Ramadan: The Month of Becoming a Jewel

🌼🔆🌼The Mystery of Jewels🌼🔆🌼

🔹 Weekly sessions of commentary and interpretation of Sahifa Sajjadiyya (the Forty-Fourth Supplication)
📅 Date: 1403/12/23 – 13 Ramadan 1446
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
📝 Some of the points raised in the session:

The Month of Ramadan; the Great Highway to Divine Pleasure 🌙✨

✅ “وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي جَعَلَ مِنْ تِلْكَ السُّبُلِ شَهْرَهُ شَهْرَ رَمَضَانَ…”
✅ “شَهْرَ الصِّيَامِ”، “شَهْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ”، “شَهْرَ الطَّهُورِ”، “شَهْرَ الَّتمْحِيصِ”، “شَهْرَ الْقِيَامِ”!
✅ “الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ، هُدًى لِلنَّاسِ، وَ بَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْهُدَى وَ الْفُرْقَانِ”!

✅ In this “Month of God,” become “Abdullah” (servant of God)!
✅ And become “Abd al-Ramadan” (servant of Ramadan)!
✅ The “blessed month” is the “great highway to the pleasure of God”!

✅ “Imam Sajjad (AS)” introduces to us a part of the “greatness of the blessed month”!
✅ Yes, the “blessed month” is indeed the “great highway to the pleasure of God”!

✅ This “blessed month” is the “Month of God”!
✅ It is the “month of fasting”!
✅ It is the “month of standing”!
✅ It is the “month of the greatest halt”!

✅ One must “halt” before everything that is “other than God”!
✅ And come to rest “in Him alone”!

✅ It is the “month of Islam”!
✅ It is the “month of peace and well-being”!
✅ It is the “month of loftiness and sublimity”!
✅ It is the “month of the religion of God”!
✅ It is the “month of the radiance of Islam”!
✅ It is the “supreme emblem of the luminous religion of Islam”!

The Month of Purification; a time for cleansing the soul of impurities 🕊

✅ This “blessed month” is the “month of purification”!
✅ It is the “month of becoming clean” from “all impurities and defilements”!

✅ It is the “month of tamhis” (refining)!
✅ It is the “month of becoming pure” and “unalloyed and crystal clear”!
✅ It is the “month of attaining” the “diamond of servitude to God”!

✅ It is the “month of rising”!
✅ It is the “month of rising and of the resurrection of divine servitude”!
✅ It is the “month of standing upright”!
✅ In the “true sense,” it is “standing” for the “servitude of God”!

✅ “This month” is the “month of the Quran”!
✅ It is the “month of sanctity”!
✅ It is the “month of the sacred precinct”!
✅ “This month” is both a “sacred precinct” and “possessed of sanctities”!

✅ It is the “month of renowned virtues”!
✅ It is the “month of ruling over the carnal self”!
✅ It is the “month of breaking the neck of the carnal self”!

✅ It is the “month of order and discipline”!
✅ In this month, one must “attain” that “sublime discipline”!

✅ The “blessed month of Ramadan” is the “month of attention”!
✅ Attention to the “outward,” attention to the “inward”!

✅ It is the “month of Laylat al-Qadr”!
✅ It is the “month of goodness and blessing”!
✅ It is the “month of self-preservation”!

✅ It is the “month of the highest management” and “specialised management of the inner and outer faculties”!

✅ It is the “month of the highest trust,” in “God the Exalted”!
✅ It is the “month of watchfulness and self-reckoning”!

✅ It is the “month of prayer”!
✅ In the true sense, “prayer”!
✅ The “month of expanding and developing prayer”!
✅ The “month of establishing the pillars of prayer”!

✅ It is the “month of bringing noble traits to bloom”!
✅ And “withering away all that is detestable”!

✅ It is the “month of giving zakat”!
✅ It is the “month of maintaining ties of kinship”!

✅ It is the “month of love”!
✅ It is the “month of attending to one’s neighbours”!
✅ “To all neighbours”…
✅ “Neighbours of the soul,” “neighbours in knowledge,” “neighbours of the body”!

✅ It is the “month of intimate supplication”!
✅ It is the “month of liberation and divine oneness”!

✅ These are but “a part of the lessons of Imam Sajjad (AS)”!
✅ Which he teaches us in the “Forty-Fourth Supplication of the Sahifa”!

The City of Refinement; the Month of Sincerity and Purity 🌿✨

✅ Yes, we have “arrived” at the “summit of the Month of Purification”!
✅ We “praise” God for “His month”!
✅ For “this blessed month”!
✅ And also for “this month,” which is “the Month of Purification”!

✅ “The month of becoming pure”!
✅ “The month of attaining” “complete purity”!
✅ Of becoming “utterly pure,” free from “every flaw and shortcoming”!
✅ “The month of becoming pristine”!

✅ “The month of cleansing” every “speck of dust,” “stain,” and “impurity” from “the diamond-like beauty of our being”!
✅ “The month of flowing and coursing”!
✅ “The month of sweeping clean” every “dimension of our being”!

✅ “This world” is “the greater world”!
✅ We must “sweep away” its “dust”!
✅ We must “remove” its “waste”!

✅ “The month of being refined” until we become “utterly sincere”!
✅ “The month of being set free”!

✅ In this month, “becoming one with God”!
✅ “The month of becoming” “God’s own”!
✅ Becoming “a servant of God”!
✅ Becoming “a servant of Ramadan”!

✅ In this month, we must “enter the furnace of servitude to God”!
✅ We must bring ourselves to “perfect purity”!

✅ It is “a month for artistry”!
✅ We must “serve God with artistry”!

✅ In the truest sense…
✅ We must attain the rank of “servant of the Holy One,” “servant of the All-Glorified”!

✅ “The month of interpreting and elucidating” this “noble verse”:
✅ “He sends down water from the sky…
✅ Then the valleys flow according to their measure…
✅ And the flood carries up swelling foam…
✅ And from what they heat in the fire for ornaments and goods, foam rises…
✅ Thus does God set forth the likeness of “truth” and “falsehood”!
✅ But the foam is swept away and vanishes…
✅ While what benefits people remains on the earth…
✅ Thus does Allah set forth parables!”

The test of purity: truth separated from falsehood 🌊🔥

✅ Allah sends down “rain” “from the sky”!
✅ He sends down “water”!

✅ The “valleys” receive “that water” according to “their capacity”!
✅ “Floods flow” through those “valleys”!

✅ When “the flood flows,” “foam rises” “on its surface”!
✅ It “foams”!

✅ And likewise, consider…
✅ “Those precious metals” that contain “impurities”…
✅ They are “melted” in “a furnace”!
✅ And above them, just as with “the flood,” “foam rises”!

✅ “This” is “the parable of truth and falsehood”!
✅ “Truth remains”!
✅ And “the foam that rises” “must disappear”!

✅ That “foam” must be “cleansed away” from within “the valleys”!
✅ Likewise, when “those precious metals” are “melted” and “foam rises above them,” “that foam too is cast off”!

✅ “This is how” “gold and jewels” are made “clear, pure, and free of dross”!
✅ “Truth remains”!
✅ And “falsehood” “passes away”!

✅ Now, let us “consider ourselves”!
✅ “Our hearts” are those “valleys”!
✅ According to “the capacity of each heart,” Allah sends down “truth” “from the sky”!

✅ He sends down “His truth”!
✅ He sends down “His blessings”!
✅ He sends down “provision” “from the sky”!
✅ He sends down “His blessings”!
✅ He sends down “His knowledge and wisdom”!

✅ But…
✅ “Hearts” receive “it” only according to “their capacity”!

✅ Now, what kind of “heart” is this?
✅ If it is “clear,” it will be “free of foam”!
✅ If it contains “impurities,” “a flood will flow from it”!

✅ “Truth and falsehood” have become “mixed together”!
✅ But “falsehood” will rise “like foam”!
✅ And “must be cast off”!

✅ This “heart” must not only “be receptive to truth”…
✅ “It must also” receive “pure, clear light” within it!

The test of becoming a diamond in the furnace of this world 💎🔥

✅ Yes, here on earth, we are being tested and tried so that we may fulfil a noble mission!
✅ In the furnace of this worldly life, we must bring the treasures of our souls to light!
✅ We must cast off all the dross and impurities within us!

✅ This is an age of miracles!
✅ The diamond within us must be cut and polished!
✅ It must shine!

✅ Do we know why a diamond became a diamond?
✅ Why a ruby became a ruby?
✅ Why an agate became an agate?
✅ Why an emerald became an emerald?

✅ Those precious stones became jewels because…
✅ In this contest of existence, they remained steadfast with truth and the Real!
✅ They attained a lofty station!
✅ They cast off every impurity!
✅ And the diamond became a diamond!
✅ And the agate became an agate!

Agate: the jewel of wilayah and the light of the eyes 🔴✨

✅ What did the agate do to become an adornment for the eyes?
✅ How did it become an agate?

✅ It hastened to obey God’s command!
✅ It embraced wilayah!
✅ It loved God!
✅ And it loved those who love God!

✅ When the trust was offered to the jewels, including the agate…
✅ the trust was presented!
✅ They accepted it!
✅ They were first to say “Yes”—first to say “Yes”!
✅ This stone, the agate, outpaced many human beings!

✅ And so the agate became an agate!
✅ Now it is so exalted that its price is so high!
✅ Its worth surpasses that of every other jewel!
✅ It is even more precious than a diamond!

✅ And yet…
✅ because imitations are made,
✅ every beauty in this universe is copied…
✅ but the agate remains what it is!
✅ The connoisseur recognizes it!
✅ The agate loves God’s servants who keep the fast of Ramadan!

The flood of life’s trials: separating jewels from dross 🌊🔹

✅ Yes, when the flood of trial begins to flow…
✅ all the stones are swept along like a river!
✅ All the dross is cast aside!
✅ They become clear!
✅ They become pure!

✅ How did that beautiful, sweet-voiced bird attain such beauty?
✅ By bringing what was within it to light!
✅ It embodies precisely this quality!

✅ The jewel within was revealed!
✅ They loved God!
✅ They brought that love to light with purity!

✅ Those healing plants!
✅ How did medicinal plants become healing plants?
✅ That is the secret!

✅ The jewel of existence emerged from the heart of this universe!
✅ On this journey, we are moving towards clarity and purity!
✅ We must become clear and pure!

✅ The diamond became clear and pure!
✅ Pure-hearted people became clear and pure!

✅ They must move forward,
✅ so that they may reveal what lies within!

✅ They must bring to light the Most Beautiful Names already present in their souls!
✅ They must cast off all that stands in the way of these beauties…
✅ so that the Most Beautiful Names may shine forth!

✅ So, let us move!
✅ Let us make ourselves transparent and pure!
✅ Let us become like agate, like diamond, like God’s radiant jewels!

The trial of purification in the furnace of this world 🔥💎

✅ May the Most Beautiful Names themselves call out to Him
✅ for that voice of the Names is, in a sense, the voice and light of God!
✅ In a sense, it is God’s knowledge!

✅ What a “trial” the “Lord” has set in motion in “this world”!
✅ They “emerge from the furnaces of testing”!
✅ “At every moment,” the “human being” is “in the furnace of trial”!
✅ “In the heart of the flood”!
✅ “In this world” means “amid the flood of worldly life”!
✅ “It flows on”!
✅ So one must “cast off” “love of this world” and “bring God’s love” into the open!
✅ “The precious jewel must come to light”!
✅ “The false must be cast away”!

✅ How beautifully the flower carries out this “mission”!
✅ This “flower” is “the first to step forward”!
✅ This “flower” has “surpassed the rest”!
✅ “It lays itself down in the earth”!
✅ “In the flood,” it is “also in the earth”!
✅ “Buried alive”!

✅ “It brings itself up from the earth”!
✅ And it also “purifies the earth itself”!
✅ “What wisdom” this “seed” possesses!
✅ “Impurities” contaminate the soil!
✅ But “this seed” purifies it!
✅ “It removes the impurity and cleanses it”!

✅ “What a remarkable companion” this “soil” has!
✅ A companion like “the pure seed”!
✅ “It splits itself open”!
✅ “It is cleft open”!
✅ “In God’s name,” it “is cleft open”!
✅ “It splits open” and “blossoms”!
✅ “It casts off all the dross”!
✅ It is “purest jewel”!

✅ That “beautiful blossom”…
✅ Can anything “more beautiful than that jewel” be found in this world?
✅ It does not “stop there”!
✅ It brings forth something “even more beautiful”!
✅ It releases “that pure, lovely fragrance” from within itself!
✅ What “knowledge” it has!

✅ And it does not “rest content” with that!
✅ “From within itself,” it “produces divine nectar”!
✅ And still, it is not “satisfied”!
✅ It “transforms it into honey”!

The seed of wisdom: a jewel that splits itself open 🌱💠

✅ It “adds beauty upon beauty”!
✅ “Where have these seeds” acquired “such wisdom”?
✅ They have “attained this exalted insight”!

✅ “All the flavors” found “in this world”…
✅ In “every kind of plant”!
✅ In “every kind of fruit”!
✅ They are the very “adornment” and “ornament” that have “come forth”!
✅ In “the furnace of trial in this realm of existence”…
✅ They have “made their way through”!
✅ They have “become pure jewels”!

✅ And these “human beings”…
✅ Who carry within them “a pure nature”!
✅ Who possess “a pure light”!

✅ Why “can they not” bring forth from within themselves that “pure, God-centered nature”?
✅ Why not let “that light” shine “from within them”?
✅ Why not reveal “the Most Beautiful Names” inscribed on “the tablet of their souls”?
✅ And “shine” like “a chosen sign of God”?

Recognizing the impurities and foam of life’s trials 🌊🌀

✅ Let us become familiar with the various “impurities”!
✅ The many kinds of “rising foam” that appear over “gold and finery”!

✅ They are “reprehensible behaviors”!
✅ They are “blameworthy traits”!
✅ They are “disliked things”!
✅ They are “the foam atop the flood”!
✅ They are “on top of the jewels”!

✅ They are the “filth and impurities” that “emerge from the human being”!
✅ They are “the foam on the water”!
✅ The “human being” “foams”!
✅ “The body”!
✅ “The soul”!
✅ They must be “cleared away”!

✅ “The body” “strives” to “cast every impurity” “away from itself”!
✅ The “soul,” too, “wants” to “cast its impurities” “away from itself”!
✅ It is all a “striving” to “become pure”!
✅ The “human being” “strives” to “become refined”!
✅ To “purify and thoroughly cleanse” itself!

✅ So let us emerge “triumphant” from “the furnace of trial”!
✅ “Like diamonds, like agate, like divine jewels”!

Ramadan: the month of rising in servitude and attaining complete sincerity 🌙🔥

✅ Why does modern humanity outpace all others in “multiplying and producing waste”?
✅ In a word: “ignorance” is “a producer of dross”!
✅ “Ignorance” is “an expert at producing mischief”!
✅ The “foulest dross” “produced from the human soul” is “mischief”!
✅ So long as there is “ignorance,” “this dust and filth” will remain!

✅ This “ignorance” “must be driven” “from the human heart”!
✅ If it “is not driven out”…
✅ “The human being” will be “a producer of waste,” “dust,” “filth,” and “abominations”!
✅ “The very same bad character”!
✅ “The very same inclination toward disobedience, sin, and reprehensible acts”!

✅ This “ignorance” is “the remote forefather of accursed Iblis”!
✅ It is “the remote forefather of mischief,” “ugliness,” and “reprehensible acts”!
✅ And its destination is “the lowest of the low”!

✅ And “reason” is “a producer of adornment”!
✅ “The absolute rule of reason” “over the human soul”…
✅ “purifies the human being”!
✅ It “refines them”!

✅ The blessed month of Ramadan “is our companion and helper”…
✅ as we attain “this station” and “rank”!

Surah al-Ra‘d, verse 17: The key to purification in the month of rising 📖✨

✅ “Recite verse 17 of Surah al-Ra‘d” “with all your heart”!
✅ “Recite it in the measured rhythm of the soul”!
✅ And “grant this humble servant a share” in your “noble kindness”!

✅ Indeed, this month is “the month of purification”!
✅ It is “the month of rising”!
✅ It is “the month of rising and resurrection”!
✅ It is “the month of breaking free from stillness and stagnation”!
✅ It is “the month of being set in motion”!
✅ It is “the month of rising up”!
✅ It is “the month of resurrection”!
✅ It is the month of “raising up a resurrection of servitude to God”!

✅ It is “the month of rising in love”!
✅ It is “the month of truly falling in love”!
✅ It is “the month of crying, ‘Allah, Allah’”!
✅ It is “the month of proclaiming God’s name”!
✅ It is “the month of becoming one unbroken cry of takbīr”!
✅ It is “the month of glorification”!
✅ It is “the month of explanation”!
✅ It is “the month of praise”!
✅ It is “the month of glorifying God”!
✅ It is “the month of extolling God’s praise”!

✅ It is “the month of proclaiming God as the All-Glorified and the Most Holy”!
✅ It is “the month of sowing”—
✅ “sowing the names of God” “in the hearts of the stars in the sky,”
✅ “and in the heart of every particle in all existence”!
✅ “We must help them grow”!
✅ “We must cultivate the garden of our own being”!
✅ “We must become the embodiment of the remembrance of God”!

✅ It is “the month of straightening ourselves in servitude to God”!
✅ It is “the month of raising aloft the stature of servitude”!
✅ “Of standing tall”!
✅ “Of bringing our stature to full height”!
✅ It is “the month of correcting the crookedness in our servitude”!

✅ It is “the month of becoming a servant of the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining”!
✅ “In this month, we must attain the everlasting life of servitude”!

📖 The blessed month of Ramadan: the month of the Quran and special guidance 📖

✅ Indeed, it is “the month of the Quran”!
✅ It is “the month of the Quran”!
✅ It is “the month in which the heavenly scriptures were revealed”!

✅ All the heavenly scriptures were revealed in this blessed month!
✅ 📜 From “the Scrolls of Abraham” to the “Torah,” the “Gospel,” the “Psalms,” and the “Quran”!
✅ “All the heavenly scriptures” were revealed in “this blessed month”!
✅ “What an extraordinary share we have” in this “great month”!

✅ 📖 “The Quran is light”!
✅ 🕯 It is “proof and evidence”!
✅ 💡 “The Quran is a light that breaks through darkness”!
✅ 🚫 “It banishes injustice”!
✅ 🌌 “It dispels constriction”!
✅ ✨ “Light opens up space”!
✅ 🔍 “It breaks through ignorance”!
✅ 🎨 “It reveals beauty and delight”!

✅ If “there is no light”…
✅ 🚫 “Nothing can be seen”!
✅ 🚫 “No hearing”!
✅ 🚫 “No sight”!
✅ 🚫 “No smell”!
✅ 🚫 “No touch”!
✅ 🚫 “No taste”!
✅ 🚫 “No perception”!
✅ 🚫 “No beauty”!
✅ 🚫 “No majesty”!

✅ ✨ “The Quran is light in its fullness”!
✅ 📖 “It is itself an exposition of all things”!
✅ ✨ “Its light, too, reveals the reality of everything in its entirety”!
✅ Is “the greatness of the Quran” something we can truly comprehend?**

✅ 📖 “What does the Qur’an do?”
✅ I “do not see,” because I “do not know the light”!
✅ I did not “look through the Qur’an” to see “what its reality is”!
✅ It reveals all “delights” to us at once!
✅ All “beauties”!
✅ Because “its light is complete”!
✅ It “reveals the whole truth”!
✅ “Through the Qur’an, a person” reaches “all the truths of existence”!
✅ This is “the word of God”!
✅ This is “the light of God”!
✅ This is “God’s proof and evidence,” “His testimony”!
✅ “It is light”!
✅ “It is guidance”!
✅ But not just any guidance…

✅ “The Qur’an’s guidance” comes “from grace”!
✅ It comes “from kindness”!
✅ It guides with “tenderness and loving care”!
✅ “It is God’s gift”!
✅ “It brings illumination”!
✅ “It charges nothing”!
✅ “It provides the means itself, and sets you on your way”!

📖 The Qur’an’s guidance: general and particular 📖

✅ “The Qur’an offers general guidance”!
✅ “It encompasses all creation”!
✅ “It extends across all existence”!
✅ “No one is deprived of its blessings”…
✅ whether “an unbeliever”!
✅ or “a polytheist”!
✅ Everyone benefits from it!

✅ But “for the God-fearing,” it offers “particular guidance”!
✅ It does not merely “guide”!
✅ “It is guidance itself”!
✅ “For the God-fearing, this means:”
✅ “When the God-fearing take up the Qur’an, they have taken up guidance”!
✅ In other words, “the God-fearing become lamps of God’s guidance”!
✅ “This is God’s particular guidance”!

✅ “A guidance that takes a person”…
✅ “from the words to their allusions”!
✅ “And from there, to their subtleties”!
✅ “Then it brings them to the truths of the Qur’an”!

✅ “The Qur’an rescues one person from misguidance”!
✅ “Another it raises to the heights of guidance”!
✅ “It leads them ever deeper into guidance”!
✅ “The Qur’an is the bride of God’s word”!
✅ “The bride of the heavenly books”!
✅ “It is a clear exposition for humankind”!
✅ “هٰذَا بَیَانٌ لِلنَّاسِ…”
✅ “For the God-fearing, it is guidance and admonition”!

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