Fahad Faruqui: Ramadan: Raising Spiritual and Financial Stocks?

Stock returns are nine times greater during Ramadan than the rest of the year, a recent study says. While I knew about the rise in spiritual stock and inner revolution that can result from abstinence and purification of the soul, the upside to a financial portfolio was news to me. It’s an intriguing way to balance faith and worldly affairs — it seems fasting pays dividends of all kinds.

“Ramadan is part of the Muslim culture of resistance to the mindless consumerism of our time,” Abdal Hakim Murad, a Muslim scholar and lecturer at Cambridge University, wrote to me in response to my question about the true meaning of Ramadan. “Only by a tough discipline of self-control can we learn detachment, thus experiencing inner calm, and challenge the ideology of greed which is threatening the planet.”

This got me thinking. In addition to causing stock rallies, Ramadan is mostly a month of internal battle against the desires of flesh. For me, abstaining from my usual dose of morning coffee is one of the many challenges I face. Fasting is not as simple as not eating and drinking from dawn to dusk — the practice helps break away from the enslavement of habit-forming vices.

Strengthening the will to abstain from what’s lawful during the month of Ramadan can be a precursor to being steadfast in refraining from what’s forbidden throughout the year. The effect of fasting on mind and soul varies, and it depends on one’s sense of purpose. A prominent scholar of Islam, Faraz Rabbani, made an interesting observation: “Some fast for God. Some fast because it is good. Others fast for the joy of breaking their fast. (Then, they indulge…).”

Read more: Fahad Faruqui: Ramadan: Raising Spiritual and Financial Stocks? (Huffington Post)