Secrets of Ramadan:
Since Man appeared on earth -since Adam’s era- the Creator (Allah) 1, the Lord of the universe sent messengers. He chose the most pious and devoted man in his people to be a Prophet and judge between them, to remind them with sincere servitude to the one and only God. Whenever people twist the message of previous messengers, deviate from the right path and worship others, Allah would send a new messenger to lead people and bring them back to the right path. These messengers would direct them again to worship the Creator alone.
The Creator said:
We 2 have surely sent you with the truth as a deliverer of good news and a warner. There is no community that has not had a warner (Qur’an3 35 :24).
The Creator sent one clear, simple message to all nations and one way of salvation. The message is: Believing in one God (the Creator), worshiping Him alone. The existence of a messenger among his people was considered as a lamp that enlightens the way to his followers. The messenger clarified for them the meaning of achieving the salvation, by following the messenger’s teachings and his acts in worshiping the Creator alone, not as some wrongly understand and make their messenger a mediator between them and the Creator in order to come closer to Him, through the messenger.
There is a difference between the term god and the term Creator.
It is essential for a person to have faith in a deity, whether it is belief in the true God or in any false deity. They may refer to this deity as ‘god’ or by any other name. This ‘god’ could be a tree, a star in the sky, a woman, his boss at work, a scientific theory, or even their own identity, Nevertheless, it is necessary to believe in something that they follow and sanctify, shaping their way of life, and they may even be willing to sacrifice for it. This is what we call worship. Worshiping the true God frees a person from slavery to others.
The Creator should be the only God for every human being. The word “Allah” means the one and only God Who has no partner or son. He is the Creator.
Let’s start the journey!
I was astonished one day that a non-Muslim woman had a strong hatred for the month of Ramadan, since her Muslim husband does not perform any of the pillars of Islam except fasting, and this lady could not stop him from doing that, even though he lives far away from any social influence, as he lives outside his country.
I had a conviction at that time that a person’s extreme hatred of a ritual in Islam means that this ritual has secrets, great virtue, and has a special importance to God, which made some non-Muslims angry with it.
But what are these secrets?
Among the verses that caught my attention in the Holy Qur’an was verse 183 of Surah Al-Baqarah (the cow), which tells us that fasting is prescribed for Muslims as it was prescribed for those before them.
The Creator said:
O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become righteous ( Qur’an 2 :183).
The also Creator said:
O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may ˹get to˺ know one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware (Qur’an 49 :13).
The purpose of cultivating awareness of the Creator’s presence and fostering mindfulness of His omniscience ( righteousness) is the essence of fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Piety (righteousness) is the degree to which a person feels that the Creator is watching him. A person in his home can eat and drink without anyone seeing him, but he knows full well that the Creator is watching him. That is why the Creator prescribed fasting for all nations, as mentioned in the previous verse. The month of Ramadan is a training to raise the degree of feeling that the person is being watched by the Creator, Whenever the degree rises, this person is more honorable and better in the eyes of the Creator, according to the noble verse above.
Amish Dialogue:
I remember a conversation I had with an Amish American about the mention of Ramadan in the Old Testament. He was surprised and asked me to give him details on this point. He said that in their village, which is located between America and Canada, he had never heard of Islam before.
I told him: Muslims do not believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament which exist today are the words of the Creator, this is because they believe they were distorted and changed by their people . However, Muslims believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament came from valid sources which are the Torah and the Gospel that the Creator revealed to His prophets Moses and Jesus Christ peace be upon them. Therefore, some parts of the Old Testament and New Testament for Muslims are from the Creator and other parts were added, removed or changed.
It is known that a strictly lunar calendar used in the Islamic world today, was also used by the followers of Moses, peace be upon him, in ancient covenants. In other words, all the dates mentioned in the books of the Old and New Testaments are originally lunar.
It is worth noting that verse 25 of Surat Al-Kahf (the cave), “and they stayed in their cave for three hundred years, adding nine” denotes the conversion factor from the Gregorian year to the lunar year, 1, 03 (the result of dividing 309 Lunar year by 300 Gregorian years = 1, 03).
So, let’s get acquainted with what was mentioned in some books of the Old Testament about the ninth month of the lunar year, which is known for Muslims as the month of Ramadan.
The moon was created by God to determine the months.
He made the moon to mark the months, and the sun sets according to a regular schedule (The Book of Psalms 104:19).
Fasting the ninth month.
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the LORD (The Book of Jeremiah 36:9).
Fasting starts morning and ends evening.
They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword (2 Samuel 1:12).
Fasting by abstaining from food and drink.
Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:28).
Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? (The book of Zechariah 7:5-6).
Proclaim a retreat (I’tikaf) at the house of God during the month of fasting.
Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people of the land into the Temple of the LORD your God (tell the leaders and people to come together at the temple. Order them to go without eating and to pray sincerely), and cry out to Him there. (The Book of Joel 1:14).
Celebrating the holiday when seeing the crescent.
Blow a horn in the month, In the new moon, at the day of our festival (The Book of Psalm 81:3).
God says in the Holy Qur’an about the ninth month of the lunar calendar (Ramadan):
The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So, whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. God intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify God for that[to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful (Qur’an 2:185).
He says as well:
You may˺ eat and drink until you see the light of dawn breaking the darkness of night, then complete the fast until nightfall. Do not be intimate with your spouses while you are meditating in the mosques. These are the limits set by Allah, so do not exceed them. This is how Allah makes His revelations clear to people, so they may become mindful ˹of Him˺ (Qur’an 2:187).
And He says:
Fast a prescribed number of days. But whoever among you is sick, or on a journey, then a number of other days. For those who are able: a ransom of feeding a needy person. But whoever volunteers goodness, it is better for him. But to fast is best for you, if you only knew (Qur’an 2:184).
God’s description of fasting Ramadan came as “ prescribed number of days”, because fasting days begins and ends with the sighting of the crescent.
Receiving the word of God during the ninth month of the lunar calendar (Ramadan):
Prophet Haggai:
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai (The Book of Haggai 2:10).
From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid. Give careful thought (The Book of Haggai 2:18).
Prophet Zachariah:
In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev (The book of Zechariah 7:1).
The words of Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, confirm what was mentioned:
The scriptures of Abraham, peace be upon him, were revealed on the first night of Ramadan. The Torah was revealed after six nights of Ramadan had passed. The Gospel of Jesus was revealed after thirteen nights of Ramadan had passed. The Qur’an was revealed after twenty-four nights of Ramadan had passed (Musnad Ahmad 16536).
A universal Message:
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “O followers of the earlier revelation! Come to an agreement between us and you: that we will worship none but God (the Creator), associate none with Him in His divinity (Jesus, Mary, Buddha, Idols, Muhammad… etc.), and that some of us will not take others as lords beside God, nor take one another as lords instead of God,(Priests, Saints, idols or prophets etc.).” But if they turn away, then say, “Bear witness that we have submitted ˹to God alone˺.” (Qur’an, Al Imran 3:64)
The Amish American asked: What does Islam talk about?
I replied: Nothing in Islam’s teachings lead people to atheism; there are no mysteries or ambiguities in Islam that confuse the mind. Islam is simple and solid. The greatness of Islam prevails in its simplicity and inclusivity. The term Islam is not connected with any person or place, or special group, but it reflects relationship with God Almighty (The Creator).
The teachings of Islam are summarized as follows:
- Islam teaches that the universe has one Creator. He is the Creator of the universe and what it contains. Nothing is like Him. He is neither a man nor a woman, for the Creator of man is not a man and the Creator of animals is not an animal. The Creator is referred to in the masculine form due to language limitations.
- The Muslim must worship his Creator alone by communicating with Him directly upon repentance from sin or seeking help, not through a priest, saint, or mediator. God is the Most Merciful to His creatures, more than a mother to her children, so He forgives them whenever they sincerely repent to Him. It is the Creator’s right to be worshiped alone, and Man’s right to have a direct relationship with his Lord.
- Islam teaches that the Creator does not come to earth in human, animal, stone, or idol form. He has neither a partner nor child. God the Almighty sent many prophets like Jesus, Moses and Muhammad to spread monotheism. Jesus was created without a father, and Adam was created without a father or mother. So, God creates but does not give birth. He instructed us to worship Him and go to Him alone as the prophets worshiped Him. The Muslim must worship God like what Jesus did, but must not worship Jesus himself. He also must worship God like what Muhammad did, but must not worship Muhammad himself.
- Islam teaches that the belief in the Creator is based on the fact that things do not appear without a cause or by chance, not to mention this vast inhabited material universe and its creatures who possess an intangible consciousness, and obey the laws of non-material mathematics. In addition, we need an independent, immaterial, eternal source to explain a finite, material universe.
- Islam teaches that humans are left with a choice: to believe either in an eternal, self-existing material source of existence (atoms), or in an eternal Creator, without beginning or end. But matter cannot serve as the origin of creation. How could human faculties such as sight, hearing, speech, and intellect arise from something that itself cannot see, hear, think, or speak? Since the Creator (God Almighty) possesses ownership over His creation, His governance of the universe stems not only from His role as Creator but also from His position as Owner. His rulings are grounded in ownership, justice, and authority, and only He has the inherent right to delineate rights and freedoms concerning His creation.
- Islam teaches that God is Perfect; He does not need to die for us. He gives life and death. He does not become incarnate in anyway. So, He did not die in the person of Jesus Christ nor was He resurrected. The Creator saved His Prophet Jesus and protected him from the crucifixion as He helps and protects His chosen believers.
- Islam teaches that the lesson God gave to all humanity when He accepted Adam’s repentance for eating the forbidden fruit is the first instance of God’s forgiveness to humanity. There is no issue of the original sin; every soul bears the burden of its corruption. The lesson shows the merciful nature of God. People are born free of sins; they are held accountable for their sins after reaching puberty or maturity.
- Islam teaches that humans cannot be blamed for sins they did not commit, nor they can gain salvation for not attempting to be good. One’s life is a test, and each soul is responsible for its actions. God gave Man life and gave him the will to test him. Man is only responsible for his actions. The human being has the freedom to choose only within the limits of his knowledge and capabilities. Judgment follows responsibility. Thus, God will not judge us for our physical appearance, our social status or tribal affiliations. Freedom with strife is more honorable to Man than slavery with happiness; judgment and reward is meaningless without choice.
- Islam teaches that all what exists in the universe is under God’s possession and domination. He has comprehensive knowledge, prevalent power and absolute control. Everything is subjected to His Absolute Knowledge and Will. The Sun, planets and galaxies operate in precision without failure ever since they were created. This same precision applies to humans’ creation. Perfect harmony and order between body and soul show that God never puts human beings’ souls into animal bodies. He never lets them wander between plants and insects (reincarnation), in a case which the person will never know what his past was in his previous life. God made the human civilized innately, gave him mind and knowledge, and assigned him vicegerent for earth and commander over other creatures. God will never humiliate human beings.
- Islam teaches that the true religion of God is always in harmony with human nature. It is one religion, easy, understandable and straightforward. It is suitable for every time and place. The plurality of religions results from taking mediators between the Creator and humans in worship. The key to humanity towards harmony is when people worship the Creator directly without an intermediary ( not through a priest, saint, or mediator, all belief in Muhammad the final Messenger and follow his teachings, then hearts will unite on one religion.
- Islam teaches doing good deeds and avoiding bad ones, such as the parents’ right by being kind to them, the children’s right by providing them a decent life, preserving the orphan’s money, observing correct measure, weigh with justice, and not cheat the balance, justice in words and deeds, the fulfillment of covenants, the prohibition of committing immorality or even approaching it, and the prohibition of killing the human soul unjustly. All these values are innate moral principles. Therefore, people are naturally and instinctively aware of these values.
- Islam teaches that treating each other with good manners to benefit humanity and reconstruct the earth does not substitute believing in the Creator and adherence to universal morals under religion’s umbrella. The reconstruction of the earth and good manners are not the purpose of religion, but they are means. The purpose of religion is to tell the human about his Lord, then to his source, path, and destiny. The excellent end and future are only achieved by obtaining God’s satisfaction. The way to that is through the reconstruction of the earth and good manners.
- Islam teaches that one of God’s greatest attributes is ‘The All-Wise’; He does not create anything in vain, exalted be He! He creates things for reasons that reflect His Great Wisdom. He created us to have mercy on us, and to give us happiness. All beautiful human qualities are derived from His qualities. Our existence in this world is for a noble goal: knowing God Almighty, and turning to Him by repentance and seeking His direct help.
- Islam teaches that there is no priesthood in God’s religion, and faith is for all. People are equal, like the teeth of a comb before God, so there is no difference between an Arab or a non-Arab except with piety and good deeds.
- Islam involves believing in all the messengers of God sent to different people in different eras without differentiating between them; denying one of God’s prophets violates Islam. The belief establishes a powerful common bond with people of other faiths.
- Islam involves believing in all earlier revelations of God (Abraham’s scriptures, the book of David, the Torah, The Gospel of Jesus Christ). Islam teaches that the original message in all sacred texts is Pure Monotheism (believing in one God “the Creator” and having a direct connection with Him).
- As many prophets and messengers that Allah sent to different nations, were mentioned in the Qur’an (such as Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Noah, David. Salomon, Ismael, Isaac, Joseph, etc.…), others weren’t. The possibility that some religious symbols in Hinduism and Buddhism (such as Rama, Krishna and Gautama buddha), were prophets of God cannot be out rightly negated. But these people used these symbols for polytheism.
- While some people are arguing that the Creator did not send them a messenger or a Prophet as he sent Prophet Muhammad to Arabs, the holy Qur’an asserts the opposite of this as the Creator said:
And We have already sent messengers before you. Among them are those [whose stories] We have related to you, and among them are those [whose stories] We have not related to you. And it was not for any messenger to bring a sign [or verse] except by permission of Allah. So, when the command of Allah comes, it will be concluded in truth, and the falsifiers will thereupon lose [all]. (Surah Ghafir, 40:78)
The Amish American thanked me profusely for the information he was writing on a piece of paper throughout my talk, which caught my attention a lot.
Notes:
- The word Allah was mentioned in the earlier version of the Old Testament 89 times. (Refer to Genesis 2:4, Book of Daniel 6:20 Hebrew and Arabic Bible).The word ‘Allah’ appears in the original Sanskrit text. (Reg Veda – Book 2 hymn 1, Verse 11).The Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Middle East use the word “Allah” to refer to God, which refers to The Only True God. ↩︎
- The reference of God to Himself as WE or US in many verses of the Qur’an denotes Grandeur and Power in Arabic. In the English language this is known as the royal WE, where a plural pronoun is used to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch. For the avoidance of doubt, the Qur’an has consistently reminded us of the SINGULAR pronoun in reference to God, when called upon by His servants. ↩︎
- The Qur’an is the last sacred book sent by God, but not the only book, as Muslims believe in all the earlier revelations of God (the scriptures of Abraham, the book of David, the Torah, the Gospel ,etc.). Muslims believe that the original message in all the sacred books is Pure Monotheism (unifying God in worship). Unlike the Divine scriptures that preceded, the Qur’an has not been kept in the hands of any particular group or clergymen of all Muslims which would lead to the misinterpretation or alteration of it. On the contrary, the Qur’an has always been within the reach of Muslims who recite it in their daily prayers, and they refer to it for all their concerns. Muslims read and recite the same Qur’anic text that was read and recited during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. Not a single letter has been added or removed from the Qur’an. The language of the Qur’an, the prophecies which came true, the accuracy in historical accounts, the mathematical inimitability and scientific accuracy, all prove that the Qur’an could not have been produced by a man who lived in Arabia in the 7th century and who could not read or write. God the Almighty challenged the Arabs and the non-Arabs to bring forth a book similar to the one He revealed, even though the Arabs at that time were masters of eloquence and rhetoric, they were unable to meet the challenge, and they realized that the Qur’an could not be from any other than God, the Lord of the universe. ↩︎
20733total visits,5visits today