SURAH AL-‘IKHLAS
We are undertaking a discussion on the initial verse of the Surah Al-‘Ikhlas, and as we already encountered saying that one of the primary elements of Islamic belief is the belief in the existence of God, in the oneness of God and on the matter that there is no other God but Allah Almighty. In regards to this we spoke on the attributes of God and as I can recall we stopped in the first attribute Vujjud, which infers: God exists.
Tonight, since we are in the Ramadan month, I will try to convey the dimension on the existence of God with the matter of Ramadan and then we would proceed with the discussions on the acquaintance of God. Several times I have emphasized that acquaintance of God is one important element; it is fundamental that with the matter, the person, the element, the substance with which one is not acquainted, one thus cannot commit to or develop a relationship with. The furthest and most great issue of contemporary man is that the individual does not know God and to this reason, realistically, we cannot develop kinship with God. The existence of God is a matter which to a great extent refers to the spirit of man. At present man is primarily focused on the physical bodily dimension and just imagine that continuously man feeds his body, and the more we feed the body the more it drowns the spirit of man. This dwell does not only correspond to eating and drinking, but moreover it refers to the entire elements which are in relationship with this world. Indubitably that in order for one to experience God in the individual’s innerness, one must replace the hollowness of his innerness with God.
A great number of scholars in their books delineate one particular event, one particular metaphor which refers to the predestined element; before the creation of mankind. They have elaborated in a more theatrical fashion in order to be clearer. They say that when Allah Almighty created Adam (PBUH), the body of Adam (PBUH) (Hajji Baktash Veli particularly comments as such in his work Malaqat, yet this has been transmitted even from earlier generations of scholars) and when He created man, He let him wither in Jannah (paradise). One day the devil, Iblis was walking inside (at that time he was still not a devil, he was one of the jinns which believed in God) and while walking in Jannah he saw something which did not resemble the rest of the created creatures; he approached the creature and knocked on his chest. When he knocked on the body of man, on Adam’s chest, a noise was emitted as if one would knock on an empty vase (gup, gup); the devil said that “his innerness seems to be empty, there is no use of him” and when he just took off to leave Allah Almighty showed him one verse of the Qur’an, which we now come across in the Qur’an, which decrees: ” And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.” (Surah Al-Hijr, verse 29). Which reflects that “I shall fulfill his innerness with My spirit”, My Breath shall bring man value which fulfills his empty innerness. The more the elements of this world step on this emptiness, the more the spirit is resultantly stepped on.
The month of Ramadan is one opportunity where we can develop a place for the spirit, to enrich our innerness with God, with what it ought to be suffused. This is the metaphor of the month of Ramadan, it refers to encompassing it with the presence of God, not with bread; in order for the innerness to consist God it ought to abstain from water, in order for it to be enriched with the presence of God it ought to detach itself from the elements which exclusively refer to this world, and precisely here is the purpose of not eating, not drinking in the course of the month of Ramadan, hence this revives the spiritual dimension within us, which from the aspect of belief in God, enables us to experience the existence of Allah Almighty.
Never in my life, those who accompany me in the mosque know, when I speak on religious matters I never refer to the healthy part of man, I never justify as righteous the idea that Allah Almighty has given the month of Ramadan to people in order for the latter group to be healthy. Religious obligations are such that through them Allah Almighty observes to which extent his creature, man, by his free will is capable of showing deity on Allah Almighty.
Allah Almighty has one mere enmity. The only enmity of Allah Almighty is the self of man and through the month of Ramadan Allah Almighty prevents all the things which the self of man, the ego of man desires; it curtails eating, drinking which reflects that to which extend is man capable of sacrificing the wills of the self for the sake of Allah Almighty. Fasting is notified by this virtue both from the aspect of faith and experiencing God in our innerness. The Prophet (PBUH) has one symptomatic hadith which states: “whomever does not abandon the profuse usage of language (this refers to whomever does not educate his own self since the education of the self is obtained by the removal of the bad habits of man and habit is mainly reflected through words) throughout Ramadan, then there is no need for that person to remain hungry from the early morning until the afternoon”.
In the past this hadith has been elaborated in such a simple context that people have begun to think that the hadith was merely referring to bad and profuse language and its prevention during the month of Ramadan. I am saying to you in full responsibility that this hadith has not only to do with bad language, but it refers to the words which results from a negative affection. One Shaykh from Turkey, may God grant him goodness, has one good saying which says: “if only gossip, condemn and breaking of hearts could only worsen the relationship among men as alcohol would drunken people, then we would see how all people vacillate as if they are drunk” hence, if these words would get one drunk as alcohol would, then we would see how people would vacillate out in the streets, and this is how it is in reality. These elements of the month of Ramadan are an opportunity in order for us to experience Ramadan as it ought to be.
Ramadan has three distinctive dimensions from the domain of the belief in God.
1. One is the traditional dimension and this domain has its own elements; the traditional domain refers to the idea that everybody had been fasting in the past hence we also have to fast, we ought to conduct Iftar (the evening meal by which the Muslims end their daily fast in Ramadan month at sunset), make suhoor (the early morning meal consumed by Muslims before fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan), we ought to pray tarawwih (extra prayers performed by Sunni Muslims at night in the Islamic month of Ramadan) as a result this dimensions shapes the social character. People who seek to separate religion from society, culture, from the folkrore integrity, since Ramadan among us is encountered as a folklore, among all other Muslim nations Ramdan is one element of the folklore, eating of paca (traditional taster) for instance, in no other period of the year we do not eat this, only in Ramadan. There are a number of elements among us which through Ramadan have taken root in our folklore and if we abandon religion from these elements of culture, of civilization and of folklore then religion remains exposed. In religion and ibadah, folklore has its own place, indubitably we should not give in to luxury and unnecessary Israfs but for instance even if 5-6 friends go out for dinner tonight for Iftar there is nothing bad here, this is an element of our Muslim tradition and culture thus we ought not to disregard this, I am not referring to solemn major dinners of a group, but if a group of 5-6 friends of both sexes go out to have an Iftar, this shows that among them the enlightenment of iman, the presence of faith and ibadah have permitted within the folklore the tradition and the society.
2. The second dimension of Ramadan is that rational one. Even from the rational dimension man has a certain need to be found in desolation sometimes. Primarily you are persons who engage in important activities or you have conducted studies at some point in your life. Each time you have an important job to finish rather rapidly, we tend to disengage from family, and rather stay alone in one room; we focus on the matter we ought to finish and if necessary we spend 15-20 hours on that undertaken issue. Which reflects that even in the rational domain in order for one to be successful and to accomplish a task which one has undertaken, then one should abandon a number of activities which bring satisfaction to that person on this world. The element of Ramadan swipes away the worldly matters from our rationale and approaches us to Allah Almighty.
You ought to have in mind that these matters are helpful if we seek to be acquainted with God, if we do not want to seek God, then neither Ramadan, the Qur’an, nor Metin or Mahmat can influence us.
3. The third dimension which I personally think that it beholds great importance in Ramadan is the element of the experience of ibadah. There is one Crotian author Cedomir Veljacic, who has brought forth analyses of the Eastern religions, among them Islam, and he says: “I have taken part in various religious ceremonies around the world, from Southern Africa all the way among the Eskimos, from China all the way to Brazil, I have worked on cultures and existing religions, yet the greatest pleasure I have experienced was that on the Iftar gathering dinner, which I had never experienced before”. Look this is a word from an author who is well learned on the prophetic messages, on the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) he says: “For the one who fasts there are two pleasures, Two states of joy. The first is the joy at the moment of the dinner in Iftar, when man has excluded the act of eating for 15-16 hours and all the good nurtures are found now before him and yet he does not take anything to eat; he awaits for the call, Allah Akbar of Muezzin (calling from top of a Minaret the Faithful to Prayer), in order for only then to begin eating; this is one metaphysical education of the nafs, the self of man, which if you take a closer look at it and analyze from the domain of psychology and anthropology, you cannot find this practice anywhere else and the second is when I shall meet the beauty of Allah Almighty, with the Jamal of Allah Almighty, whereas meeting Allah Almighty, the jamal (gives collective reference to the Divine qualities of beauty, as well as to other qualities which are, in a sense, grouped with beauty) of Allah Almighty is the most crucial and fundamental joy and pleasure of the hereafter. People who shall enter into Jannah (Inshallah God permits this to everyone), one period in Jannah they shall feel a hollowness from inside and shall turn to Allah Almighty: “we are in Jannah, we are found in great peace, but it seems we have this inner distress, we don’t know from where it comes” then Allah Almighty tells them that Jannah has one additional nourishment and this nourishment, this nimat, is meeting with the jamal of Allah Almighty, with the beauty of Allah Almighty. Now look here, the Prophet at the moment of Iftar, the pleasure and joy which is experienced at that moment of iftar, he has compared with the event of meeting with Allah Almighty in Jannah, to this reason one of the moments when most prayers of a believer are accepted are at the moment of iftar. Those who do not fast are not aware of this feeling, only those who fast experience the coup of fasting as it ought to be and through the experience of fasting they attain to experience in their innerness the existence of Allah Almighty.
As a result we are found steps before the month of Ramadan, tonight is the initial Tarawwih and we ought to prepare little more to pray to Allah Almighty. The Prophet (PBUH) says: “There are three groups of people with whom I don’t want to meet in the hereafter, they are shallow. The first group are the people who hear my name and do not say Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin (you should know that without loving the Prophet we cannot love God, without knowing the Prophet there is no way to know God, the Prophet is the living of the sacred word, he is the revived element of the Revelation, if it was not as such Allah Almighty would have sent the Revelation through letters, he would simply descend the Revelation and would not have sent Prophets, but the Prophet brings revival to religion, it is the alive element of religion, this challenges to see that religion is not a utopia and that it is part of being human). As a result, if you might have noticed little in the history of man has been the Qur’an attacked, mainly outbreaks have been addressed on the Prophet (PBUH) and even these last events which were a caricature of the Prophet (PBUH), through the Western newspapers, had this aim only. Even in Christianity, have this in mind, outbreaks are not made on the Gospel, but mainly on Hazrat Isa and all the movies made by atheists refer to the personality of Hazrat Isa, they are disruptions made on the person who is alive.
Today in our world both from the domain of Muslims and from the domain of religion we have the problem of the revival of religion, with the element of man, with the element of religious leadership, this is the situation among every religion even among Muslims. For instance you have noticed how one of the matters which trembles the Catholic Church is the element of the nonexistence of a religious leader unable able to carry on the sacred work. To this reason the Prophet (PBUH) says that there are three groups of people with whom he shall not want to meet. The first group are the ones who do not send Salawaat, when they hear my name; each person each Muslim ought to say Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin, when they hear the Prophet’s (PBUH) name or when the name Prophet (PBUH) is mentioned, which means I seek that the blessing of God to be upon the Prophet (PBUH). The second group of people with whom I don’t want to meet are those who have either one or both parents alive and do not take care of them; they don’t have a good maneuver towards them. Moreover here we have conveyed one significant element which shows that in order for one to be human one ought to take care and take in regards the family relations, more significantly the relations with the parents. The Prophet (PBUH) notifies this, as well as the Qur’an; showing care towards our parents. This particular emphasize retains the family strong. I am putting an emphasize here since its opposing stand is highly signified in the entire current ideologies in the world. Presently in the world we receive the perception that ‘now you are 18 and no longer should you bother about your parents, no longer should they bother you, you are not obliged to take care of them’ this is one element of arrogance which does not suit man at all. The third group, the Prophet (PBUH) says: “the person which makes it to the month of Ramadan (as we have now made it to this month) and goes out of this month just as he has entered the month of Ramadan. This shows us that the month of Ramadan is one opportunity for us to become clean from a number of behaviors, habits and particular manners in life which are in contradiction to religion, those which are not encompassing elements of our deity on Allah Almighty, and instead we ought to generate additional positive manners.
For instance the month of Ramadan is one opportunity that if hitherto we have been drinking alcohol for us to quit from this behavior, let us say that today is the day of Ramadan and from now on we shall not drink, or for instance if until now you have not prayed namaz, you have not prayed the Jummah (or Jumu’ah the Friday Prayer), from now on you decide to at least pray Jummah namaz in the mosque, if you cannot pray the rest of the daily namaz prayers at least Jummah to have it prayed (this goes for men since for women it is not obligatory to pray the Jummah namaz in the mosque); or for instance I decide that being a Muslim I have obligations towards Allah Almighty; as much as I have obligations towards my society I have obligations towards Allah Almighty, hence in order for me to show my deity on Allah Almighty I shall pray the daily five namaz prayers or some other means of conduct, part of which are religious decrees, human decrees, these are moreover deity on Allah Almighty which we have not done until now, but ones which we decide to undertake from today on.
To this reason the Prophet (PBUH) it is as if upon this hadith he tells us: “the moment which you shall enter in the month of Ramadan, you need to regret from all the ill manners which have been part of you and to decide to insert at least one good deed, so when you would be found existing the month of Ramadan, to have gone out as a person who has one positive supplement in your life”.
With this I shall end the discussion and now altogether we shall conduct an istighfar (the act of seeking forgiveness from God) and afterwards we can stay here for little longer and discuss on how to advance our program throughout the month of Ramadan.