Ramzan kay side-effects

It is quite possibly the most unproductive month of the year. This repute is so well established, even foreigners who are looking to invest in the country cross this month off their calendar knowing nothing is going to get done.

While purists will insist the purpose of Ramzan has already been defeated by the unanimous alteration in behavior, it nevertheless is celebrated – with the accompanying advertisements, promotions, and songs – with some degree of fervor mostly propped up I should add by marketing companies looking to fully use the event for profit maximization. The reality is that more and more people no longer see the need to observe this pillar of the Islamic faith.

Last night during iftari, a table discussion took place where it was asked if there was a reason to mandate Ramzan. Putting aside the 1400 years of reasons revealing the importance of fasting, one person suggested that allocating the month to fast was a response seeking to adjust for the annual scarcity faced by the desert outposts like Mecca and Medina. Although it was point out that the early Muslims depended on the lunar and not solar calendar as they were not an agrarian culture like that of Mespotamia, Indus or Nile, and so didn’t follow the crop harvesting schedule, it was suggested that the inconsistent camel caravans transporting food and trade patterns may have affected the Arabs to make this move. Another person asked if the pre-Islamic Arabs also fasted. As many of the traditions of the pre-Islamic Arabia were adopted/accepted by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) under the declaration that they were actually Abrahamic traditions, mandatory fasting could also fit into this schema.

While there is probably some economic rationale to mandating a month to fast and decrease food input (almost all actions have an economic rationale), what is clear today is that this month doesn’t really fulfill any economic reasoning. Excuses like how the body lowers its cholesterol, fat and improves health are apologetics offered. The very fact that economic productivity declines to zilch is an indictment of what this month has been rendered as.

While a large majority remains committed to celebrating this month, those who seek productive behavior are quietly ignoring it. Eventually I see some form of relaxation occurring from the edicts of future ulema-e-Islam on how to ensure people obey the fast without going completely hungry for 12 hours a day.

When behavior disturbs economic activity, there is always a measured reaction that occurs in society to bring it in line with economic rationale. It is unlikely that a people will become more ‘spiritual’ and observe the month like it was supposed to have been observed and work with the same vigor they do the rest of the year. What is likely are people ignoring the fast due to the inconvenience it posts or the ulema-e-Islam stepping and providing avenues of leniency and additions to what is permissible while one is fasting so that people’s bodies can at least get some work done.