Between the two nights FASTING AND POWER

Between the Two Nights

The Mi’raj or ascension of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) to the special Divine presence has historically been recognized to have taken place on Rajab 27. This date appears to be linked in the Islamic calendar to Ramadhan 27, the likely day of the “night of power” or the Lailatul Qadr. It seem that this period of two months is a special season in which the collective spirituality is progressively enhanced until finally the individual effort of even the average worshiper elevates him to eligibility for some form of religious experience. This, in turn, launches him on a path of spiritual growth.

The progressive enhancement begins on Rajab 27, when the worshiper refreshes his memory about the Prophet’s Mi’raj and reminds himself that the five daily prayers (Salat) which were brought down from above in the Mi’raj, is the vehicle for his personal Mi’raj. He thus pays serious attention to improving the quality of his Salat. This involves, most of all, developing a devout frame of mind.

In the month of Shaban he follows the example of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) and fasts time and again to build the momentum with which to prepare the body and the mind for the rigors of the fast of Ramadhan. Thus the preliminary fast of Shaban is added to Salat and worship moves into a higher gear. On Ramadhan 1, not only does the compulsory fast for all adult Muslims begin but, also, there is Qiyam al-Lail or the prayers of the night-vigil, when long passages of the Qur’an are recited. Fasting, the night time prayer vigil and the recitation of the Qur’an have a dramatic impact in effecting a substantial qualitative improvement of worship.

When, on Ramadhan 21, the withdrawal from worldly affairs and seclusion in the Masjid (I’tikaf) for ten days commences, the worshipers reach a pitch or intensity of worship which makes this period most spiritually conducive for religious experience. As he withdraws from the Dunya the veils begin to fall from off his eyes and heart and as a consequence he now perceives the reality of things and of the world. 

Finally comes Ramadhan 27, the night of power (Lailatul Qadr) when Allah Most High sends down the angels and Gabriel for every errand:

“…In hosts descend in it the angels, bearing divine inspiration by their Sustainer’s leave; from all [evil] that may happen…;”  

(Qur’an, al-Qadr, 97:4)

i.e., to bestow, perhaps, the supreme gift of Mi’raj (i.e. a direct visionary experience of the unseen worlds) to all those who have deserved it or who have earned it. When the Qur’an asserts that the night of power is superior to a thousand months:

“The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months.”

(Qur’an, al-Qadr, 97:3) 

the implication is, perhaps, that the direct visionary experience of the unseen worlds which can best be experienced on that night is better than an entire life-span (a thousand months standing for an average life-span) lived without it. 

There are profound psychological and sociological lessons to be learnt from Islam’s fast of Ramadhan. The enhanced collective spirituality of Ramadhan, for example, literally reaches down to embrace even the weakest of the believers and to assist and strengthen their resolve to observe the fast.

Secondly, with the institution of the fast of Ramadhan and its attendant charity, prayers, and the recitation of the Qur’an, Islam takes the believer to the third stage of the process of religious development, the stage of total conformity and harmony with the externally imposed sacred law.

In the first stage, we should recall, the individual was invited to enter into Islam and to submit publicly to the Truth. In the second stage, on the other hand, the process witnessed the internalization of the externally proclaimed belief. This was the stage of faith or Iman. With the achievement of stage three or al-Ihsan, and with the possible vision of the unseen worlds, the believer now acquires the capacity to see with the internal eye what previously could not be seen. Thus it is that the Fast of Ramadhan delivers the capacity for internal intuitive spiritual insight with which to penetrate the reality of things and not to be deceived by appearance. Such a capacity constitutes a vital dimension of power.

Source: Fasting and Power 

To Be Continued ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipTVRuWfX_o

Fasting in Islam – laws and linkages

Fasting in Islam – Laws and Linkages

T he compulsory fast of Islam is to be observed during Ayyam M’aduda (a fixed period of time):

“[fasting] is during a certain specific number of days…” 

 (Qur’an, al-Baqarah 2:184)

and the Qur’an identifies this fixed time as the lunar month of Ramadhan in the Hijri calendar:

“It was the month of Ramadhan in which the Qur’an was [first] bestowed from on high …. Hence, whoever of you lives to see this month shall fast throughout it ….”

 (Qur’an, al-Baqarah 2:185)

The compulsory fast commences when the new crescent moon of Ramadhan is visible, or when the month of Shaban (which precedes Ramadhan) has completed its thirtieth day, whichever is first. The fast is observed daily from dawn to sunset. During this time one must refrain from eating or drinking anything. One must also refrain from sexual intercourse. After the sun has set and the daily fast has ended, one may partake of food and drink, and may engage in sexual relations. The month-long fast ends when the new crescent moon of Shawwal is visible or the month of Ramadhan has completed its thirtieth day, whichever is first.

In the very process of instituting fasting with an imperishable link with the lunar month – a span of time determined by nature – of which Allah Most High is the author, the Qur’an provides a built-in mechanism in religion which safeguards against the process of the secularization of time.

The Qur’an itself claims that it was revealed in the month of Ramadhan, and this was so momentous an occasion that the believers were required to fast for the entire month in order to show their gratitude to Allah Most High. And so Islam forged an imperishable link between the revealed scripture (the Qur’an) and fasting. Now this is a matter of great importance for, as we have already noted, the goal of fasting is Taqwa and Taqwa ‘reaches’ Allah Most High. The Qur’an, on the other hand, is an unbroken link between man and Allah Most High. It is the Word of Allah Most High and hence possesses the Divine quality of uncreated eternity. Yet it exists in a living human language (Arabic) and is thus readily accessible. The Qur’an is, therefore, a rope from Allah by holding on to which man can either ascend to Allah, or be drawn to Allah:

“And hold fast, all together, unto the rope of Allah, and do not draw apart from one another…”

 (Qur’an, ale-’Imran, 3:103)

In the secular society the fast of Ramadhan plays the strategically important role of restoring the consciousness of the existence of the unseen world and of the revelations which have been sent from that world as guidance for mankind. Once such Divine revelations are accepted by man, he is obliged to submit to them.

We are also informed that the Qur’an was revealed (or sent down) on a single night in Ramadhan, namely the ‘grand night’ or the ‘night of power’ (Lailatul Qadr). Now this is a matter of tremendous importance. Ramadhan is the month of the compulsory fast, and Ramadhan is also the month in which is located the night when the Qur’an was revealed. That night is the night of power. There is, therefore, a clear link between fasting and power, a link determined by Allah Most High Himself Who chose Ramadhan for the compulsory month-long fast. Our view is that the power of that holy night is actually spiritual power. And Allah Knows best!.

Historically, however, it is clear that the Qur’an actually reached the Prophet (through the medium of the archangel Gabriel) in bits and pieces over a period of twenty-three years. The explanation for this appearance of contradiction is that when Allah said that He sent down the Qur’an in Ramadhan, what He meant was that the Qur’an was sent down to the lowest heaven (al-Sama al-Dunya) in Ramadhan during the “night of power.” Indeed, it still exists there where its verses (ayah) adorn the lowest heaven as lamps:

“And, indeed, We have adorned the Sama nearest to the earth with lights…”  (a Sama is a world of space and time that is located beyond/beside/parallel to the material universe)

 (Qur’an, al-Mulk, 67:5) 

Like all the other revealed scriptures, the Qur’an is described as a light from Allah Most High and therefore each verse of the Qur’an is a “light”:

“Believe then, [O men,] in Allah and His Apostle, and in the light [of revelation] which We have bestowed [on you] from on high! And Allah is fully aware of all that you do.”

 (Qur’an, al-Taghabun, 64:8)

It was, therefore, from the lowest heaven that the angel Gabriel brought the Qur’an piecemeal to the heart of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) over a period of twenty-three years. The first revelation came to the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) on the ‘night of power’ when he was meditating in the Cave of Hira! Allah Most High chose to give to the night of the first revelation the name ‘night of power’. He could have named it the night of ‘Truth’, or of ‘Peace’, or of ‘Deen.’ He did not! Since He named it the ‘night of power’, the implication is that the Qur’an contains within it that through which power can be acquired! We thus have linkages between fasting and power, and between the Qur’an and power i.e., spiritual power!

In the establishment of a direct link between the month-long compulsory fast of Ramadhan and the continuous recitation and study of the revealed scripture (Qur’an), religion has, in fact, reached a stage in its development never reached before. No other religious community was ordered to fast for as long a period as one month of every year. Nor was fasting so organically linked to the recitation of the revealed scripture in any previous religious community*. Not only do Muslims recite the Qur’an while fasting but, in addition, they perform during the nights of Ramadhan, the prayers of the “night vigil” (Qiyam al-Lail or Tarawih) in which the entire Qur’an is sometimes recited. This recitation, like all others in Salat, is always performed in the original Arabic text of the Qur’an.

[*Muslims, indeed, are so fond of reciting the Qur’an while fasting that the writer was amazed when, as a young student just arrived in Cairo, he found so many people reciting the Qur’an while traveling in crowded buses to work in the mornings of Ramadhan. Some, in fact, were standing in those packed buses with one hand clasping the Qur’an and the other holding the rail.]

Although the Qur’an recognized that other religious scriptures also possess “light” (Qur’an, al-Ma’ida, 5:47-49), and hence can be used in conjunction with fasting for achieving spiritual mobility, a major problem exists since people are seldom in a position to recite their scriptures in the original language in which they were revealed, and in which language alone they possess ‘light’. Such scriptures no longer exist in their original language, and when they do, the language is either dead or archaic and hence not readily accessible to the believing masses. Only a very tiny fraction of Christians today have ever read the Hebrew Bible, for example.

In a very real sense, the Qur’an is, perhaps, the only revealed scripture which is readily accessible today to the overwhelming majority of those who believe in it, accessible, that is, in the original language and text in which it was revealed. This supports the claim of the book to be the revealed Word of the One and only God!

Source: Fasting and Power 

To Be Continued ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipTVRuWfX_o