Spiritual delights of fasting Ramadhan (9)

Today on the 9th day of the blessed month of Ramadhan, we start our daily programme titled “Spiritual Delights of Fasting Ramadhan” with the special supplication for the day:

“O Allah! Appoint me a portion this day of Your all-embracing mercy; guide me therein to Your clear and bright proofs; and draw me with my forelock towards Your all-around approval; with Your love, O Hope of the ardent!”

The blessed month of Ramadhan is the best opportunity for striving towards spiritual perfection. God Almighty has opened the gates of His blessings and mercy for His servants, and promised great rewards for those who do good deeds and abstain from evil. Some people, when God bestows upon them blessings become mean and stingy. But the pious persons, when God grants them gifts, they invite others to their tables. In other words, the pious are those who, when God grants them honour and dignity, do not want all for themselves, but use it for solving the problems of others. They act as a guarantee for someone who wants to take loan, or if they acquire knowledge they teach it to others. The least a good person can do is to supplicate to God to resolve the problems of fellow humans, especially in this blessed month of Ramadan. It means that whatever goodness you seek, also wish it for others. Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), the 5^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), says that praying to God for your brethren-in-faith, makes the prayer facilitates the acceptance of the prayer in the Divine Court. The Prophet’s 6^th Infallible Successor, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS) stresses that such supplication to God increases your own sustenance and averts calamities.

Psychologists believe that life is not without problems. But what makes a person totally succumb to the problems of life is lack of faith in God to stand up to psychological pressures. The first important point in dealing with hardships is that mankind should think of the positive results that problems might create for him. It is evident that problems boost human moral and increase the power of toleration. The Prophet's First Infallible Successor, Imam Ali (AS), says the wood of trees growing in an arid region is harder than the wood of trees that grow beside rivers and streams. The Imam means to say that since such trees grow in intolerable conditions they are more resistant than the other trees. Sometimes God examines us with hardships so that our essence and degree of faith, or lack of it, becomes manifest. In many instances problems strengthen faith and make us turn these problems into opportunities in our quest for achieving perfection. Martyr Morteza Motaharri had said: Divine trial is aimed at testing our will for perfection of our own characteristics. God exposes mankind to calamities in order to strengthen the spiritual aspects. Therefore problems and hardships play an important role in making hidden talents flower. It is here that the fasting month of Ramadhan comes to our rescue to reform us and build our personalities.

"My God, though my stores for traveling to You are few, my confidence in You has given me a good opinion. Though my sin has made me fear Your punishment, my hope has let me feel secure from Your vengeance. Though my misdeed has exposed me to Your punishment, my excellent trust has apprised me of Your reward. Though heedlessness has put to sleep my readiness to meet You, knowledge has awakened me to Your generosity and boons. Though excessive disobedience and rebellion have estranged me from You, the glad tidings of forgiveness and good pleasure have made me feel intimate with You."

What you just heard was a passage from a Munajaat or Whispered Supplications of the Night taught to us by the Prophet’s 4^th Infallible Successor, Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS). The passage starts with man’s concern for failing to procure enough provision in the long journey of the Hereafter, but immediately he pins hope in the Infinite Mercy of God Almighty. It means that trust in God Almighty creates hope for obtaining divine mercy, and makes a person contented with whatever God has decreed. Let us listen to another passage from a Munajaat from the 4^th Imam:

“Here am I, addressing myself to the breezes of Your freshness and tenderness, having recourse to the rain of Your generosity and gentleness, fleeing from Your displeasure to Your good pleasure…hoping for the best of what is with You, relying upon Your gifts!”

In this Munajaat Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) teaches us how to supplicate to God, by seeking refuge in the mercy of God from His wrath. Thus trust in God, Who loves us more than our parents do, removes despair and despondency from life. In ayah 6 of Suran Towbah God tells Prophet Mohammad (SAWA):

“If any of the polytheists seeks asylum from you, grant him asylum until he hears the Word of Allah. Then convey him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know.”

This ayah is ample proof of the humanitarian nature of Islam, which considers all humanity to be the descendants of one single pair of humans, and all equal in the sight of God the All-Forgiving, Who wants the sinner to repent, and the unbelievers to acquire faith and return to Him, their Loving Creator. Thus no sin is bigger, and it is repentance in the Divine Court that washes away sins. These are the lessons that we learn from the blessed month of Ramadhan, the month of fasting in which, by leading a God-oriented life, we can serve as models, and invite to the path of truth, even the polytheists and the unbelievers. 

AS/MG