In the Name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful

Getting a few hours of sleep, not eating or drinking during the day…Why?  The simple answer:  to get closer to Allah.  Experiencing Ramadan is about pushing physical limits to experience great spiritual awareness and attunement that yields fruits both in this world and the Next.

A typical day in Ramadan for me starts at 4:30 a.m. with a pre-dawn meal called suhoor.  The Messenger of God, Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said, “Take the pre-dawn meal for in it is blessing.”  I sure do need that blessing to carry me through the day.  This time is also instrumental for consciously formulating a sincere intention to fast for God alone.

Dawn prayer at the Mosque is 5:45 a.m.   Leading up to that time, I read Quran, make morning remembrance and sometimes doze in and out of wakefulness waiting for the prayer to start.  The dawn prayer connects to the evening prayer like the clasp of bracelet.

Believe it or not the day-time of a fasting person is quite productive and highly focused.  I still remember how the sports-commentators would be amazed by the Ramadan performance of basketball great Hakeem Olajuwon’s (first termed “The Nigerian-Nightmare” then simply “The Dream” later in his stellar career).

Productivity is also apparent in the preparations leading up to breaking the fast.  At the North Austin Muslim Community Center there is a small army of volunteers who from a distance appear like busy bees.  Even though they are fasting they set about getting ice, cleaning, and arranging the plates for their brothers and sisters to break the fast together.  Every one of the thirty nights of Ramadan families generously sponsor the dinner for more than 500 fasting men and women.

A couple more prayers are sprinkled in before getting ready to break the fast (iftar).  Leading up to the setting of the sun (around 8:30 in the summertime), I engage in remembrance of Allah, personal supplication, and patience.  Paradoxically the last few minutes can be much more difficult than the previous many hours

The otherworldly reflection of breaking the fast at sunset is to finally meet Allah at the setting of life itself.  The greatest bliss is to gaze upon God with no barrier in between, a reward reserved only for the sincere devotees.

The night time in Ramadan is quite festive and is also filled with extra devotional night prayers.  The fast during the day helps to overcome desires, addictions, and impulses.   If I can forego my desire for food and water, can I not also forego my desire for vengeance and ego-centric ascendance?   When I do, my soul is freed at night.  The cycle of disciplined days and liberated nights continues for thirty days.

One of the Names of Allah is Al-Kareem, the Most Generous.  The community is bound together with gifts of generosity especially during Ramadan.  “Even a smile is charity.”  It is said that the Messenger of God was the most generous of people.  In Ramadan his generosity would increase synergistically.  The reason was that every night of Ramadan the angel Gabriel (Peace be upon him) full of light and power would recite the Quran with Mohammed (Peace be upon him).  He would come into special communion with the special spirit and become energetically illuminated by He who is Vast with inexhaustible treasures.

The Quran commends those who are able to prefer their brothers and sisters over themselves even when they are in need.  “And whosoever is saved from the covetousness of his own self, it is they who reap the fruits of success.”

Finally, Ramadan is a time to take stock of one’s spiritual state.  Somehow fasting during the day, keeping vigil long into the night overcomes the metaphysical activation energy barrier and yields, in a catalytic fashion, sublime ascension of the soul.

The liberated souls are those free from false fears and vain hopes.  There is no wolf and also no gold at the end of the rainbow; only cobwebs in the hearts and minds obscuring the beautiful light, and flirtatious apparitions distracting the seekers from the path.  “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth.  Allah guides to His Light whom He pleases and strikes metaphors for human-kind.  And Allah is of all-things Knowing.”  (Quran 24:35).

Written by Imam Islam Mossaad