Written transcript of the lecture
The Meshkat-e Noor teachings series🌼🔆🌼The Month of Turning Away from All but God🌼🔆🌼
🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹
🔅🌹 “The Way to God’s Good Pleasure” “Taking Stock of One’s Being” “Managing the Spirits Within” “The Secret of Fasting” “Divine Appetite” and more … An abridged collection, with addenda 1403.01.09 Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903) 🌹🔅
🔅🌼Ramadan Is the Way to God’s Good Pleasure🌼🔅
🌷🔆وَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي جَعَلَ مِنْ تِلْكَ السُّبُلِ شَهْرَهُ شَهْرَ رَمَضَانَ، شَهْرَ الصِّيَامِ، وَ شَهْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ، وَ شَهْرَ الطَّهُورِ، وَ شَهْرَ التَّمْحِيصِ، وَ شَهْرَ الْقِيَامِ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ، هُدىً لِلنَّاسِ، وَ بَيِّناتٍ مِنَ الْهُدى وَ الْفُرْقانِ
🔆Praise be to God, who made one of those paths—the path to His good pleasure—His own month, the month of Ramadan: the month of fasting, the month of Islam, the month of purification, the month of testing, the month of standing in prayer—the month in which He sent down the Qur’an as guidance for humankind, with clear signs of guidance and the Criterion.
🔅🌼A Month of Wonders🌼🔅
The blessed month of Ramadan is a time to practise detachment from all but God. We must free ourselves from every attachment to anything besides Him.
🌻🔆Ṭā Hā: 12 إِنِّي أَنَا رَبُّكَ فَاخْلَعْ نَعْلَيْكَ إِنَّكَ بِالْوادِ الْمُقَدَّسِ طُوىً
🔆“I am your Lord! Take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Ṭuwā.”
No one brings food to a divine banquet. Instead, one comes to the divine table with an empty, eager stomach; washes the grime from one’s soul, sheds every garment, and dons the robe of piety.
🌹At the banquet of God, whoever eats little shows disrespect to the table and its host. One must eat one’s fill; the whole banquet is to be consumed.
🌹The hours of the blessed month are rare jewels.
🌹In the blessed month of Ramadan, a person becomes a land of worship, “أَنْفَاسُكُمْ فِيهِ تَسْبِيحٌ وَ نَوْمُكُمْ فِيهِ عِبَادَة”
🌹With sincere intention and steadfast patience, let us make our fast in the blessed month of Ramadan fruitful. Patience in remembering God; patience in being with Him and obeying Him; patience in serving Him; patience in His company and remembrance.
🔅🌼The Unique Flavour of Every Blessed Month🌼🔅
🌹Each year’s banquet has its own special flavour. Every year is a lifetime, a class, a book unlike any other.
🌹How many banquets have you attended, and how much have you learned? In this world, nothing repeats; everything is reaffirmed. One level rises upon another, and each branch adds to the bough.
🌹God’s food draws the soul toward Him and guides it; one must grow taller and become more beautiful.
🌹When we take in divine food and drink, their effects become manifest in body and soul. They grant us continual growth.
🌹The month has come eagerly, lovingly, with open arms; let us take our place in its embrace.
🌹This month is a compound of blessing, mercy and forgiveness; it encompasses every need, and more besides. “قَدْ أَقْبَلَ إِلَيْكُمْ شَهْرُ اللَّهِ بِالْبَرَكَةِ وَ الرَّحْمَةِ وَ الْمَغْفِرَة”
🌹Ramadan has come; one meaning is that God has not forgotten us—He remembers us.
🌹The month of watering the flowers of divine grace, the month of turning the harvest of our being into a garden.
🔅🌼The Month of Taking Stock of One’s Being🌼🔅
🌹The blessed month of Ramadan is a month for disciplining the self and training the stomach and the passions. If the stomach and passions are purified, what comes forth will be rubies and pearls, honey and a sublime drink—not refuse, filth and impurities. Be a tree whose fruit is blessed, a treasury of beauty and a source of flavours. The book is sweet.
🌹By bringing the stomach and passions into our service, while taking care not to become their servants, we must ride the steed of body and soul toward the highest destination.
🌹When the noblest of creatures becomes a slave to the stomach and the passions, he is like a human being enslaved and held captive by the nature of cattle, sheep, pigs and monkeys.
🔅🌼We must prepare for the blessed month ahead.🌼🔅
🌹From Shawwal to Rajab al-Murajjab, and from Rajab and Sha‘ban to Ramadan, we prepare to enter a new world and an extraordinary feast.
🌹The months before Ramadan are prerequisites for the blessed month, especially Rajab and Sha‘ban.
🌹How we fare in each month—including the effect of Rajab and Sha‘ban—has a great influence on our entry into Ramadan.
🌹The months of the year are advanced courses for humanity.
🌹Rajab and Sha‘ban are Ramadan’s beauty salon; indeed, all the days leading up to the blessed month prepare us for it. And the blessed month itself is a prelude to something immense. Where does the path beyond this blessed month lead?!!!
🌹The divine months are divine intercessors and witnesses on the Day of Resurrection. They recognise the true servants of God and will one day give their testimony.
🌷🔆أَلَا فَاعْمَلُوا [الْيَوْمَ] لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَ أَعِدُّوا الزَّادَ لِيَوْمِ الْجَمْعِ يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ، وَ تَجَنَّبُوا الْمَعَاصِيَ، فَبِتَقْوَى اللَّهِ يُرْجَى الْخَلَاصُ، فَإِنَّ مَنْ عَرَفَ حُرْمَةَ رَجَبٍ وَ شَعْبَانَ، وَ وَصَلَهُمَا بِشَهْرِ رَمَضَانَ شَهْرِ اللَّهِ الْأَعْظَمِ، شَهِدَتْ لَهُ هَذِهِ الشُّهُورُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَ كَانَ رَجَبٌ وَ شَعْبَانُ وَ شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ شُهُودَهُ بِتَعْظِيمِهِ لَهَا.
وَ يُنَادِي مُنَادٍ: يَا رَجَبُ وَ يَا شَعْبَانُ وَ يَا شَهْرَ رَمَضَانَ كَيْفَ عَمَلُ هَذَا الْعَبْدِ فِيكُمْ وَ كَيْفَ كَانَتْ طَاعَتُهُ لِلَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَ «1» فَيَقُولُ رَجَبٌ وَ شَعْبَانُ وَ شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ:
يَا رَبَّنَا مَا تَزَوَّدَ مِنَّا إِلَّا اسْتِعَانَةً عَلَى طَاعَتِكَ، وَ اسْتِمْدَاداً [لِمَوَادِّ] فَضْلِكَ، وَ لَقَدْ تَعَرَّضَ بِجُهْدِهِ لِرِضَاكَ، وَ طَلَبَ بِطَاقَتِهِ مَحَبَّتَكَ.
🌷🔆فَيَقُولُ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ الْمُوَكَّلِينَ بِهَذِهِ الشُّهُورِ: مَا ذَا تَقُولُونَ فِي هَذِهِ الشَّهَادَةِ لِهَذَا الْعَبْدِ فَيَقُولُونَ: يَا رَبَّنَا صَدَقَ رَجَبٌ وَ شَعْبَانُ وَ شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ، مَا عَرَفْنَاهُ إِلَّا مُتَقَبِّلًا فِي طَاعَتِكَ مُجْتَهِداً فِي طَلَبِ رِضَاكَ، صَائِراً فِيهِ إِلَى الْبِرِّ وَ الْإِحْسَانِ، وَ لَقَدْ كَانَ بِوُصُولِهِ إِلَى هَذِهِ الشُّهُورِ- فَرِحاً مُبْتَهِجاً وَ أَمَّلَ فِيهَا رَحْمَتَكَ، وَ رَجَا فِيهَا عَفْوَكَ وَ مَغْفِرَتَكَ، وَ كَانَ عَمَّا مَنَعْتَهُ فِيهَا مُمْتَنِعاً، وَ إِلَى مَا نَدَبْتَهُ إِلَيْهِ فِيهَا مُسْرِعاً، لَقَدْ صَامَ بِبَطْنِهِ، وَ فَرْجِهِ، وَ سَمْعِهِ، وَ بَصَرِهِ، وَ سَائِرِ جَوَارِحِهِ [وَ يَرْجُو دَرَجَةً] وَ لَقَدْ ظَمَأَ فِي نَهَارِهَا، وَ نَصَبَ فِي لَيْلِهَا، وَ كَثُرَتْ نَفَقَاتُهُ فِيهَا عَلَى الْفُقَرَاءِ وَ الْمَسَاكِينِ، وَ عَظُمَتْ أَيَادِيهِ وَ إِحْسَانُهُ إِلَى عِبَادِكَ، صَحِبَهَا أَكْرَمَ صُحْبَةٍ، وَ وَدَّعَهَا أَحْسَنَ تَوْدِيعٍ، أَقَامَ بَعْدَ انْسِلَاخِهَا عَنْهُ عَلَى طَاعَتِكَ، وَ لَمْ يَهْتِكْ عِنْدَ إِدْبَارِهَا سُتُورَ حُرُمَاتِكَ، فَنِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ هَذَا.[1]
🔅🌼The Month of Jewels🌼🔅
🌹Ramadan is the diamond among the months, the jewel of the year.
🌹The blessed month of Ramadan is a time to refuel and gather strength—to become a storm and shine like gold.
🌹The blessed month of Ramadan is a station of servitude. Stop! You are servants of God. Serving the stomach and the passions is forbidden!
🔅🌼Stewardship of the Soul
🌹How often have we left our intellect, noble qualities, spirit of faith and ever-present angels hungry—and how often do we still do so without even realising it? Indulging in the world, becoming attached to it and loving it all lead to their starvation.
🌹Human beings have been given the freedom to choose their way: a wholesome, exalted life, keeping company with the foremost through acceptance of the guardianship of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them; or a bestial, insect-like existence, and so on.
🌹By transforming the spirit of power, the spirit of desire and the bodily spirit, we can move from a state of being transformed into something base to the height of perfection.
🌹The spirit of desire makes life pleasurable. Wherever the spirit of desire is breathed into, it brings that place to life—whether the life of the human realm or the life of the spiritual realm.
🌹The spirit of strength activates the human being’s vital power.
🌹The spirit of ascent is the spirit of connection.
🌷🔆 قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع يَا جَابِرُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَلَقَ النَّاسَ ثَلَاثَةَ أَصْنَافٍ وَ هُوَ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَ كُنْتُمْ أَزْواجاً ثَلاثَةً فَأَصْحابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ ما أَصْحابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ وَ أَصْحابُ الْمَشْئَمَةِ ما أَصْحابُ الْمَشْئَمَةِ وَ السَّابِقُونَ السَّابِقُونَ أُولئِكَ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ فَالسَّابِقُونَ هُوَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص وَ خَاصَّةُ اللَّهِ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ جَعَلَ فِيهِمْ خَمْسَةَ أَرْوَاحٍ أَيَّدَهُمْ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ فَبِهِ بُعِثُوا أَنْبِيَاءَ وَ أَيَّدَهُمْ بِرُوحِ الْإِيمَانِ فَبِهِ خَافُوا اللَّهَ وَ أَيَّدَهُمْ بِرُوحِ الْقُوَّةِ فَبِهِ قَوُوا عَلَى طَاعَةِ اللَّهِ وَ أَيَّدَهُمْ بِرُوحِ الشَّهْوَةِ فَبِهِ اشْتَهَوْا طَاعَةَ اللَّهِ وَ كَرِهُوا مَعْصِيَتَهُ وَ جَعَلَ فِيهِمْ رُوحَ الْمَدْرَجِ الَّذِي يَذْهَبُ بِهِ النَّاسُ وَ يَجِيئُونَ وَ جَعَلَ فِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَصْحَابَ الْمَيْمَنَةِ رُوحَ الْإِيمَانِ فَبِهِ خَافُوا اللَّهَ وَ جَعَلَ فِيهِمْ رُوحَ الْقُوَّةِ فَبِهِ قَوُوا عَلَى الطَّاعَةِ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَ جَعَلَ فِيهِمْ رُوحَ الشَّهْوَةِ فَبِهِ اشْتَهَوْا طَاعَةَ اللَّهِ وَ جَعَلَ فِيهِمْ رُوحَ الْمَدْرَجِ الَّتِي يَذْهَبُ النَّاسُ بِهِ وَ يَجِيئُونَ.[2]
🔅🌼 THE MONTH OF FASTING 🌼🔅
🔅🌼 The outward meaning of fasting 🌼🔅
🌹Al-ṣawm originally means to refrain from an action, whether eating, speaking or walking. Thus, a ṣā’im is a horse that stops walking and grazing. A poet says:
خيلٌ صِيَامٌ و أخرى غيرُ صَائِمَةٍ
🌹
(Horses standing still and unfed, while the others are not.)
Ṣawm also means a still, motionless wind—the kind we describe in Persian by saying, “There is no wind; the air is calm.”
🌹It also refers to midday, when the sun is imagined to stand still at the centre of the sky. Hence the expression قام قائم الظّهيرة: “It is the height of noon; midday has come.”
🌹Maṣām al-faras and maṣāmatuhu mean a horse’s quarters or stable. Refraining from eating, drinking and sexual relations begins when, at the end of the night, the whiteness of dawn becomes distinct from the darkness. It has also been said that the word means refraining from speech, as indicated by the verse: (فَلَنْ أُكَلِّمَ الْيَوْمَ إِنْسِيًّا—Maryam 19:26) “Today I will not speak to any human being.”
🌹Ṣāmat al-rīḥ: the wind became still.
🌹Ṣāmat al-shams: the sun stood at its zenith.
🌹Ṣawm: fasting, abstinence, silence, stillness, steadfastness.
🔅🌼 The Month of Fasting 🌼🔅
🌹The blessed month of Ramadan holds the secret to attaining mastery over the body and awakening hidden capacities. It is a month of discipline and restraining the self. Surely, whoever refrains from what is lawful will not consume what is unlawful.
🌹A month of standing still, of setting things aside; of ceasing to be occupied with anything other than God; of refraining from frivolity and play, and forbidding heedlessness.
🌹Fasting is an inward power, a trust from God, a special strength: « وَ الصَّوْمُ وَ ضِدَّهُ الْإِفْطَار». Fasting is in our hearts; it must not be broken. It is a precious jewel entrusted to us, a power that brings a person into God’s presence. As long as this power remains in our hearts, it is impossible to be heedless of God.
🌹The month of fasting is a month of undivided attention, a month of practising detachment from all besides God, of severing every attachment to all besides God.
🌹A month for softening the heart and freeing it from hardness and constriction; a month for attaining the truth. A month for realising this truth: God alone is enough for His servant.
🌻🔆al-Zumar 39:36 أَ لَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكافٍ عَبْدَهُ وَ …
🔆Is God not sufficient for His servant?
🌹Is not everything that exists the will of God?
🌹Pleasure and beauty, love and satiety, hunger and everything else—all are the will of God.
🔅🌼 How delightful are Your names! 🌼🔅
🌹To develop an appetite for the Most Beautiful Names, and to be nourished by them all—the greatest signs and the most exalted attributes—at the divine banquet, where the table of love is spread: in the blessed month, we must transform our taste. It is a month for changing our feelings.
🌹Fasting means pausing in our loves and dislikes, our food and drink, our character, efforts and thoughts.
🌹The blessed month is a month of mending and rebuilding—or even of building anew.
🌹Food and drink point to the need that drives us to move, change and grow.
🌹Life itself is a system of purposeful change.
🌼Ali Sa‘i (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141 (903)🌼
[1] Tafsīr attributed to Imam Hasan al-Askari (peace be upon him), p. 655Hasan ibn Ali (peace be upon him), the Eleventh Imam, Imam al-Mahdi School (may God hasten his noble advent), Iran, Qom; first edition, 1409 AH.
[2] Baṣāʾir al-Darajāt on the Virtues of the Family of Muhammad (may God’s blessings be upon them), vol. 1, p. 446Ṣaffār, Muhammad ibn Hasan, Ayatollah Mar‘ashi Najafi Library, Iran, Qom; second edition, 1404 AH.
