Ramadan

Indeed, the All-Wise Qur'an, the letters of which brings thirty thousand everlasting fruits, becomes a luminous "Tree of Paradise" that gives Muslims millions of these everlasting fruits during Honorable Ramadan. So come, let us observe this sacred, eternal, profitable business; watch and consider; then understand the unbounded loss of those who do not appreciate the value of these letters.

Thus, the Honorable Ramadan is like a profitable exhibition and a marketplace opened for business to gain profits in the hereafter. It is the best planting time to cultivate the crops to be harvested in the hereafter. It functions like April showers in the Spring which grow good deeds. It becomes like a luminous holy festival in which humankind presents their worship in the presence of the Sovereign and Grand Administrator - Allah.

Therefore, humankind has been commanded to fast in order not to indulge in the animalistic needs and trivial desires of the self (such as eating and drinking) as a consequence of the self's heedlessness. Through fasting, human beings temporarily strip away their animalistic aspects, and enter the angelic-state, by temporarily abandoning the worldly necessities and engaging only in business of the hereafter. Thus they resemble the people of the hereafter and the spirits seen in materialized forms. They become mirrors of the manifestation of the Name Samad (The One Who provides for all the needs of His creation, but He does not need anything Himself).

Yes, the Honorable Ramadan contains an everlasting life and rewards it to human beings within this transient world and short life. Truly, one Ramadan can deliver fruits equal to what can be obtained in eighty years of usual worship. This is proven decisively since; according to the Qur'an, the "Night of Power" is better than a thousand months of spiritual effort.

For example, a sultan may declare some days during which his special addresses take place or the greatness of his sovereignty is displayed as feast-days during the years of his reign. On these special days, he favors his obedient and worthy people not in the sphere of the general laws, but rather with his special bounties, kindness, unique activities, and his direct addressing. Similarly, the Eternal Glorious Ruler of eighteen thousand universes has revealed in the Honorable Ramadan the Wise Qur'an -His most high, glorious decree- which addresses and looks to all those eighteen thousand universes. Therefore, it is a requirement of wisdom that the month of Ramadan should be a special holy-festival, an exhibition in which the manifestations of the Name Rab (Sustainer, Cherisher, and Educator) is displayed, and a spiritual gathering.

Since Ramadan is such an Honorable holy-festival, Allah has commanded human beings to fast in order to disengage themselves, to a degree, from lowly and animal-like activities. The most excellent degree of fasting is to make the human senses and organs, like the eyes, ears, hearts, and thoughts fast together with the stomach, that is, to withdraw them from all forbidden things and trivia, and direct each one of them to their special state of worship.

For example; making the tongue fast through banning it from lying, back-biting and obscene language, directing it to its own way of worship by using it in activities like reciting the Qur'an, praying, glorifying Allah's names, asking for Allah's blessings on the prophet Muhammad (ASW), and seeking forgiveness for sins.

Another example is preventing the eyes from looking at people lustfully, and the ears from hearing the harmful talk and sound; but rather using the eyes to take lessons and the ears to listen to words of truth and the Qur'an. One should also make other organs fast. As a matter of fact, if we compare the stomach to a large factory, and enforce a month of break from work through fasting, the other organs, which are like small workshops, should follow the stomach rather easily.