Izzy says, "Running an ultra marathon in the heat," she thinks that would be the hardest thing of like running in the heat.

And Alex says, "Speaking in front of hundreds of people," maybe he's very shy and he doesn't feel like he could speak out in front of hundreds of people and he would find that very hard.

While some people could say that fasting in Ramadan is the hardest thing that they would do, and when we look at what fasting is in Ramadan, maybe you would agree.

What does fasting involve then this fasting during Ramadan? Well, fasting involves abstaining, which means not doing or not having.

And this is between sunrise and sunset for the 29 to 30 days of the Islamic month of Ramadan.

Many Muslims also make extra efforts to avoid negative actions for the entire month, like swearing, smoking, gossiping, or lying, so these are things that Muslims might know are kind of wrong all the time, but they might make that extra effort not to do that during the month of Ramadan.

Why might fasting during the month of Ramadan encourage a listen to stop doing these things? Pause the video and have a think and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, for many Muslims, Ramadan is a time of having renewed discipline and commitment to the faith, so it's a time when you can also kick other habits that you might want to.

So why would Muslims fast for the month of Ramadan then? We're gonna look to a source of authority, which is the Qur'an, which is the ultimate source of authority in Islam and see what it says in here, and this is in Surah 2.

"O, you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you that you may become righteous.

Ramadan is the month in which the Qur'an is revealed, whoever of you witnesses this month shall fast it." So where does this passage instruct Muslims to perform sawm, which is fasting during Ramadan, and what's special about the month of Ramadan? So pause the video and have a think, you can reread it and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we have here, "fasting is prescribed for you," so it's something that you should do, if you get a prescription from the doctor, it's what you should do to get healthy.

And it's special because the first revelations of the Qur'an happened during this month.

Fasting is an instruction to follow and the Qur'an is revealed for the first time during this month.

What else does it say in the Qur'an about fasting during Ramadan then? We have here in Surah 2, "Eat and drink until the white streak of dawn can be distinguished from the black streak and then complete the fast until night fall." So it's to do with being able to eat and drink during the nighttime, but not during the daytime.

So when the night falls, Muslims can eat and drink again.

What does this passage instruct Muslims to do? Reread it, and you can pause the video and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

We have this idea of fasting between dawn and nightfall, don't we? Eat and drink before dawn and then fast until nightfall, well done.

Many Muslims will eat a large meal before sunrise and break their fast with an Iftar meal.

So there might be a large meal before the sun goes up so get up early to have a good healthy breakfast.

And then, again, as the sun falls, when it's nighttime, Muslims can break their fast with the Iftar meal.

There's many reasons why someone might not be able to fast though.

So, yes, this is prescribed for Muslims to do, we've just seen it written there in the Qur'an.

But there are exemptions from this, which means it's times when people don't have to fast.

And these can include if someone's a young child, if they're elderly, if they're sick, if they're pregnant, if they're nursing infants, if they're menstruating, and if they're travelling long distances.

So within Islam, you have these allowances and these exceptions.

So it's not supposed to be kind of impossibly hard or detrimental to your health.

So all these different categories of people could be exempt.

Sawm, however, does take great dedication and discipline to complete.

It's not supposed to be impossibly hard, so, yes, it is supposed to be sort of difficult because it's a discipline and it's something that shows a commitment and a dedication.

Those things are always kind of hard, aren't they? But it's not supposed to be impossibly hard.

So why do we know this then? Well, there's two sources of authority which can support this.

We've got here in Surah 2 again, "God doesn't burden any soul beyond its capacity," so it's not supposed to be too much for someone to cope with.

And also, in the Hadith, which is the sayings that the Prophet Muhammad said or things that he did, it says, "Facilitate things to people concerning religious matters, do not make it hard for them," so not to make it sort of impossibly difficult and hard to follow, it's something that people should be able to come to and be able to do, even if it does take effort.

If someone is unable to keep their fast, they can fast on days after Ramadan.

Some scholars support Muslims paying a ransom to feed those who can't afford food for days missed.

So there is a diversity in view around how people can make up those days, and often Muslims might choose to sort of make up the days by fasting after Ramadan is finished.

Let's do a quick check, which three of the following are exemptions from fasting during Ramadan? If you're tired, if you're sick, if you're pregnant, if you're travelling a long distance, which three of these could be exemptions from fasting during Ramadan? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, it's the last three, if you're sick, if you're pregnant, if you're travelling a long distance.

If you're tired doesn't really count as an exemption unless you're kind of extremely sick at the same time.

Well done.

So the month of Ramadan moves through the calendar year each year.

So the Islamic months of the year start when each new moon is seen and Ramadan starts when a new moon is spotted, so the days are not always known beforehand.

Many Muslims will follow the religious leaders within their community to know when the moon has been sighted, and this can differ between different branches and groups, depending where the person who's watching for the moon is located in the world.

As the Islamic calendar also has 11 days less than the Gregorian calendar, the month of Ramadan moves through different seasons over time.

This means that every 33 years, Ramadan will fall at the same part of the year.

This means that countries like the UK, the hours of fasting for Ramadan during summer will be much longer than the hours of fasting in the winter.

And in a way, it means that it changes from year to year.

Let's do another check.

Ramadan is always on the same dates each year in the Gregorian calendar, so the calendar that we have most of our dates set in the United Kingdom, is it always on the same dates in the year? Pause the video and have a think and we'll sit you down in a moment.

That is false, isn't it? But why? Well, it's false because the Islamic months are lunar months and the Islamic year is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year.

Ramadan therefore moves 11 days a year and it takes 33 years before it's back on the same dates again.

Well done.

So what is it about Ramadan that makes it so special then? Why is the fasting such a special thing to do during this month? Well, the first revelations of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad on what is now celebrated as the Night of Power, or sometimes known as Laylat al-Qadr.

The Prophet Muhammad was reflecting in the cave of Hira during the month of Ramadan as he didn't wanna take part in the idolatry and polytheism that the others were doing at the Kaaba.

Jibril the angel appeared to him and told him, "Recite," and after protesting twice that he couldn't read, Prophet Muhammad recited what is now known as Surah 96, The Clot.

This marked the beginning of the revelations of the Qur'an, which continued for 23 years.

This is celebrated by many Muslims during the last 10 days of Ramadan in remembrance of that event.

Muslims may attend the mosque to worship, pray and read the Qur'an.

Some Muslims believe that prayers and worship offered in this night are more special than others, as it says in the Qur'an in Surah 97, "The Night of Decree, Power, is better than a thousand months." So let's look at a source of authority, the Qur'an, to understand the Night of Power a little bit more then.

So the Night of Power, which is sometimes known as Laylat al-Qadr or al-Qadr.

It says, "Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot.

Read and your Lord is the most generous, he who taught by the pen taught man what he never knew." So this is sometimes referred to as "The Clot" Surah 96, the first revelation of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad.

So what is important about this passage? What word is linked to reciting the Qur'an? And what does this passage tell Muslims about God? Think about those three questions and reread this passage.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we've got here, read and created and then read again and the fact that God is generous.

The word read in Arabic is iqra, which is related to the word Qur'an, which is the name of the book that we're talking about here.

And this was the first revelation of the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad.

And it reminds Muslims about the nature of Allah as the most generous and the creator.

So Sofia and Andeep are discussing how this source revealed on the Night of Power might support Muslims performing sawm during Ramadan.

Sofia says, "Muslims believe the first revelations of the Qur'an started during the month of Ramadan when the Prophet Muhammad was alone in the cave of Hira.

Angel Jibril told him to recite this passage." And Andeep says, "Well, the Qur'an says, 'In the name of your Lord who created you from a clot,' which reminds Muslims that Allah is the omnipotent creator of humans.

Fasting during Ramadan can help Muslims to be more focused on Allah and have more spiritual discipline." And what I really like about both of their answers here is they've said where their source is from and that is the Qur'an.

Well done, Sofia and Andeep.

Let's do another check.

When is the Night of Power celebrated by Muslims in Ramadan? When is it celebrated? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, it's during the last 10 nights of the month.

Let's do a practise task to see what we've learned.

We're gonna use this image as a prompt to explain how and why Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan.

Use the words in the table in your answer, your words to use are Ramadan, daylight, food, drink, exemptions, lunar, 33, and recite.

So you've got lots of words to use there as you're explaining how and why Muslims fast during Ramadan.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done for your work there.

So your response might look something like this.

"Fasting during Ramadan is known as sawm, and this is when Muslims will not eat or drink anything in the hours of daylight.

There are some exemptions from this, for example, if someone's pregnant or sick.

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, which means the month of Ramadan starts when the new moon is sighted.

This month moves through the Gregorian calendar and will not be the exact same dates again for 33 years.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate the Night of Power when the Prophet Muhammad received the first revelations of the Qur'an in the cave of Hira and Jibril told him to recite." Well done, so onto our second section then, the importance of sawm.

So I said at the start of the lesson that we were going to be social scientists today, as well as being theologians and we can use social science to better understand how and why people perform these different practises, and we're gonna think about that with sawm now.

And one tool that social scientists use is surveys.

And in 2012 and 2024, Pew research conducted some surveys into fasting in different countries.

Who do you think they surveyed and what do you think they asked? Pause the video and have a think, you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, one survey asked all residents of the United States if they fasted for religious reasons.

So this is asking everyone in the country if they fasted, not just one particular group.

The other survey asked Muslim residents of countries with large Muslim populations if they fasted for Ramadan.

So one survey is more general, everyone in the population in one country, the other survey is asking many different countries and the Muslims living within those countries.

Can you predict what some of the findings might be? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, in 2024, Pew research took a sample of people across the whole of the United States, so getting people from all different religious backgrounds, asking if they ever fasted for any sort of period during holy times.

So if for them, connected to their religion, they fasted.

And here's the responses.

We've got here Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Catholic, and then all US adults who were surveyed.

Which religious group has the highest percentage of members who fast then? So pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So here we can see the Muslim respondents had the highest percentage of people who said that they fasted for periods during holy times.

Then, the next we've got some high percentages from Jewish and Catholic Christians, and then other Christians, and then it's all much higher than the kind of average for the US adults who were surveyed.

Now perhaps this is connected to the fact that, within Islam, sawm or fasting is one of the five pillars and it's an obligatory fast, whereas fasting might not be as obligatory within the other religious traditions.

Now this set of data is from Pew research as well from 2012, and this is where they survey people across a whole range of different countries that have large Muslim minorities or Muslim majority, so quite large populations of Muslims living in that country and asking them different things about their practises.

And so, they were asked whether they attended the mosque every week and also whether they fasted during Ramadan, and also if they thought religion was important in their life.

So this is a way of seeing if someone thinks religion's important in their life, are they showing this in different practises? If so, which ones perhaps? Or is there a connection between them? And I've chosen four of the countries for this data that I think are particularly interesting for us.

So if you can look at this, can you spot anything interesting from this data, like any differences between the columns and why that might be? Pause the video and have a think and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, first of all, let's think, which question had the highest response for each country? Which one is highest for all of those countries? I got Egypt, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Albania, which was the highest for all of them? Pause the video and have a think and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, each time there seems to be a higher commitment to fasting during Ramadan than even going to the mosque each week, which is also seen as an obligatory act for Muslim men.

So there's something about fasting maybe that people connect with more or they feel like they're able to do more.

And even we've got countries where people have got quite a lower rate of saying religion is important to them, and yet they're managing to do this fast for Ramadan, which we've seen can take a real commitment and discipline.

Religion being important and mosque attendance doesn't always correlate to performing sawm, it's not always gonna be the same so maybe some people feel more able to fast or they feel a stronger obligation to fast than those other things.

So if we take Albania as an example here, we've got a very low percent of people attending the mosque each week, but a very high percentage of people fasting for Ramadan.

Could that be that there's less mosques around? Could it be there's less access to mosques? Could it be that people just aren't going to them? I'd be very interested to understand this data a little bit more.

Similarly for Kazakhstan, that rate of fasting during sawm is much higher than the rate of people going to the mosque each week.

So let's do a quick check.

Which country from the four we were looking at had the greatest difference between those attending the mosque each week and those fasting during Ramadan? Pause the video and have a go, we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done, it was Albania with that big difference between people attending the mosque and fasting during Ramadan.

So Sofia and Andeep are discussing now how that Pew research data can help us to better understand the importance of sawm to Muslims. Sofia says, "The research shows the majority of Muslims in the US take part in some fasting, which could be during Ramadan.

This was a much higher rate compared to other religious groups in the US." And Andeep says, "The research also shows that in some countries, whilst not all Muslims say that religion is very important to them, many do complete sawm, which takes a lot of dedication and discipline." Now performing sawm is important for Muslims for many reasons as we.

So we saw it's very important for Muslims in the United States who are fasting and then also the four other countries that we looked at.

So performing sawm is important for Muslims for many different reasons.

So it is obligatory and we know it's part of the five pillars and the 10 obligatory acts, it can build discipline because for that whole month, you are having to train yourself not to eat and not to drink during those daylight hours.

It can build empathy for others, so if somebody's fasting and they feel hungry, then they might consider other people who feel hungry the rest of the time who have less than them to eat normally.

It can also mean there's time together as a family in a community, so if you think about a family getting up early together in order to have their meal before their fast starts and then their family coming back together again to break their fast together in the evening.

So it's a real time for family and community and you can see that as well with communities who might do iftars where many people join in together and they might hold iftars for the whole community to come.

It can also connect Muslims worldwide because everybody's fasting at the same time, maybe not the same hours of the day but the same month.

So for that month, it's like a big connection of all the Muslims around the world.

And it can also help with the forgiveness of sins.

It also helps with building up those good deeds in order to be able to get to paradise.

But which reason could a Muslim say is the most important of those? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, really, you could argue, it's any one of those is the most important reason, couldn't you? So I mentioned earlier, that often there'll be whole community events, perhaps breaking fasts together with an iftar, and Ilham volunteers at a big interfaith iftar that happens in her community and Andeep's gonna ask her why.

"Why do you volunteer at this iftar, Ilham?" And Ilham says, "I volunteer at an interfaith iftar in my city, everyone's welcome to join us as we break our fast together for the day.

It's such a wonderful time for us to be together as a community and share with others about why we fast for sawm." Thank you, Ilham.

Now Abdi works as a prison chaplain, which means he's working supporting Muslims and other people in prison with their spiritual journey and with their faith.

So obviously, if someone's in prison, they might still want to take part in Ramadan and fasting for sawm, because being in prison isn't one of the exemptions.

So Sofia's asking Abdi, "How does Ramadan relate to your role as a prison chaplain, Abdi?" And Abdi says, "Many prisoners want to take part in sawm, but it takes a great deal of discipline to not eat or drink when you are alone in your cell.

The prison I work out has Jummah, Friday prayers, for the Muslim prisoners, which during Ramadan can be a great support.

Often, prisoners want to speak with me during Ramadan about their spiritual journeys." So I said earlier that sometimes Ramadan is a time when Muslims might think more carefully about different actions that they're doing and use it as a real time to kind of focus and maybe wanna change certain behaviours.

So you can imagine that some prisoners might want to do that too during that month.

So now, Mustafa and Sarah, who are two Muslims, are discussing if sawm is the most important action a Muslim should perform, we know it's an obligatory action and it's one of the five pillars, but is it the most important? Let's see what they say.

Mustafa says, "I think sawm is the most important action.

It's an exercise in great discipline, showing your dedication to Allah.

It reminds us that Allah provides all that we have." And Sarah says, "I think sawm is important but it's not as important as daily prayers, salah.

Sawm happens once a year and not everybody takes part each day." And for Salah, everyone can take part and it happens all year round, doesn't it? So which of these two do you find the most convincing and why? You can pause the video and have a reread and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, let's work on this a little bit more together.

We can see that there are many reasons why sawm is important in Islam.

So let's remind ourselves, let's have two reasons why sawm is important in Islam.

Hmm, because it unites the Muslim Ummah together, we've said it unites everybody together for that month, everybody is fasting together.

So over to you then, give two reasons why sawm is important in Islam.

We already have one, you're going to give the other.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

I've got here, "It's prescribed for Muslims to do in the Qur'an," so it's important, well done.

So we've seen that there can be reasons why sawm is the most important Muslim practise.

We're gonna work on this now with an evaluation question.

So let's do a practise task to see what we've learned then.

Here is a full evaluation question and here's the statement, "Sawm is the most important Muslim practise." On the next slide, there are points which could be used in support of the statement and points, which could be used to support a different point of view, could be against, could be a different point of view.

And when we see those points, you're gonna decide if they're for or against the statement, and then overall decide which side you think would be stronger.

And the statement is, "Sawm is the most important Muslim in practise." So here are the points we're gonna decide if they're for or against the statement.

And the statement is, "Sawm is the most important Muslim practise." So for each point, do they support the statement or go against it or go for a different point of view? Let's read the points.

"Sawm develops discipline and focus on Allah and Allah's provision." "Prayer, salah, happens every day and everyone can take part." "Charity, zakah, helps other people who need it the most." "Sawm can unite the whole Ummah to take part at the same time." So decide if they're for or against the statement and then write a sentence stating which side you think is stronger.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, some good thinking there.

So here is the table and your table should look like this.

"Sawm develops discipline and focus on Allah and Allah's provision," for the statement that it's the most important practise.

"Prayer, salah, happens every day and everyone can take part," that could be against the statement, that was Sarah's point, wasn't it? That it could be that prayer is every day so that's more important.

"Charity, zakah, helps other people who need it the most," again, that could be against the statement.

Sawm is kind of helping me 'cause I'm fasting, but is it helping other people in the way that zakah charity is? "Sawm can unite the whole Ummah who take part at the same time," so that could be for the statement, that idea of it being an important practise to unite everybody together.

Well done.

So now let's think about the statements that you wrote.

I asked you to say which side you think is stronger and your response might look something like these.

The arguments for the statement are stronger because sawm takes such discipline and dedication to complete, it shows how important it is.

Or the arguments against the statement are stronger because not everyone can take part in sawm showing the actions which everyone can do, like prayer, are more important.

So well done for your hard work there.

So let's summarise everything we've learned today.

Sawm is fasting during the month of Ramadan for the hours of daylight.

Sawm can have a great impact on Muslims to perform as this is an act of great discipline.

Fasting involves not eating, drinking, or doing any sexual activities during the daylight hours until the fast is broken with a meal called iftar.

There are exceptions, such as for the sick, pregnant, or very young.

Ramadan is a special month as the Night of Power is celebrated in this month, and the Night of Power is when the Prophet Muhammad received the first revelations of the Qur'an.

So well done for your hard work today, my scholars of religion, and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye-bye.