Ramadan Celebrates The Qur’an

                             “The Month of Ramadan, wherein the                 

                              Qur’an was revealed, a guidance for the

                              people and as clear proofs of the Guidance

                              and the Criterion; so let those of you who

                              are present at the month, fast it …”

                                                    (Qur’an, 2:185).

“Ramadan” is a lunar month, which is known by Muslims, and wherein they fast during daytime. This year, the year 1436 Hijri/2015, Ramadan occurred simultaneously with the most bloody and catastrophic time for people in so many countries. Millions of people turned into refugees, hundreds of casualties happen everyday, hundreds of thousand of houses have been destroyed, persecutions are taking place in over populated prisons in most of the so called Muslim countries, sanitary conditions are unhygienic and famine ravages many regions. Paradoxically we see in the media beside those awful and catastrophic realities, a panorama of exaggerated festivities for what they call “Ramadan Meals”, as if this Great Month had been reduced to choosing delicious meals for the evening breakfast.

I would like to emphasize here, that the purpose of this month is for Muslims to celebrate the great event of the Revelation of the Qur’an, as it contains the last and the seal of God’s revelation for Mankind: “Alif , Laam, Mim, this Divine Writ – let there be no doubt about it – is (meant to be) a guidance for all the God-conscious” (2:1-2). “Verily this Qur’an shows the way to all that is most upright, and gives the believers who do good deeds the glad tiding that theirs will be a great reward” (17:9).

The conduct of most Muslims today shows as if this were the month of extra meals festival. Beside that, there is another strange phenomena in today’s “Muslim” media: there are a lot of entertainment programs and TV shows, which attract people very much and make them waste a lot of time, while time is so valuable for people to raise their devotion to God by praying, reciting the Qur’an, or doing whatever good deeds they can do.

The Qur’an was revealed to be respected, to be pondered over, and to be taken as guidance in all Muslim conducts: “Will they not, then, ponder over this Qur’an?” (47:24).  

The prescription of fasting during the month of Ramadan every year is an order for Muslims to celebrate and practice a discipline, and to incite them to ponder over the Glorious Revelation (Qur’an), which contains:

1.    Introduction of the cognition of God, His attributes and actions.

2.    Preliminary information about the creation of the universe.

3.    The creation of human beings: the beginning and the continuation of the human race, the characteristics of the human self, and all about mankind.

4.    Explanation of how God distributes His bounties (intellectual, physical, and wealth) in different degrees for the benefit of the society.

5.    The honor and the “trust” that have been given and burdened fairly to mankind.

6.    Emphasis on the principle of the causation in the creation, notably in human life’s actions.

7.    Many recounts on historic events and personalities of earlier times, but also other events and personalities, without exact dates and places, just for the readers to take teachings.

8.    Many influential admonitions to remind the readers (or the reciters) of God and of life after death.

9.    Ordinances for the believers to perform (certain rituals) and conduct, in different domains of life: individual, family life, social, economic and politic.

10.         Information that life will end at the coming of an indubitable Day of Resurrection, wherein every human being will be questioned about what s/he has done about the trust, which s/he was responsible for.

11.         The fact that the Qur’an was revealed portion by portion, over a 23 years period in Makkah and in Madinah, makes one understand and imagine how Qur’anic verses could gradually help grow the faith and raise it in the hearts and minds of people individually and collectively. And it is indispensable for students of Islam to study the history of the descending events of certain revelations, through which one can better understand how the Islamic law could gradually change and build a better society, and create a valuable civilization for humanity by following God’s guidance step by step, directly through every part of the revealed Qur’an.

Jundub bin Abdullah recounted: “We were with the Messenger of God (God’s blessings be upon him) when we were strong youths, so we learned faith before we learned the Qur’an; then we learned the Qur’an thus our faith increased thereby”  (Recorded by Abu Dawud in his Collection of Hadith).