Could you give information on the holy month of Ramadan and fasting
during it?
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
The month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was revealed, a guidance for mankind,
clear signs of guidance and the criterion. (2:185)
Fasting in the holy month of Ramadan is one of the foremost of the five pillars of Islam
Fasting in the holy month of Ramadan is one of the foremost of the five pillars
of Islam, as well as being among the greatest of the symbols of Islam. That
fasting has many purposes relating both to the Lordship of God and thanksgiving
for His bounties, and to man’s individual and collective life, as well as to
his self-training and self-discipline.
One of the multiple purposes of fasting connected with the Lordship of
God is that God manifests the Perfection of His Lordship and His being the
All-Merciful and All-Compassionate upon the surface of the earth which He
has designed as a table upon which He has laid out all the varieties of His
bounties in a way beyond the imagination of the inhabitants of the earth.
Nevertheless, people cannot perfectly discern the reality of this situation
because of heedlessness and the blinding veil of causality. But in the holy
month of Ramadan, the believers, like an army waiting for the order ‘March!’, display a manner of worshipping
in expectation of the command of ‘Help yourself!’ towards the end of the day,
and they thus respond to that magnificent and universal Mercy with a comprehensive
and harmonious act of collective worship. I wonder whether those who do not
participate in this sublime act of worship and share in the honor of being so
favored deserve to be called human.
Fasting is the key to a true, sincere, comprehensive and universal thanksgiving
One of the numerous purposes of fasting in the holy month of Ramadan
concerning thanksgiving for the bounties of God Almighty is that there is a
price for the food brought from the kitchen of a king by the servant
carrying the trays of food. Obviously, it would be folly of an infinite
degree to tip the servant but not to recognize the king who sent the food –
an act which would mean disrespect for that gift of precious food. In the
same way, God Almighty has spread for mankind His countless bounties of
infinite variety on the face of the earth. These bounties require the
payment of a price, which is thanksgiving. The apparent causes of those
bounties, or those who bring them to us are like the food-carrying servant
in the example above. We pay the servants, feel indebted to them, and
sometimes thank them and thereby show them a degree of respect they have not
merited. The true Giver of Bounties is infinitely more deserving of thanks for
those bounties received than the causes or the means by which they come to us.
One thanks Him by acknowledging one’s need for the bounties, and being fully
appreciative of them and ascribing them directly to Him.
Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan is the key to a true, sincere,
comprehensive and universal thanksgiving. Many people are unable to
appreciate most of the bounties they enjoy since they suffer no hunger. A
piece of dry bread, for example, means nothing as Divine bounty for those
who are full, especially if they are rich, although it is, as even testified
by his sense of taste, a very valuable bounty of God in the sight of a
believer at the time of breaking his fast. Everyone,
whether a king or the poorest of people, are favored, in the holy Ramadan, with
a heart-felt thanksgiving by understanding the value of Divine bounties. Also,
because of being forbidden to eat during daytime, a believer thinks: those bounties
do not originally belong to me, and I am not free to regard them as mere food
or drink. One Other owns them, and He grants them to me. So, I should wait for
His permission to eat them. By thus acknowledging whatever he eats and drinks
to be a gift of God, the believer thanks God tacitly. On account of this, fasting
becomes a key to thanksgiving, which is a real human duty in many respects.
Through the hunger of fasting can the rich feel the hunger
and tragic situation of the poor
Fasting has many purposes in connection with man’s collective life, one
of which is this: God has created human beings differently in respect of their livelihood.
Because of this, He calls the rich to the help of the poor. However, only through
the hunger of fasting can the rich feel the hunger and tragic situation of the
poor. Without fasting, many rich and self-indulgent people cannot perceive how
painful hunger and poverty are, and to what extent the poor need care. Whereas,
care for one’s fellow-beings is a foundation of true thanksgiving. There is
certainly one poorer than each individual, so everyone is obliged to show care
for the one poorer than him. Unless, therefore, one is obliged to suffer hunger,
it is nearly impossible for him to do good or give help to his fellow-beings
as required by that duty of care. Even if he does, he cannot do it as perfectly
as he should, since he does not feel the condition of the hungry to the same
extent.
There are many Divine purposes for the obligation of fasting
There are many Divine purposes for the obligation of fasting during Ramadan
related to self-training and self-discipline. One of those purposes is as follows:
The carnal self desires to be free and unrestricted and regards itself to
be so. It even wishes, by its very nature, for an imagined lordship and free,
arbitrary action. Disinclined to thinking that it is being trained and tested
through the countless bounties of God, it swallows up, like an animal, those
bounties in the manner of a thief or robber, especially if it has a degree of
wealth and power accompanied by heedlessness.
It is in holy Ramadan that the selfhood of everyone, whether the richest
or the poorest, understands that, rather than owning itself, it is owned by
One Other, and rather then being free, it is a servant. Unless it is ordered,
or permitted, it is unable to do even the most common thing like eating and
drinking, and thereby its illusory lordship is shattered, it can admit to servanthood
and performs its real duty, which is thanksgiving.
Fasting also prevents the carnal self from rebellious acts
and adorns it with good morals
Man’s carnal self forgets itself through heedlessness. It does not see, nor
does it want to see, the infinite impotence and poverty and the defects of the
utmost degree in its very nature. It does not reflect how it is exposed to misfortunes
and subject to decay, that it consists of flesh and bones tending to rapid disintegration
and decomposition. It rushes upon the world with a violent greed and attachment
as if it had a steel body and would live forever. It clings to everything profitable
and pleasurable. In this state, it forgets its Creator, Who trains it with a
perfect care. Being immersed in the swamp of bad morals, it thinks about neither
the consequences of its life in this world nor about its afterlife.
Fasting during holy Ramadan, however, causes even the most heedless and
stubborn to feel their weakness and innate poverty. Hunger becomes an
important consideration for them and reminds them how fragile their bodies
are. They come to perceive to what extent they need compassion and care
and, giving up haughtiness, feel a desire to take refuge in the Divine Court
in perfect helplessness and destitute, and rise to knock at the door of
Mercy with the hand of tacit thanksgiving, provided, of course, that
heedlessness has not yet corrupted the individual completely.
Fasting has a connection also with the revelation of the holy Qur’an
Fasting during Ramadan has a connection also with the revelation of the holy
Qur’an. As is generally known, the Qur’an began to be revealed in Ramadan. This
connection has many implications. One of these is that – just as if the Qur’an
were to be revealed in every Ramadan, a believer should seek to be like the
angels and abandon eating and drinking, and divest himself of the vain preoccupations
and gross needs of his carnal self. During Ramadan, he should recite or listen
to the Qur’an as if it were being revealed for the first time or, if he is able,
listen to the Qur’an as if he were hearing it recited by the Prophet Muhammad,
upon him be peace and blessings, or by the Archangel Gabriel to Muhammad, or
revealed by God Himself to Muhammad through Gabriel. Also, he should respect
the Qur’an in the actions of his daily life and, by conveying its message to
the others, demonstrate the Divine purpose for revealing the Qur’an.
The Muslim world becomes in Ramadan like a huge mosque where millions of
reciters recite the Qur’an, that heavenly address, to the inhabitants of the
earth. Demonstrating the reality of the verse, The month of Ramadan, in which
the Qur’an was revealed, Ramadan proves itself to be the month of the Qur’an:
while some members of the vast congregation in that great mosque of the
Muslim world listen to its recitation with solemn reverence, others recite
it themselves.
Fasting has also many purposes related to the spiritual
rewards of man
Fasting during Ramadan has also many purposes related to the spiritual rewards
of man, who has been sent to the world to sow it with the seeds of the next
life. The following paragraphs explain one of those purposes.
The rewards for the good deeds done in Ramadan are multiplied by a thousand.
According to one hadith, ten rewards are given for each letter of the Wise Qur’an.
The recitation of a single letter means ten good deeds, and brings forth ten
fruits of Paradise. However, in the whole month of Ramadan, the reward for each
letter of the Qur’an is multiplied not by ten, but by a thousand, even by thousands
for some particular verses like the ‘Verse of the Throne’. The reward is still
greater on the Friday nights of holy Ramadan. Furthermore, the reward for each
letter of the holy Qur’an recited in the Night of Power is multiplied by thirty
thousand. Thus, the Qur’an, each of whose letters yields thirty thousand permanent
fruits of Paradise, becomes in Ramadan like a huge blessed tree which produces
for believers millions of permanent fruits of Paradise. Consider, then, how
holy and profitable a trade this is, and know in how great a loss those are
who do not appreciate the letters of the Qur’an!
So, the holy month of Ramadan is the most proper time for carrying on that
most profitable ‘trade’ in the name of the afterlife. It is like a most fertile
field to cultivate for the harvest of the afterlife. For the multiplication
of the reward for good deeds, it is like April in spring. It is also a sacred,
illustrious festival for the ‘parade’ of those who worship the Sovereignty of
God’s Lord-ship. Because of this, fasting is made obligatory for believers in
Ramadan so that they should not gratify the animal appetites of the carnal self
and indulge in its useless fancies. Since they become like angels while fasting
or engaged in a trade for the next life, each acts as a mirror reflecting the
Self-Sufficiency of God by moving in the direction of becoming a pure spirit
manifested in corporeal dress through the abandonment of the world for a fixed
period. In fact, the holy Ramadan contains, and causes a believer to gain, through
fasting, a permanent life in a short period in this world.
One Ramadan may enable a believer to gain as much reward as
could be earned in a life of eighty years
One Ramadan may enable a believer to gain as much reward as could be earned
in a life of eighty years. This can be decisively proved by the fact that the
Night of Power is, as declared by the Qur’an, more profitable than eighty years
in which there is not a Night of Power. A worldly king may announce a few days’
festival in the year to mark some special occasions like his accession to the
throne, and he honors his faithful subjects on those days with special favors.
Likewise, the Eternal, Majestic King of the eighteen thousand worlds sent down
in holy Ramadan the Wise Qur’an, which is His exalted decree to all of those
eighteen thousand worlds. For this reason, wisdom requires that Ramadan
should be a special Divine festival in which the bounties of God’s Lordship
will be poured out and the spirit beings will come together. Since, then,
Ramadan is a Divinely ordained festival, it is proper that fasting in it
would be commanded so that people should withdraw to some extent from their
bodily preoccupations. Excellence in fasting, aside from its preventing the
satisfaction of the stomach, is possible through refraining from sins committed by the senses or members
of the body, such as the eyes, ears, heart, mind, and imaginative and contemplative
faculties, and using them, instead, in the acts of worship particular to each.
For example, the one who fasts, should prevent his tongue from lying, backbiting,
bad language and indecent talk, and make it busy with the recitation of the
Qur’an, glorification of God, seeking His forgiveness, and calling His
blessing upon the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. In the
same way, he should prevent his eyes from looking at, and his ears from
listening to,
the forbidden things. He should, instead, use his eyes to see such things as
those which, for example, will give a spiritual lesson or moral warning; and
use his ears to listen to the Qur’an and truths. When the stomach, which is
like a big factory in the body, is stopped from working, the other members,
which may be likened to very small workshops in comparison with the stomach,
can, in fact, easily be made to follow it.
Fasting is a diet from the viewpoint of both the physical
and spiritual health of man
One of the purposes of fasting related to man’s individual life is as follows: Fasting is a diet from the viewpoint of both the physical and spiritual
health of man. If the carnal self acts in eating and drinking in whatever
way it wishes, this is harmful to man’s physical health, as well as being a
poison for his spiritual life because of the absence of discrimination between what is lawful
and unlawful. It becomes very difficult for such a carnal self to obey the heart
and spirit. Without recognizing any principles, it takes the reins of man and
drives him in whatever direction it desires. But, in Ramadan it gets accustomed
to dieting through the fast and, in self-discipline, it is trained to learn
to obey orders. Further, it does not cause the poor stomach to suffer illness
because of over-eating without enough time allowed for proper digestion. In
addition, since it has learned to forsake eating even what is lawful, it gains
the ability to follow the decree of reason and religion to refrain from the
unlawful. Thus, the carnal self tries not to corrupt the spiritual life of
its owner.
Also, the great majority of mankind frequently become subject to hunger.
In order to endure a long-lasting hunger with patience, people should train
themselves in self-discipline and an austere lifestyle. Fasting during Ramadan
provides just such a training based on patience with hunger of fifteen hours,
or even twenty-four hours if the meal before dawn is missed. This means that
fasting is a cure for the impatience and want of endurance, which double the
misfortune of mankind.
Many members of the human body are either in direct or in indirect
service of the factory of the stomach. If that factory is not made to stop
working in daytime during a certain month of the year, it keeps those
members busy with itself, forgetful of the kinds of worship and sublime
duties peculiar to each. It is for this reason that, since the oldest times,
saints have usually preferred to get themselves used to an austere lifestyle
for the sake of spiritual and human perfection. Fasting in Ramadan reminds
us that the members of the body have not been created only for the service
of the stomach. In Ramadan, many of those members take pleasure in the
angelic and spiritual pleasures, instead of the material ones. This is the
reason why in Ramadan, believers receive,
according to the extent of their spiritual perfection, different degrees of
spiritual pleasures and enlightenment. The heart, the spirit, the reason and
innermost senses of man are refined through fasting in Ramadan. Even if the
stomach wails during fasting, these senses rejoice greatly.
Fasting during Ramadan breaks the illusory lordship of the carnal self
Fasting during Ramadan breaks the illusory lordship of the carnal self and,
reminding it of its innate helplessness, convinces it that it is a servant.
The carnal self does not like to recognize its Lord, and claims lordship
in great obstinacy. However much it is made to suffer, it preserves that
temperament. It is only hunger which can alter that temperament. Fasting during Ramadan
breaks the obstinacy of the carnal self and, by showing to it its intrinsic
helplessness and poverty, reminds it that it is only a servant.
It is related from God’s Messenger that God Almighty asked the carnal self:
‘Who am I and who are you?’ The carnal self replied: ‘You are Yourself, and
I am myself.’ However much God tormented it and asked the same question, He
received the same answer: ‘You are Yourself, and I am myself.’ At last, God
subjected it to hunger, and when asking the same question, the reply came:
‘You are my All-Compassionate Lord; I am Your helpless servant’.
O God, grant peace and blessings to our master Muhammad in a way to please
You and to give him his due, to the number of the rewards for reciting the letters
of the Qur’an in the month of Ramadan, and to his family and Companions.
Glorified be your Lord, the Lord of Honour and Power; exalted above what
they falsely ascribe to Him! And peace be upon the Messengers! And all praise
be to God, the Lord of the Worlds. Amen!
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