FROM MAULANA’S DESK
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims . His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi.
RAMAZAN
THE month of Ramazan is the ninth month according to the lunar calendar. The month in which the revelation of the Quran began. The first revelation was made to the Prophet when he was in the cave of Hira, and it continued for the next 23 years, finally reaching completion in Madinah.
The guidance given in the Quran is the best blessing to humankind from God, because it shows man the path to ultimate success. It tells man how to conduct himself so that in his eternal life he can gain entry into Paradise. Paradise is the goal of man. The month of Ramazan is an annual reminder of this blessing. The celebration of the revelation of the Quran is not observed in the usual way but by abstinence and being thankful to the Almighty. Fasting in this month is acknowledgement of divine blessings. It is like saying, ‘O Lord I have heard and I accept.’
This is a month during which the Quran should be read and understood. When the Quran is read during the month of its revelation, it reminds us of the time when divine light from heaven fell upon the earth. Man remembers this and calls out, ‘O Lord, fill my heart with Your divine light and make me among those who are near you’. When he reads about Hell and Paradise, his inner self cries out, ‘O Lord, save me from Hell, and let me enter Paradise’.
In this way the Quran becomes a guiding force in man’s life. He earns his livelihood according to its dictates, he bathes in the ocean of its message cleansing his soul. The Quran is a reward from God to His servants. And fasting is acknowledgement of the reward. The main aim of fasting is to lessen a person’s dependence on material things and strengthen his spiritual resolve, so that he may enter the higher realms of piety. Fasting is thus a stimulus for spiritual and intellectual development. Once made aware of his own helplessness as he is deprived of his basic needs of food and water, the fasting person connects to God with sincere prayer. The practice of fasting is also largely aimed at saving a person from distractions. It produces sincerity. It draws a person’s attention away from the external world and into the internal world. Hence fasting prepares one for the study of the Quran. And when a person studies the Quran with a well-prepared mind, one can understand the teachings and message in greater depth.
The celebration of the revelation of the Quran is observed by abstinence and being thankful to the Almighty. Fasting in this month is acknowledgement of divine blessings. It is like saying, ‘O Lord I have heard and I accept.’
Ramazan provides a framework within which devotees may improve themselves. Ramazan thus becomes a month of spiritual activism not material activism. The month of fasting is a period of spiritual purification. A time of proximity to the Lord, it is a special month of training meant to engender all those qualities desirable in Islam. The Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say in the chapter on fasting:
The month of Ramazan in Islam is observed as a period of penitence and total fasting from dawn to dusk. Penitence, undoubtedly an important part of Islam, so permeates the entire Islamic system, that no Islamic act, including fasting, is devoid of this spirit. However, while enjoining fasting, the Quran tells us that its special significance in the month of Ramazan is thanksgiving as well as penitence.
Fasting—an experience of powerlessness despite the possession of power is an annual exercise in self-discipline. And only that person has fasted in the true sense of the word, who emerges from the experience not only a thankful and pious devotee of God, but also a human being in complete control of his thoughts, words and deeds.
The fasting person repeatedly reads in the Quran that God is the Sustainer, that is, while man is the taker, God is the Giver. Everything that a person receives in this world, right from his existence and the oxygen he inhales to stay alive, to the sunlight necessary for his survival, everything is God’s gift. When a person starts to think in this way, he experiences a tremendous change within. He begins living in society as a giver-member. He becomes a creative member of society.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that what one witnesses during the month of Ramazan in the present culture is extravagance in eating and shopping which is totally contradictory to what the Quran wants of the believers. Do not judge Islam in the light of Muslim behaviour but judge Muslims in the light of Islam. Fasting, the third pillar of Islam, inclines one to become a student of the Quran and, by seriously studying the Quran, one discovers those principles by which one may develop one’s personality and become a peaceful person who contributes positively to society.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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