RAMADANThe ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset and in which the Qur’an was first revealed.

The Twenty-Ninth Letter – 2

This treatise concerns fasting during the blessed month of RamadanThe ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset and in which the Qur’an was first revealed. and consists of nine points, each explaining one of the many wisdoms behind fasting in this blessed month.

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحٖيمِIn the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذٖٓى اُنْزِلَ فٖيهِ الْقُرْاٰنُ هُدًى لِلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْهُدٰى وَالْفُرْقَانِThe month of Ramadan is the month in which the Qur’an was sent down as guidance for mankind, with clear proofs of guidance and the criterion between truth and falsehood. — The Quran 2:185

Fasting during the blessed month of RamadanThe ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset and in which the Qur’an was first revealed. is one of the five pillars of Islam and one of its greatest distinguishing marks. It encompasses many wisdoms relating to the rubūbiyyaAllah’s lordship over all creation and His provision for all their needs. of Allah, the social and personal life of human beings, the disciplining of the nafsThe aspect of the soul associated with lower desires and negative traits., and the expression of gratitude for Allah’s blessings.

The First Point

One of the many wisdoms behind fasting with respect to the rubūbiyyaAllah’s lordship over all creation and His provision for all their needs. of Allah is the following:

Allah has spread the face of the earth as a table laden with blessings and has arranged upon it every kind of bounty for humanity, offering them from unexpected places and sources, as indicated by the verse

مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُFrom where he could not have expected.” — The Quran 65:3.

In doing so, He manifests the perfection of His rubūbiyyaAllah’s lordship over all creation and His provision for all their needs. and the vastness of His mercy and compassion. Yet, under the veil of heedlessness and through preoccupation with apparent causes, people often fail to perceive this reality clearly and sometimes forget it altogether.

During the blessed month of RamadanThe ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset and in which the Qur’an was first revealed., however, the believers suddenly resemble a well-disciplined army. As guests invited to the banquet of the Sultān-i AzalīAllah, the Pre-Eternal Sovereign of all things and all times., they wait for sunset as though awaiting the command, “Partake!” and thereby display their servitude to Allah. In this way, they respond to His compassionate, majestic, and all-encompassing mercy with a comprehensive, exalted, and orderly act of worship.

Indeed, can those who refuse to participate in such exalted worship and such a noble banquet truly be considered worthy of the name human?