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The
month of Ramadan is one of abundance, described in the
Qur’an, itself sent down as a guide to all of mankind, as
“better than a thousand months” (Surat al-Qadr: 3) and
which contains the Night of Power. Throughout this month all
the Muslims of the world carry out their fasting obligation
as one and thank their Lord for the blessings He has given
them. In Surat al-Baqara, Allah proclaims the following
about the month of Ramadan:
"The month of Ramadan is the one in which the
Qur’an was sent down as guidance for mankind, with Clear
Signs containing guidance and discrimination. Any of you who
are resident for the month should fast it. But any of you
who are ill or on a journey should fast a number of other
days. Allah desires ease for you; He does not desire
difficulty for you. You should complete the number of days
and proclaim Allah’s greatness for the guidance He has
given you so that hopefully you will be thankful."
(Surat al-Baqara: 185)
The
Importance of Ramadhan
In
one of his sayings our Prophet (saas) emphasizes the
importance of Ramadan as follows:
"Oh
people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month...
month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast
by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer
(to Allah) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in
(this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an
obligatory deed at any other time... It is the month of
patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the
month of charity, and a month in which a believer's
sustenance is increased..." (narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah)
Regarding
the rite of fasting, which God has made a religious
obligation observed during the month of Ramadan, the
following is revealed:
“You
who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was
prescribed for those before you—so that hopefully you will
have taqwa”
(Surat al-Baqara: 183)
and
“That you should fast is better for you, if you only
knew.”
(Surat al-Baqara: 184)
.
Fasting
is a duty that brings countless benefits to Muslims. This
obligation, fulfilled by all Muslims together, further
increases the enthusiasm of and solidarity between Muslims,
who are dispersed all over the world. The fact it is
observed en masse further increases its spiritual nature.
One
of the many instances of wisdom in fasting is that thanks to
this act of worship people are better able to understand the
blessings they enjoy. Even for a sincere Muslim there is a
danger of taking the blessings he enjoys for granted. That
prevents a person from giving thanks for the blessings given
him by Allah in the way he should. In a number of verses,
however, Allah has told people they should give thanks to
Him for the blessings He has imparted, and that those who do
so will be given still greater blessings. A person who fasts
is protected from the danger of being led by Satan to forget
these things and take the blessings given to him for
granted. Someone who has never thought deeply before, begins
to consider how many things Allah has given him, and what
great blessings all things are. He therefore gives thanks
again and again for all the opportunities and health he
enjoys. In short, as Bediuzzaman Said Nursi has said,
fasting in Ramadan is “the key to a true, sincere,
extensive, and universal thankfulness.” (The Risale-i Nur
Collection, Letters, The Twenty-Ninth Letter, The Second
Section, Second Point)
God
desires not difficulty but ease for His servants, and
determined as their religion those values that best conform
to their needs, wishes and manner of living. In a verse of
the Qur'an, our Lord commands as follows:
...Today disbelievers have despaired of overcoming your
religion. So do not be afraid of them but be afraid of Me.
Today I have perfected your religion for you and completed
My blessing upon you and I am pleased with Islam as a
religion for you...
(Sura al-Ma'ida: 3)
.
Fasting
And Modern Day Assumptions
There
are those who live by modern-day as well as social
standards, who accept the rules applied by the majority as
absolute facts and use them to try and interpret the Qur'an.
People like this make up the majority of those who try to
object to the Qur'an, even though they are the least
educated and cultured. It is possible to come across such
people in every profession and part of society. They make up
a majority, who do not think too deeply or possess a certain
world-view, and are obsessed only with worldly pursuits and
are only focused on their livelihood. Since they seek simple
pleasures, small calculations and profits, they perceive the
Qur'an as a threat that would limit their so-called freedom,
alter their simple lifestyles or expectations, and the order
to which they are accustomed. Therefore, they try to oppose
the Qur'an with their primitive logic.
Members
of this group make the same comments about the Qur'an that
they have heard from others, ideas originally not their own.
They usually make unreasonable and ignorant remarks about
the Qur'an using sentences that begin with such words as,
"In the 21st century…", "In our day and
age…", "In the space age….", "In the
West…." , and so on.
They
propose that the lifestyle described in the Qur'an and that
of our own time are incompatible, and that the former is in
fact outdated. From that perspective they subsequently make
false claims concerning the Qur'an. For example, they
claim that such things as fasting and prayer interfere with
the pace of the modern lifestyle, that the Islamic ban on
interest cannot be practiced under current economic
conditions and even that the prohibition of adultery in this
day and age is evidence of the impossibility of applying the
Qur'an to our daily lives.
They
apply superficial logic and display great ignorance when
addressing the topics of the prayers, commands, and
prohibitions in the Qur'an. They introduce arguments about
the wisdom in some commands which they do not understand or
the verses that they cannot comprehend. Worse still, they
defend their illogical claims with great ferocity. This
stems in part from the fact that what they are defending
with such eagerness is based on the ideas of the majority,
rather than on logic or reason.
They
accept society's general lifestyle and world-view, which
they refer to as "the facts of life," as the
absolute truth and seek errors and discrepancies in the
Qur'an by taking them as a point of reference. The notions
they use as criteria have no actual scientific or logical
worth. The concepts that they assume to be the absolute
truth, "the facts of life" or the requirements of
the modern age, are in fact illusions with which they only
deceive themselves and provide psychological support for one
another.
We are informed, in the Qur'an, of the twisted path of these
people, who gather all their strength from being part of the
majority and think that they are on the right path since
they are in harmony with everyone else:
If
you obeyed most of those on earth, they would misguide you
from God's Way. They follow nothing but conjecture. They are
only guessing.
(Surat al-An'am: 116)
www.harunyahya.com
info@harunyahya.com
Reference: The Risale-i Nur
Collection, Letters, The Twenty-Ninth Letter, The Second
Section, Second Point
The Holy Quoran
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