Guest Author - Serkan Tufan
Fasting has a connection also with the revelation of the holy Quran
Fasting during Ramadan has a connection also with the revelation of the holy Quran. As is generally known, the Quran began to be revealed in Ramadan. This connection has many implications. One of these is that - just as if the Quran 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 Quran as if it were being revealed for the first time or, if he is able, listen to the Quran 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 Quran in the actions of his daily life and, by conveying its message to the others, demonstrate the Divine purpose for revealing the Quran.
The Muslim world becomes in Ramadan like a huge mosque where millions of reciters recite the Quran, that heavenly address, to the inhabitants of the earth. Demonstrating the reality of the verse, The month of Ramadan, in which the Quran was revealed, Ramadan proves itself to be the month of the Quran: 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. As it is most disagreeable to forsake that heavenly spiritual state by giving in to the prompting of the carnal self to eat and drink in the sacred ‘mosque’, an action that is bound to provoke the dislike of the whole congregation - it is also most disagreeable and must, plainly, provoke the dislike and contempt of the whole Muslim world to oppose the Muslims who fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
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 Quran. 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 Quran 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 Quran recited in the Night of Power is multiplied by thirty thousand. Thus, the Quran, 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 Quran!
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 Lordship. 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 Quran, 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 Quran, 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 Quran, 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 Quran 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.
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 Quran in the month of Ramadan, and to his family and Companions.
Glorified be your Lord, the Lord of Honor 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!
(From the Risale-i Nur Collection)
