Spiritual delights of fasting Ramadhan (19)

Today on the 19th 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, grant me this day an ample share of its blessings; ease my way to its goods and bounties; and do not deprive me from receiving its graces, O Guide to the manifest truth!”

Today we start our programme on a sad note, since it is the 19^th day of Ramadhan, the day on which in the in the pre-dawn hours, one of the greatest tragedies took place in the history of Islam and mankind. It is the day when during the Fajr or Ritual Morning Prayer, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), was struck a fatal blow on his head by the poisoned sword of the renegade Ibn Muljam al-Moradi. As the divinely-designated successor of the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), the first phrase that came to the lips of Imam Ali (AS) on being struck the fatal blow, was “Fozto wa Rabb’il-Ka’ba” – which means: By the Lord of the Ka’ba I have triumphed.”

We offer heartfelt condolences on this tragic day, and continue our daily programme on the Spiritual Delights of Fasting Ramadhan.

God Almighty, once addressing Prophet Moses (PuH) said: O Moses anyone who loves Me, does not forget Me; and whoever is hopeful of My mercy, insists on his requests from Me. O Moses I never ignore My servants but I would like My angels to hear the whisper of supplication of My servants.

The holy Qur’an, in Surah Zumar, ayah 53 says:

“Say [that Allah declares,] ‘O My servants who have committed excesses against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed Allah will forgive all sins. Indeed He is the All-Forgiving, the All-Merciful.”

In view of these words of God, Fasting could be likened to a firm shield against carnal desires. By fasting, we make our selves immune to undesirable tendencies in addition to attaining self-purification.

Here we would like to present an interesting parable of two brothers who were working on a farm which they inherited from their father. One day they argued and after a few weeks their differences intensified and they separated from each other. Once someone knocked the door of the elder brother, and when he opened the door he saw a carpenter who said he was looking for a job. The elder brother answered that he was in need of a carpenter and employed him. Then he said to the carpenter: Look at that water canal in the middle of the farm; my neighbor who is actually my younger brother hired some people to dig up and build a canal between our parts of this farm; he did this due to his hostility towards me. Then pointing to a warehouse, he told the carpenter that there are some blocks of woods over there, and I want you to build a wooden barrier between our parts of the farm so that I do not see my brother anymore.

The carpenter started his work, and the elder brother went to the city for shopping. When in the evening he returned he was amazed. He saw that instead of a wall, the carpenter had built a bridge between the two parts of the farm over the canal. He got very angry and said: Didn’t I tell you to build a wall?

At that moment the younger brother came and saw the bridge. He crossed it to the side of the farm of his brother, embraced him and apologized to him for digging a canal to divide the farm.

This parable teaches us an important lesson. It means that we should build bridges to overcome our differences, rather than creating walls of mistrust. It is Islam and belief in its ethereal values that teaches us to bury differences. A dialogue can remove many differences. It will make us see our own faults to which we are oblivious because of a false sense of pride, and undue confidence in our own faulty substandard work. We should appreciate the qualities of the others. Suspicion has been reproached in many ayahs and narrations. In Surah Yunus, ayah 36, God says:

“Most of them just follow conjecture; indeed conjecture is no substitute for the truth. Indeed Allah knows best what they do.”

The main reason for conjecture is hearsay. We should not believe in whatever we say. If we criticize others behind their backs, we should be sure that we have our own graver shortcomings that deserve more criticism.

Now we will have a glance at a Munajaat or Whispered Supplication of the Prophet’s 4^th Infallible Heir, Imam Zain al-Abedin. In this supplication he teaches us the way of thanksgiving and how to express gratitude to the bounties of God the All-Merciful. He says:

“Your favours have wrapped me in the robes of the lights of faith, and the gentleness of Your goodness have let down over me delicate curtains of might! Your kindnesses have collared me with collars not to be moved and adorned me with neck-rings not to be broken!”

The Imam likens the light of faith to an ornament that adorns us. Such phrases have been used by God in several ayahs of the holy Qur’an, which indicate the internal case of faith. On the contrary, seizing the property of orphans is like consuming fire. In Surah Nisa, ayah 10, God says:

“Indeed those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully only ingest fire into their bellies, and soon they will enter the Blaze.”

In the same manner, backbiting is tantamount to eating the flesh of a dead brother. In Surah Hujurat, ayah 12, God says:

“And do not spy on or backbite one another. Will any of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother?”

In his Munajaat Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) teaches us the manner of supplicating to God with the words:

“My God, as You have fed us through Your gentleness and nurtured us through Your benefaction, so also complete for us lavish favours, repel from us detested acts of vengeance, and of the shares of the two abodes, give us their most elevated and their greatest, both the immediate and the deferred! To You belongs praise for Your good trial and the lavishness of Your favours, a praise conforming to Your good pleasure and attracting Your great goodness and magnanimity. O All-mighty, O All-generous! By Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful!”

AS/SS