Pars Today

Welcome to the 13th episode of the series “Blessed Month of Ramadhan”. As you know, spiritual joys are much more elevated and comforting than materialistic joys. It is appropriate to begin today’s discussion with this important topic.

Mankind naturally seeks joy. The important point is that joys are not limited to materialistic ones, and, in fact, spiritual joys maintain a much more elevated status and are more comforting than materialistic joys. The joy that mankind experiences via kindness and generosity toward others; the joy of acquirement of knowledge and research; the joy of attaining the proper cognizance of the One and Only Creator of the Universe; the joy of performance of the daily ritual prayers and other acts of worship; the joy of fasting in the blessed month of Ramadhan; and the joy of avoidance of sins, are all different types of spiritual joys. Upon experience of these spiritual joys, materialistic joys fade away.

The prominent Iranian thinker, Martyr Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, noted: Mankind maintains two kinds of joys. One of them are materialistic joys which belong to one of our five senses, such as the joy that our eyes experience from seeing; our ears experience from listening; our mouths feel from tasting; and our sense of touch experiences from touching. The other type of joys is the spiritual ones, such as the joy mankind experiences from serving others and solving their problems; the joy of piety, patience and prayers; and the joy we feel from our own, or our children’s success. Spiritual joys are much more powerful and lasting than the materialistic joys. The joy of worship of God and establishment of a bond with the One and Only Creator of the world is indeed a highest form of spiritual joy.” Spiritual joy grants peace of mind and refreshes our soul. Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) always prayed to God to grant Muslims the experience of spiritual joys.

Ayah 3 of Surah al-Houd of Holy Qur’an reads:

“Plead with your Lord for forgiveness, then turn to Him penitently. He will provide you with a good provision for a specified term and grant His grace to every meritorious person. But, if you turn you backs (on Him, i.e. God Almighty), indeed I (the Prophet) fear for you the punishment of a terrible day.”

The commitment of sins is a blow to spirituality and darkens the soul. In fact, sins fades away the spirituality of a person. Commitment of sins creates a gap between the sinner and divine blessings and forgiveness. However, God Almighty, upon assisting mankind, has left the option of repentance open for mankind in order to dispel the barrier in establishment of a bond with Him.

According to this ayah, upon repentance to God and performance of good deeds, God forgives His servants such that in their lifetimes, they benefit from worldly blessings. God also guides His servants toward divine blessings such as security, welfare, and honour. In such a community, people always remember God and are bestowed countless blessings due to their strong faith in God, while sharing their blessings with others in order to remove class and other superficial differences, and contradictions. Meanwhile, God Almighty, in accordance to His tradition, bestows further blessings upon them.

However, in non-religious communities, people are divided into two groups of dominant oppressors, and the downtrodden. As we said earlier, the last part of ayah 3 of Surah al-Houd notes:

“But, if you turn you backs (on Him, i.e. God Almighty), indeed I (the Prophet) fear for you the punishment of a terrible day.”

In such a day, there is no one other than God Almighty for saving mankind.

At times, the colorful dishes of Iftars push those, who fast, toward extravagance and overeating. Wastefulness has been negated by the divine religion of Islam and causes the denial of blessings and deprivation of individuals from their rights. The 31^st ayah of Surat al-A’raf in Holy Qur’an notes:

“Eat and drink, but do not waste; indeed He does not like the wasteful.”

Overeating is the root cause of many physical and mental illnesses and leads to the individuals’ callousness, denying overeaters from tasting the worship of God. The Prophet of Islam noted that stomach problems are the root cause of all ailments, and avoidance of overeating marks the beginning of any remedy.

Overeating stems from a number of problems. Some individuals overeat due to stress or anger, and calm down through overeating. Others overeat and neglect others due to their wealth. However, some others are just overeaters and cannot control themselves, overeating to an extent that causes stomach aches.

In the blessed month of Ramadhan, inclination toward luxury becomes the root cause of overeating and extravagance such that a number of individuals prepare colorful dishes for Iftar, without consideration of the main philosophy behind fasting in the blessed month of Ramadhan.

Member of the academic board of Tehran Medical Sciences University, Dr. Sa’eed Husseini, notes: “If you are interested in eating cookies, your blood sugar may be fluctuating. Eating cakes and chocolates only worsens this problem because your blood sugar increases your appetite. The rise or fall of blood sugar leads to a rise in secretion of insulin, which raises the possibility of contraction of diabetes. Scientifically, overeating leads to ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, and even surges the possibility of contraction of cancer. The blessed month of Ramadhan paves the ground for avoidance of overeating, and one can become immune of the detriments of overeating in this month.”

Thus, one should avoid excessive consumption of fatty and fried foods and should note that fasting can highly contribute to human health through resting body’s digestion system.

AS/ME