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As Ramadan approaches, believers are invited to renew remembrance, cultivate taqwa and restore moral purpose in an age of spiritual forgetfulness.
By PROFESSOR ASLAM FATAAR
RAMADAN is approaching, prompting a gentle shift within us. Every year, this sacred month arrives as a mercy from Allah, bringing together fragmented lives and softening hardened hearts.
Before fasting begins, Ramadan gently asks us: Will we approach this month with mindfulness and remembrance, or with negligence and forgetfulness?
The scattered self in an age of forgetfulness
Human life unfolds through many passages. Babies are born into homes filled with hope and uncertainty. Children grow through schooling, friendship and discovery. Young people search for direction, work and belonging. Adults build families, nurture relationships and take on responsibilities.
Some endure separation and divorce. Many face illness, weakness and the nearness of death. Each passage carries emotion, struggle, joy and pain. Through all these changing seasons, the mercy of Allah remains constant. Divine compassion accompanies the anxious parent, the struggling worker, the wounded partner and the failing body. Allah’s forgiveness surrounds every stage of the human journey.
Across these seasons of life, the human being strives to keep heart, mind, body, soul and spirit held together. Life often pulls these dimensions apart. Worry unsettles the mind. Desire unsettles the body. Grief unsettles the heart.
‘Ibadaat, or worship, consolidates what is scattered. Prayer stabilises the body, while remembrance soothes the heart. Trust in Allah clears the mind, and love for family, friends and neighbours revives the soul. Staying close to Allah maintains the wholeness of the human being as our lives go on.
In today’s world, many feel an increasing sense of internal unravelling as the threads of meaning weaken. Daily activities rapidly shift through smartphones, screens, messages and an unending flow of information. A persistent feeling of internal emptiness often endures.
The Qur’an refers to this state as ‘nisyān’, meaning forgetfulness. However, it goes beyond mere forgetfulness; it represents a form of scattered forgetfulness, a malaise that affects a person’s moral and spiritual essence.
When such moral forgetfulness enters and affects our lives, our clarity of moral and spiritual purpose diminishes. Consequently, the self becomes uncertain of its direction. In this light, the Qur’an offers a dire warning against becoming like those who forget Allah and, as a result, forget themselves: ‘And be not like those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves.’ (Sura Al Hashr, 59:19). Ramadan is a time to heal this forgetfulness and rekindle inner presence.
Forgetting deepens in a world shaped by digital media and artificial intelligence. These technologies shape how people see themselves and relate to others. Desire becomes continuous and restless. The heart is pulled in many directions at once. Stillness becomes unfamiliar. Silence becomes rare.
Ramadan interrupts this restless movement. Fasting loosens the grip of compulsion. Restraint reveals a deeper freedom. The believer rediscovers the space in which remembrance can live again.
The Qur’an reminds us that forgetfulness is part of being human, as seen in the story of Adam, who forgot the covenant placed upon him: ‘And We had already taken a promise from Adam before, but he forgot; and We found not in him determination.’ (Sura Ta Ha, 20:115). Renewal also belongs to being human. Each Ramadan opens the possibility of beginning again. Divine mercy renews the door of return before we even knock.
Memory, justice and the wounded world
Nisyān, or moral forgetfulness, also takes a collective form. It appears when societies lose the capacity to recognise suffering as urgent and human dignity as sacred. In such moments, violence no longer shocks the conscience, and distance dulls moral response.
We live in a time marked by genocide, relentless war and forced human displacement. Entire peoples are driven from their homes. Families cross borders in fear. Children grow up amid the sound of violence. Suffering unfolds before the world’s eyes and risks becoming normalised through repetition and distance.
Moral forgetfulness also settles quietly into everyday life. Poverty deepens across many societies. Hunger, unemployment and uncertainty press upon ordinary households. Technological change reshapes work and human connection. Artificial intelligence and social media alter how dignity is protected and how voices are heard.
When these conditions are accepted as ordinary, nisyān, or forgetfulness, has already entered the collective heart. The erosion of remembrance weakens compassion and responsibility for justice. These realities form the moral landscape of our time. Ramadan enters this landscape with a call to renewed conscience, deeper remembrance and active compassion.
Fasting sharpens awareness of suffering. Hunger in the body makes the hunger of the poor visible. Night prayer softens the heart toward those who grieve in darkness. Charity transforms compassion into action.
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It is in this light that remembrance of Allah (dhikrullāh) becomes a platform for cultivating responsibility towards humanity. Ramadan calls believers to renewed commitments to justice, mercy and solidarity with the oppressed and displaced.
South African history illustrates the peril of neglecting suffering. Unaddressed trauma can carry on through generations. Acknowledging our wounds is a moral obligation, and Ramadan enhances this commitment to moral remembrance.
During this month, compassion can grow stronger and generosity more widespread. The believer may become more aware of suffering that once felt distant. Fasting combines spiritual reflection with social justice.
Here in Cape Town, remembrance lives in the streets around us. It carries stories of slavery, exile, endurance, entrepreneurship, charity, solidarity, scholarship and faith that continue to shape this city’s moral imagination.
The year 2026 marks the 400th Gregorian anniversary of the birth of Shaykh Yusuf of Makassar, whose exile to the Cape sowed the seeds of spiritual liberation. Shaykh Yusuf’s life serves as a living testament that chains cannot contain the remembrance of Allah. Every Ramadan renews this legacy, reuniting current generations with a history upheld by faith.
Ramadan as return, presence and moral renewal
Fasting aims to cultivate taqwa, a conscious awareness of Allah: ‘O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain taqwa.’ (Sura Al Baqarah, 2:183). Taqwa unites the forgetful self and guides moral behaviour. It transforms everyday actions by imbuing them with sacred significance.
Ramadan surrounds the believer with practices that nurture this awareness. Fasting shapes the day. Prayer shapes the night. Generosity shapes relationships. Recitation shapes the heart. Through repeated acts, presence slowly returns.
Allah-ordained virtues (fada’il) are readily cultivated in this sacred month, as in other months. During Ramadan, patience (sabr) can deepen. Truthfulness can strengthen. Divine mercy can expand within the heart. Humility can soften the ego. Generosity can loosen attachment to possessions. In this way, desire is disciplined, and nearness to Allah becomes the true moral purpose.
From this transformation emerges adab, the beauty of character rooted in remembrance. Ethical conduct becomes visible. Care for neighbours becomes instinctive. Compassion for the vulnerable becomes urgent. Words carry dignity. Actions carry mercy. Faith appears in the texture of everyday life.
Ramadan comes with a meaningful promise. It encourages us to strengthen bonds with family, neighbours and friends. It paves the way for mercy and renews our moral principles.
Entering Ramadan with awareness means recognising that renewal remains possible. Wounded people can move towards healing and towards great moral purpose.
The sacred month stands before us as an invitation to become more attentive to Allah, more compassionate towards one another, and more committed to justice in the world we share.
Ramadan stands before us as the decisive antidote to nisyān. It renews remembrance in worship, compassion and moral purpose. It returns the human heart to conscious nearness before Allah.
- This article is based on a khutbah presented at Mosque Shafee, Bo-Kaap, February 13, 2026.
Aslam Fataar is Research Professor in Higher Education Transformation, Stellenbosch University.
