The call of ALLAH: A companion to the Holy Month of RAMADAN

By Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi

A companion to the Holy Month of RAMADAN. Reflections, meditations and prayers for each day.
Allah describes this month as the one in which the Qur'an was revealed, thus showing us that fasting helps us to a deeper experience of the guidance of the Qur'an.
Through fasting, we come to realise our weaknesses and how we depend on all of Allah's gifts, and we experience His love, His closeness and His care for us.
The words of the Qur'an meet every seeker precisely where they find themselves on their spiritual journey.
May this companion to the Holy month of Ramadan bring support and inspiration to all those who are on the path to Allah, all the sincere seekers and all those who fast out of love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sheema Medien Verlag
• Release date: Mar 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9783948177584

Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi

Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi, Doktorin der Orientalistik, lehrt seit über 20 Jahren im Bereich des Sufismus und leitet heute weltweit Seminare – insbesondere für Frauen. Sie arbeitet außerdem als Autorin und ist Mutter von drei Kindern. Seit 2001 lebt Fawzia Al-Rawi mit ihrer Familie in Wien. Geboren in Bagdad verbrachte Fawzia Al-Rawi ihre Kindheit im Irak und im Libanon. Von ihrer Großmutter wurde sie hier in die Traditionen der orientalischen Kultur eingeführt, wobei Bauchtanz als wichtiges Ausdruckselement der weiblichen Welt eine wesentliche Rolle spielte. Ihr Studium der Arabistik, Islamwissenschaften und Ethnologie (heute Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie) absolvierte Fawzia Al-Rawi an den Universitäten Wien und Kairo. Im Anschluss lebte sie 12 Jahre in Jerusalem, wo sie am Institut für Förderung der palästinensischen Agrikultur und an der Jerusalem-Universität arbeitete und ihre Kinder aufzog. Zugleich setzte sie hier unter der Leitung von Sidi Shaykh Muhammad al-Rifai ihr Studium des Sufismus fort und vertiefte sich weiter in dessen Theorie und Praxis. Das besondere Merkmal der Lehrtätigkeit Fawzia Al-Rawis ruht in dem Reichtum ihrer persönlichen Erfahrungen, der aus ihrer bikulturellen Verwurzelung erwachsen ist. In ihren Seminaren daraus schöpfend gelingt es ihr erfolgreich, zu einem Verständnis zwischen den Kulturen hinzuführen, eine Annäherung hervorzubringen und auf diese Weise zum Frieden beizutragen.

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Preface

The Prophet said: There is a gate in Paradise called Ar-Raiyan, and those who observe fasts will enter through it on the Day of Resurrection and none except them will enter through it. It will be said, ‘Where are those who used to observe fasts?’ They will get up, and none except them will enter through it. After their entry the gate will be closed and nobody will enter through it.³

The word Ramadan comes from the Arabic root r-m-ḍ, which means heated through the intensity of the sun, burning. This reminds us that the aim of the month of Ramadan is to burn the veils which prevent us from experiencing Allah’s omnipresence.

Allah has set this month as a clear, bubbling source, so that we can purify our life and the state of our soul, and set off towards the Divine light.

Ramadan is a month of spiritual development. It is the month of generosity and sharing.

Ibn Abbas reported that the messenger of Allah was the most generous of people in charity, but that he was generous to the utmost during the month of Ramadan. The angel Gabriel, peace be with him, would meet him every year during Ramadan until it ended, and the messenger of Allah would recite the Qur’an to him; and when Gabriel met him, the messenger of Allah was more generous in giving charity than the blowing wind (touching everything and everyone).⁴

The month of Ramadan is not meant to be a burden or to make your life more difficult. It is a Divine gift meant to inspire and transform you.

This month is about freeing yourself from the influence and the burden of your ego, nafs.

Allah tells us: […] Fasting is ordained for you as it was ordained for those before you, so that you might remain conscious of God: (2:183)

The most beautiful aspect of this month is to serve Allah, the All-merciful, Ar-Raḥmān, and to strengthen our bond of love with Him.

The Messenger of Allah said: There has come to you Ramadan, a blessed month, which Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, has enjoined you to fast. During it the gates of heavens are opened and the gates of hell are closed, and every devil is chained up. In it Allah has a night which is better than a thousand months.⁵

Ramadan is a month of mercy and glory, in which every day is the best day, every night the best night and every moment the best moment. This month is particularly precious in view of its spiritual value and the high place it has for Allah.

OH, ALLAH, OPEN MY HEART TO YOU IN LOVE AND GRATEFULNESS.

In Arabic, the word for fasting is ṣiyam. It comes from the root ṣ-w-m which means self-control and abstinence.

The most beneficial aspect of fasting is self-knowledge. When we are asked to restrain our ego, our addictions, our weaknesses, our carelessness, they all come to the fore and we are given the awareness required to free ourselves from them. The aim of fasting is to fight the lower instincts and attain positive qualities.

Thus if we give up outer distractions such as phone, television, computer games and other pleasures, if we pay attention to our words and refrain from unnecessary talk, if we perform our deeds carefully, if we observe how we think about self and others, and resist our inner prejudices, if we deal with nature and our environment more thoughtfully, if we pray sincerely and go deeper into the Holy Qur’an, if we fill our homes with the healing sounds of the Qur’an, we create a space of self-knowledge where we can experience Allah’s mercy and love.

Ramadan is at the same time a taxing and a joyful time. During this month, the tension of abstinence and social celebration alternate thirty times.

As the whole Islamic world fasts, we experience an increased spiritual connection with the Muslim community, umma.

Through the movements of abstinence (during the day), celebration (sunset) and retreat (at night), we experience ourselves in all the shapes of life.

O ALLAH, LET ME FOLLOW MY HEART’S LONGING. DO NOT LET THE WORRIES OF THIS WORLD BE MY STRONGEST CONCERN AND PROTECT ME FROM THE DISTRACTIONS OF THIS WORLD SO THAT I MAY REMEMBER YOU AT ALL TIMES.

The month of Ramadan enables us to reach a level of awareness where all our deeds turn into an act of worship. To experience our nothingness, our poverty opens a space within us which spreads the fragrance of gratefulness and opens our eyes to all the wonders that surround us.

And God’s is the east and the west: and wherever you turn, there is God’s countenance. (2:115)

Fasting slows us down and so we find ourselves becoming more persevering. According to an Arabic proverb, restlessness and rush come from the shaytan. They come from the shaytan because they rob us of beauty.

The nafs loves speed and change, and it will avoid boredom and extended reflection at all costs; answers must come at once, things must be completed fast and pleasures be varied.

As our fast slows us down, touching an object, walking to a certain destination, breathing consciously can all grow into contemplating the beauty of Allah’s creation and awaken in our heart grateful thanks to the Creator, alhamdulillah!

The Prophet Muhammad said: Allah said, ‘All the deeds of Adam’s sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it, I am the reward for it’.⁶

These touching words of the Prophet show us how very much Allah loves us. My fast is the only thing which I can hold up to Allah in love and surrender. Allah acknowledges that I take willpower, abstinence and conscious effort upon myself in order to please Him.

To fast during this holy month is to offer all our weaknesses. It is to experience and to praise our surrender and our attachment to Allah, our utter dependence on Him.

It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see this month shall fast throughout it; […]. (2:185)

Allah describes Ramadan as the month in which the Qur’an was revealed, thus showing us that when we fast from the world, this helps us to a deeper experience of the guidance of the Qur’an. By experiencing our weaknesses through fasting, by experiencing how much we depend on Allah’s gifts, we experience His love, His closeness and His care. The words of the Qur’an touch every seeker just where they find themselves on their spiritual journey.

The Qur’an prepares our soul and our spirit to the forthcoming endless journey, to our return to Him.

Our beloved Prophet Muhammad describes it as follows: There are two pleasures for the fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord (on Judgement Day); then he will be pleased because of his fasting.⁷

The Qur’an is the miracle which Allah has bestowed upon us through His Messenger . We read and hear about the miracles of the Prophets, Allah’s peace be with them, but we are the only ones who are now holding the miracle of the Qur’an in our hands and can now drink from it. What an honour, and what a responsibility!

May your pure hands hold the Qur’an, may your loving lips touch it and may your whole being drink from this spring.

Thus fasting helps us in this process of mastering our self. When we are being asked to leave everything that distracts us and everything that nourishes us from the outside, to a certain extent we find ourselves forced to look inside for our longing.

We start our journey by turning inwards, fasting from the creation and turning to the Creator.

It is at the beginning of our fast that we can feel most strongly Allah’s mercy and help.

When our hearts open, we experience Allah’s mercy and our plea for forgiveness grows.

Forgiveness helps us enter the next, deeper state of consciousness, and free all our senses from everything which does not bring us closer to Allah.

O ALLAH, TAKE US CLOSER TO THE BEST WE CAN BE. LET MY SPIRIT GROW FROM SELF-CENTREDNESS UNTIL IT CAN EMBRACE ALL OF YOUR CREATION IN MERCY, FORGIVENESS AND DELIGHT.

The next level of fasting is to see to it that our thoughts are not fed by our ego, nafs.

It is fasting from arrogance and complacency so as to experience how completely we depend upon Him.

This helps us free ourselves from the fires because fire arises when we put up resistance, when we are afraid to let go and to surrender in deep trust and devotion.

God is enough for us; and how excellent a guardian is He! (3:173)

May Allah raise us above the state which the beloved of Allah was concerned about and described as follows: How few are those who truly fast and how many those who (merely) go hungry.⁸

When humility touches our nafs and shakes the walls of resistance, we overcome isolation and are ready to enter Allah’s kingdom of mercy and peace. Experiencing our humility and Allah’s love opens our hearts and makes them more generous towards those in need. Allah puts generosity, serenity and peace in our hearts. The worries of the past vanish, the fear of the future leaves us and we remain in the moment, in the presence of the Divine:

"Now, verily, it is We who have created man, and We know what his innermost self whispers within him: for We are closer to him than his neck-vein." (50:16)

May our hearts always be in Allah’s hands, may our deeds always express our love, and may our thoughts and words be filled with the beauty that He, praised be His magnificence, subḥāna hū wa ta’ala, has put in us.

This book is meant to bring support and inspiration to all those who are on the path to Allah, all the sincere seekers and all those who fast out of love. May Allah accept our fast, for we all drink from His eternal mercy, raḥma, to which we turn in deep hope and wakeful fear.

And hold fast, all together, unto the bond with God, and do not draw apart from one another. And remember the blessings which God has bestowed upon you: […]. (3:103)

1st day of Ramadan

ṢIYĀM

FASTING

Our beloved Prophet Muhammad said: By Him in whose hands is my soul, the unpleasant smell coming from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk.⁹

Ramadan is the month during which Allah calls us to continue and perfect our spiritual development. By calling upon us to give up things which are usually allowed, He gives us an opportunity to strengthen our will.

The month of Ramadan starts with letting go. It is a process which leads us from doing into non-doing, and where we surrender to the peaceful flow of contemplation and self-knowledge:

I THANK YOU AND I ENTRUST MYSELF TO YOU. LET ME FEEL YOUR GUIDANCE IN MY HEART, LET ME SEE YOUR MERCY IN EVERYTHING. STRENGTHEN MY FAITH AND FREE ME FROM THE ILLUSIONS OF SEPARATION AND COMPLACENCY!

It is not easy for the ego, nafs, to renounce habits; it irritates and troubles us, and shows us the extent to which we can be disturbed when our needs are not being fulfilled.

We are often slaves to our attachment to our desires and to our needs. Allah calls upon us to leave those things aside which burden us and prevent us from being truly free.

Letting go of those things because such is Allah’s wish, surrendering to relinquishing our habits – if we are ready to leave everything and to allow for devotion bathed in trust, taslīm, then a liberation process can begin.

Ramadan is the month of intimate dialogue with Allah. It is to break the shell of the mundane world in order to find a new direction. It is the time to transcend forgetfulness and distraction, and to live again consciously the meaning of our existence.

It is to become sensitive again to all the blessings Allah has bestowed upon us. It is to step out of that prison we have built for ourselves and go beyond those lower human qualities which keep us in chains.

Discipline and abstaining from mundane, material food and pleasures – drink, food and sex –, laying them off like we remove a garment enables us to stand in front of Allah, the One, in all our weakness, and to recognise that Allah is Aṣ-Ṣamad, the Absolute, to whom all creatures turn to seek help.

When Allah sets boundaries for us, they are not meant to restrict our freedom, but to enable us to pause and step out of the treadmill of our secular world in order to relativise things in our life.

It is the time to focus on our relationship with ourself and with our fellow human beings, with our environment, and above all on our relationship with Allah, the All-Merciful, Ar-Raḥmān. Such is the cornerstone of true surrender.

Fasting is not mere renouncing, fasting is also creating – in our life and within ourselves – a space of awareness open to the mercy and the blessings of Allah.

When we let go of the ego’s lower wishes, we discover that the key to the door of our self-made prison had always been in our hands.

ALLAH, FILL MY HEART WITH TRUST, GRANT ME SURRENDER AND GUIDE ME TO YOU.

PRACTICE SUGGESTED FOR TODAY

Decide to take five minutes at the end of every hour to repeat Allah with all your heart, aloud if you are at home, silently if you are outside.

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