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| gencnurCom | The
Second Section, On
the Month of Ramadan [There
having been a brief discussion of ‘the marks of
Islam’ at the end of the First Section, the most
brilliant and splendid of the marks, Ramadan the Noble,
is discussed in this Second Section. This Section
consists of Nine Points, which explain nine of the
numerous instances of wisdom in the month of Ramadan.] In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. It
was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was
bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a
self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard
to discern true from false.1 FIRST
POINT The
fast of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, and
it is one of the greatest of the marks and observances of
Islam. There
are many purposes and instances of wisdom in the fast of
Ramadan which look to both God Almighty’s dominicality,
and to man’s social life, his personal life and the
training of his instinctual soul, and to his gratitude
for Divine bounties. One of the many instances of wisdom
in fasting from the point of view of God Almighty’s
dominicality is as follows: God
Almighty created the face of the earth in the form of a
table laden with bounties, and arranged on the table
every sort of bounty in a form of From whence he does
not expect,2 in this way stating the
perfection of His dominicality and His mercifulness and
compassionateness. Human beings are unable to discern
clearly the reality of this situation while in the sphere
of causes, under the veil of heedlessness, and they
sometimes forget it. However, during the month of
Ramadan, the people of belief suddenly become like a well
drawn-up army. As sunset approaches, they ____________________ 1.
Qur’an, 2: 185. Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - On Ramadan - p.467 display
a worshipful attitude as though, having been invited to
the Pre-Eternal Monarch’s banquet, they are awaiting
the command of “Fall to and help yourselves!” They
are responding to that compassionate, illustrious, and
universal mercy with comprehensive, exalted, and orderly
worship. Do you think those who do not participate in
such elevated worship and noble bounties are worthy to be
called human beings? SECOND
POINT One
of the many instances of wisdom in the fast of the
blessed month of Ramadan with respect to thankfulness for
God Almighty’s bounties is as follows: As
is stated in the First Word, a price is required for the
foods a tray-bearer brings from a royal kitchen. But, to
give a tip to the tray-bearer, and to suppose those
priceless bounties to be valueless and not to recognize
the one who bestowed them would be the greatest
foolishness. God
Almighty has spread innumerable sorts of bounties over
the face of the earth for mankind, in return for which He
wishes thanks, as the price of those bounties. The
apparent causes and possessors of the bounties are like
tray-bearers. We pay a certain price to them and are
indebted to them, and even though they do not merit it,
are over-respectful and grateful to them. Whereas the
True Bestower of Bounties is infinitely more deserving of
thanks than those causes which are merely the means for
the bounty. To thank Him, then, is to recognize that the
bounties come directly from Him; it is to appreciate
their worth and to perceive one’s own need for them. Fasting
in Ramadan, then, is the key to a true, sincere,
extensive, and universal thankfulness. For at other times
of the year, most of those who are not in difficult
circumstances do not realize the value of many bounties
since they do not experience real hunger. Those whose
stomachs are full and especially if they are rich, do not
understand the degree of bounty there is in a piece of
dry bread. But when it is time to break the fast, the
sense of taste testifies that the dry bread is a most
valuable Divine bounty in the eyes of a believer. During
Ramadan, everyone from the monarch to the destitute,
manifests a sort of gratitude through understanding the
value of those bounties. Furthermore,
since eating is prohibited during the day, they will say:
“Those bounties do not belong to me. I am not free to
eat them, for they are another’s property and gift. I
await his command.” They will recognize the bounty to
be bounty and so will be giving thanks. Thus, fasting in
this way is in many respects like a key to gratitude;
gratitude being man’s fundamental duty.
Letters
/ Twenty - Ninth Letter - On Ramadan - p.468
THIRD
POINT One
of the many instances of wisdom in fasting from the point
of view of man’s social life is as follows: Human
beings have been created differently with regard to their
livelihoods. As a consequence of the difference, God
Almighty invites the rich to assist the poor, so that
through the hunger experienced in fasting, the rich can
truly understand the pains and hunger which the poor
suffer. If there was no fasting, there would be many
self-indulgent rich unable to perceive just how grievous
is hunger and poverty and how needy of compassion are
those who suffer them. Compassion
for one’s fellow men is an essential of true
thankfulness. Whoever a person is, there will always be
someone poorer than himself in some respect. He is
enjoined to be compassionate towards that person. If he
was not himself compelled to suffer hunger, he would be
unable give the person-by means of compassion-the help
and assistance which he is obliged to offer. And even if
he was able, it would be deficient, for he would not have
truly experienced the state of hunger himself. FOURTH
POINT One
instance of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan with respect to
training the instinctual soul is as follows: The
instinctual soul wants to be free and independent, and
considers itself to be thus. According to the dictates of
its nature, it even desires an imaginary dominicality and
to act as it pleases. It does not want to admit that it
is being sustained and trained through innumerable
bounties. Especially if it possesses wealth and power in
this world, and if heedlessness also encourages it, it
will devour God’s bounties like a usurping, thieving
animal. Thus,
in the month of Ramadan, the instinctual soul of
everyone, from the richest to the poorest, may understand
that it does not own itself, but is totally owned; that
it is not free, but is a slave. It understands that if it
receives no command, it is unable to do the simplest and
easiest thing, it cannot even stretch out its hand
towards water. Its imaginary dominicality is therefore
shattered; it performs its worship and begins to offer
thanks, its true duty. FIFTH
POINT One
of the many instances of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan
from the point of view of improving the conduct of the
instinctual soul and giving up its rebellious habits is
as follows: The
human soul forgets itself through heedlessness. It cannot
see the
Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - On Ramadan - p.469 utter
powerlessness, want, and deficiency within itself and it
does not wish to see them. And it does not think of just
how weak it is, and how subject to transience and to
disasters, nor of the fact that it consists merely of
flesh and bones, which quickly decline and are dispersed. Simply,
it assaults the world as though it possessed a body made
of steel and imagined itself to be undying and eternal.
It hurls itself onto the world with intense greed and
voracity and passionate attachment and love. It is
captivated by anything that gives its pleasure or that
benefits it. Moreover, it forgets its Creator Who
sustains it with perfect compassion, and it does not
think of the results of its life and its life in the
hereafter. Indeed, it wallows in dissipation and
misconduct. However,
fasting in the month of Ramadan awakens even the most
heedless and obstinate to their weakness, impotence, and
want. By means of hunger, they think of their stomachs;
they understand the need therein. They realize how
unsound are their weak bodies, and perceive how needy
they are for kindness and compassion. So they abandon the
soul’s pharaoh-like despotism, and through recognizing
their utter impotence and want, perceive a desire to take
refuge at the SIXTH
POINT One
of the many instances of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan
from the point of view of the revelation of the All-Wise
Qur’an, and with respect to the fact that the month of
Ramadan was the most important time in its revelation, is
as follows: Since
the All-Wise Qur’an was revealed in the month of
Ramadan, to shun the lower demands of the soul and
trivialities and to resemble the angelic state by
abstaining from food and drink in order to greet that
heavenly address in the best manner, is to áttain to a
holy state. And to read and listen to the Qur’an as
though it was just revealed, to listen to the Divine
address in it as if it was being revealed that very
instant, to listen to that address as though hearing it
from God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and
peace), indeed, from the Angel Gabriel, or from the
Pre-Eternal Speaker Himself, is to attain to that same
holy state. To act in this way is to act as an
interpreter and to cause others to listen to it and in
some degree to demonstrate the wisdom in the Qur’an’s
revelation. Indeed,
it is as if the world of Islam becomes a mosque during
the month of Ramadan. In every corner of that mighty
mosque millions of those who know the whole Qur’an by
heart cause the dwellers on the earth to hear the
heavenly address. Each Ramadan displays the verse It
Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - On Ramadan - p.470 was
the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was bestowed
from on high in luminous shining manner. It proves
that Ramadan is the month of the Qur’an. Some of the
members of the vast congregation listen to the reciters
with reverence, while others read it themselves. Following
the appetites of the base instinctual soul while in a
sacred mosque that is such, and quitting that luminous
condition through eating and drinking, is truly loathsome
and makes such a person the target of the aversion and
disgust of the congregation in the mosque. In the same
way, people who oppose those who fast during Ramadan are
to the same extent the target of the aversion and disgust
of the whole world of Islam. SEVENTH
POINT One
of the many instances of wisdom in the fast of Ramadan
with respect to mankind’s gain and profit, who comes to
this world in order to cultivate and trade for the
hereafter, is as follows: The
reward for actions in the month of Ramadan is a
thousandfold. According to Hadith, each word of the
All-Wise Qur’an has ten merits; each is counted as ten
merits and will yield ten fruits in Indeed,
the All-Wise Qur’an, each of whose words yield thirty
thousand eternal fruits, is like a luminous Tree of Tuba
that gains for believers in Ramadan millions of those
eternal fruits. So, come and look at this sacred, eternal
profitable trade, then consider it and understand the
infinite loss of those who do not appreciate the value of
those words. To
put it simply, the month of Ramadan is an extremely
profitable display and market for the trade of the
hereafter. It is an extremely fertile piece of land for
the crops of the hereafter. For the growth and
flourishing of actions it is like April showers in the
spring. It is like a brilliant holy festival for the
parade of mankind’s worship in the face of the
sovereignty of Divine dominicality. Since it is thus,
mankind has been charged with fasting in order not to
heedlessly indulge the animal needs of the instinctual
soul like eating and drinking, nor to indulge the
appetites lustfully and in trivialities. For, by
temporarily rising above animality and quitting the calls
of this world, man approaches the angelic state and
enters upon the trade of the hereafter. And by fasting,
he approaches the state of the hereafter and that of a
spirit appearing in ____________________ 3.
Qur’an, 2:255.
Letters
/ Twenty - Ninth Letter - On Ramadan - p.471
bodily form. It is as if man then
becomes a sort of mirror reflecting the Eternally
Besought One. Indeed, the month of Ramadan comprises and
gains a permanent and eternal life in this fleeting world
and brief transient life. Certainly, a single Ramadan can
produce fruits equal to that of a lifetime of eighty
years. The fact that, according to the Qur'an, the Night
of Power is more auspicious than a thousand months is a
decisive proof of this. For example, a monarch may declare
certain days to be festivals during his reign, or perhaps
once a year. Either on his accession to the throne or on
some other days which reflect a glittering manifestation
of his sovereignty. On those days, he favours his
subjects, not within the general sphere of the law, but
with his special bounties and favours, with his presence
without veil and his wondrous activities. And he favours
with his especial regard and attention those of his
nation who are completely loyal and worthy . In the same way, the All-Glorious
Monarch of eighteen thousand worlds, Who is the Sovereign
of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, revealed in Ramadan
the illustrious decree of the All-Wise Qur'an, which
looks to the eighteen thousand worlds. It is a
requirement of wisdom, then, that Ramadan should be like
special Divine festival, a dominical display, and a
spiritual gathering. Since Ramadan is such festival, God
has commanded man to fast, in order to disengage him to a
degree from base and animal activities. The most excellent fasting is to
make the human senses and organs, like the eyes, ears,
heart, and thoughts, fast together with the stomach. That
is, to withdraw them from all unlawful things and from
trivia, and to urge each of them to their particular
worship. For example, to ban the tongue from
lying, back-biting, and obscene language and to make it
fast. And to busy it with activities like reciting the
Qur'an, praying, glorifying God's Names, asking for God's
blessings on the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings
and peace), and seeking forgiveness for sins. And for
example, to prevent the eyes looking at members of the
opposite sex outside the stipulated degrees of kinship,
and the ears from hearing harmful things, and to use the
eyes to take lessons and the ears to listen to the truth
and to the Qur'an, is to make other organs fast too. As a
matter of fact, since the stomach is the largest factory,
if it has an enforced holiday from work through fasting,
the other small workshops will be made to follow it
easily. Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - On Ramadan - p.472 EIGHTH
POINT One
of the many instances of wisdom in Ramadan from the point
of view of man’s personal life is as follows: It
is a healing physical and spiritual diet of the most
important kind. When man’s instinctual soul eats and
drinks just as it pleases, it is both harmful for man’s
physical life from the medical point of view, and when it
hurls itself on everything it encounters without
considering whether it is licit or illicit, it quite
simply poisons his spiritual life. Further, it is
difficult for such a soul to obey the heart and the
spirit. It wilfully takes the reins into its own hands,
and then man cannot ride it, it rather rides man. But by
means of fasting in Ramadan, it becomes accustomed to a
sort of diet. It tries to discipline itself and learns to
listen to commands. Furthermore,
it will not be attracting illness to that miserable, weak
stomach by cramming it with food before the previous
consignment has been digested. And by abandoning even
licit actions as it is commanded, it will acquire the
ability to listen to the commands of the Shari‘a and
the reason, and so to avoid illicit actions. It will try
not to destroy his spiritual life. Moreover,
the great majority of mankind frequently suffer from
hunger. Man, therefore, needs hunger and discipline,
which are training for patience and endurance. Fasting in
Ramadan is patient endurance of a period of hunger that
continues for fifteen hours, or for twenty-four if the
pre-dawn meal is not eaten, and it is a discipline and a
training. That is to say, fasting is also a cure for
impatience and lack of endurance, which double man’s
afflictions. Futhermore,
the factory of the stomach has many workers. And many of
the human organs are connected to it. If the instinctual
soul does not have a rest from activity during the day
for a month, it makes the factory’s workers and those
organs forget their particular duties. It makes them busy
with itself so that they remain under its tyranny. Also,
it confuses the rest of the organs in the human body with
the clangour and steam of the factory’s machinery. It
continuously attracts their attention to itself, making
them temporarily forget their exalted duties. It is
because of this that for centuries those closest to God
have accustomed themselves to discipline and to eating
and drinking little in order to be perfected. However, through fasting in Ramadan the factory’s workers understand that they were not created for the factory only. While the rest of the organs, instead of delighting in the lowly amusements of the factory, take Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - On Ramadan - p.473 pleasure
in angelic and spiritual amusements, and fix their gazes
on them. It is for this reason that in Ramadan the
believers experience enlightenment, fruitfulness, and
spiritual joys which differ according to their degrees.
Their subtle faculties, such as the heart, spirit, and
intellect, make great progress and advancement in that
blessed month by means of fasting. They laugh with
innocent joy inspite of the stomach’s weeping. NINTH
POINT One
of the instances of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan with
regard to shattering the instinctual soul’s imaginary
dominicality and making known its worship through
pointing out its impotence is as follows: The
instinctual soul does not want to recognize its
Sustainer; it wants its own lordship, like Pharaoh.
However much torment it suffers, that character remains
in it. It is however destroyed through hunger. And so,
fasting in Ramadan strikes direct blows at the soul’s
pharaoh-like front, shattering it. It demonstrates its
impotence, weakness, and want. It makes it realize that
it is a slave. Among
the narrations of Hadith is the following: “God
Almighty said to the instinctual soul: ‘What am I and
what are you?’ The soul replied: ‘I am myself and You
are Yourself.’ So He punished it and cast it into Hell,
then asked it again. Again it replied: ‘I am myself and
You are Yourself.’ However He punished it, it did not
give up its egoism. Finally He punished it with hunger.
That is, He left it hungry. Then again He asked it:
‘Who am I and who are you?’ And the soul replied:
‘You are my Compassionate Sustainer and I am your
impotent slave.’” O
God! Grant blessings and peace to our master Muhammad,
that will be pleasing to You and fulfilment of his truth
to the number of the merits of the words of the Qur’an
in the month of Ramadan, and to his Family and
Companions, and grant them peace. Limitless
in His glory is your Sustainer, the Lord of Almightiness,
[exalted] above anything that men may devise by way of
definition! * And peace be upon all His message-bearers.
* And all praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of
All the Worlds!4 |
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