The Supreme Leader's View of the Holy Month of Ramadan

The Supreme Leader's View of the Holy Month of Ramadan
17/09/2008

In the Name of the Most High

In fact, the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan is a great Eid for Muslims. It behooves believers to congratulate one another on this occasion and advise one another to make the best of this month. As Ramadan is a month for receiving divine grace, only the faithful and those who are qualified are allowed to take advantage of this blessing. This grace is not part of the general blessings granted by God to all human beings and all sentient beings. Ramadan is a special blessing to those who are special to Allah.

The crux of the matter is that man - being surrounded by different factors that entice him away from God and His path and being dragged by various motives towards degeneration - is given the opportunity in this month to edify his soul, which has a tendency to purification. In this month, man is given the opportunity to get closer to God and acquire divine characteristics. The holy month of Ramadan is a new opportunity for self-education, self-improvement, and close familiarity with Allah.

The blessings of Ramadan originate from those faithful Muslims who fast during this month. These blessings originate from their hearts. The first thing that is affected by the blessings of this month is the souls and hearts of believers and those who fast during this holy and auspicious month. Fasting, reciting the Quran, and gaining further familiarity with the special prayers of this month prepare the ground for spiritual purification, and we all need this purification.

Every year Ramadan offers man a piece of heaven, which comes as a respite in the material hell in which we live. It provides us with the opportunity to take advantage of divine grace and get a feel of heaven. Some people enter heaven only for one month. Others make better use of the blessings of this month and live in heaven for an entire year or their entire lifetime. There is another group of people who let this opportunity pass them by, which is a cause of sorrow and loss for them. Obtaining the power to fight one's passions in this month is a great blessing, which has to be preserved. Those who suffer form the tendency to give in to carnal desires - whenever it is possible for them to give in to these desires - can overcome this tendency in the month of Ramadan, and they must preserve this immunity.

All misfortunes of man are caused by the tendency to give in to human passions. All types of oppression, hypocrisy, injustice, oppressive wars, corrupt governments, and inclination among nations to give in to oppression are caused by this tendency. If man gets the power to overcome his passions, he will achieve salvation. Ramadan provides us with this opportunity.

Therefore, the bottom line is to avoid sins. And we must, by Allah's favor, try to keep clear of sins through self-education and living an ascetic life. If we manage to avoid sins, we will be able to purify our souls and direct them into heaven. If we do so, we will be able to accomplish the spiritual and divine edification that has been planned for man. But when we are weighed down by our sins, this edification will be impossible. Ramadan provides us with a good opportunity to avoid sins.

Fasting that is usually regarded as a divine responsibility is in fact a divine blessing. It is an invaluable opportunity for those who fast. Of course, fasting has its own hardships. Not all beneficial and auspicious things that we do are free from hardships. Man is unlikely to achieve much without enduring hardships. Compared with the benefits, the hardships that result from fasting are negligible.

Fasting consists of three levels, each of which is beneficial to those who fast. The first level is to avoid eating, drinking, and doing something that has been declared haraam. Even if our fasting is limited to this simple abstinence, it will bring about many benefits: it is both an instructive lesson and a test. It is a kind of physical exercise.

There is a tradition by Imam Sadiq which says "in order to equalize with it the haves and have-nots." [227]. Allah the Exalted has made fasting obligatory in order to make the wealthy and the poor equal in the month of Ramadan. The poor cannot afford to eat and drink whatever they desire. But the wealthy can buy whatever they like. Wealthy people cannot understand what poverty and hunger mean. But when people are fasting, they all become equal as they choose to deprive themselves of physical desires.

Those who experience hunger and thirst can understand these realities, and they are able to tolerate similar hardships. Ramadan grants people the power to endure hardships. It grants people the patience that is required for doing their religious responsibilities and for divine asceticism. All these benefits accrue from this first level. In addition to the opportunity to avoid eating and other acts that are normally permissible, fasting grants one such invaluable things as spiritual qualities, serenity, and subtlety.

Avoiding sins constitutes the second level of fasting. At this level, one must keep one's ears, eyes, tongue, and heart - and according to some traditions even one's skin and hair - from committing sins.

You must avoid sins as you avoid eating, drinking, and physical desires. This is a higher level of fasting. The month of Ramadan provides a great opportunity to practice avoiding sins.

So the second level requires that we distance ourselves from sins. You dear youth must make better use of this opportunity. You are young, and young people can make better use of this opportunity because of their strength and pure hearts. During this month, you must make the best of this opportunity and practice avoiding sins as the second level of fasting.

The third level of fasting requires that we avoid anything that turns our minds and souls away from the remembrance of God. This is the highest level. The heart is enlightened as fasting helps revive the remembrance of God and create divine understanding in the heart. Therefore, anything that turns one away from the remembrance of God is harmful at this level of fasting. Blessed are those who manage to reach this level.

Ramadan is a month for invigoration, a month in which people must make the best of the spiritual resources provided by God. In this month, people must prepare themselves for making progress. Ramadan is an invaluable opportunity. If you pay enough attention to its prayers, religious responsibilities, fasting, and dhikrs and add to these the recitation of the Quran - it has been said that Ramadan is the best time for reciting the Quran - it will be a new opportunity for salvation from corruption and similar maladies.

In the month of Ramadan - each day and night of it - you must try your utmost to further enlighten your hearts through remembering God so that you are prepared to enter Laylat al-Qadr. "Laylat al-Qadr is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend in it by the permission of their Lord -- for every affair --." Laylat al-Qadr is the night angels connect the earth to heaven, enlighten hearts, and shed the light of God's favor and grace on human life. It is the night for spiritual health, a night for curing moral, spiritual, physical, and social maladies, which have unfortunately plagued many nations throughout the world, especially Muslim nations. It is possible to get rid of all these maladies in Laylat al-Qadr, provided that we prepare ourselves for it.

Each year is blessed with a golden opportunity, and the holy month of Ramadan is that opportunity. During the month of Ramadan hearts become tender, souls are purified, and human beings get ready to receive Allah's special grace. All people avail themselves of divine blessings the amount of which is proportional to their capacities and efforts. Eid ul-Fitr arrives after the end of this holy month. Eid ul-Fitr is a day in which one can make use of one's achievements during the month of Ramadan and set out on the straight divine path and avoid diversion. Eid ul-Fitr is the day for receiving one's awards and witnessing divine grace after the month of Ramadan.

Eid ul-Fitr marks one's determination to prepare for the arrival of the next Ramadan. It is necessary to prepare ourselves for Ramadan if we are determined to take advantage of divine blessings and enter the auspicious nights of Qadr. We must prepare ourselves during the 11 months that precede each Ramadan. You must determine to have such good characteristics next year so that you are qualified to benefit from the next month of Ramadan. This is the greatest blessing that one can ever receive, and it provides the means to be successful in all aspects of life related to this world and the hereafter and to oneself, one's relatives, and the Islamic community.

If we enter the month of Ramadan with enough preparation, we will be able to benefit more from the divine blessings, and we will be able to reach a higher level the next year. Then you will notice the pleasing effects both in your heart and soul as well as in your social life.

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