“The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance to men, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion. So whoever of you is present in the Month, he shall fast therein.”—Holy Qur’an 2:185
The Holy Qur’an states, “The month of Ramadan,” … in it are “clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion.” This clear proof of guidance may be seen as natural guidance from Allah (God) that we call our “Humanity,” if followed, the benefit is the proof for the one that follows it. “The Criterion” refers to one of the names or titles of the Qur’an, in which emphasis is given to the Qur’an as the standard by which we restrict our desires or ideas of law and justice to obey the Law of Allah (God). All traditions of religion have some form of fasting which shows man’s natural inclination to the physical and spiritual benefit of fasting. The additional practice of abstinence (sawm), in the Month of Ramadan, beyond the fast from food and water deepens the spiritual reward by breaking the vain desires of the heart.
The Guidance of Allah (God), Most High, is our source of purification from all ills of the spiritual heart and therefore the quality of life that we live is enriched with the Blessings of Allah (God) when that Guidance is followed. Muslims worship Allah (God) through many practices which demonstrate the tremendous goal of humanity’s rise through obedience to the Guidance and Prescriptions of our Creator and Healer.
Allah (God) describes one stage of His Guidance in the following verses from the Holy Qur’an stating that it is, “He Who gives to everything its creation, then guides (it).” (Surah 20 Verse 50)
›Allah (God) brings His creatures into being and then guides every single one of His creatures to its destination. All have a particular path along which Allah (God) guides them. It is our choice to receive the guidance that has been delivered to us and follow it, or not. It is our ego, pride, and vanity that blind us to the signs of Allah (God) and cause us to deviate. “I shall turn away from My messages those who are unjustly proud in the earth. And if they see every sign, they will not believe in it; and if they see the way of rectitude, they take it not for a way; and if they see the way of error, they take it for a way. This is because they reject Our messages and are heedless of them.” (Surah 7 Verse 146)
The Holy Qur’an tells us, “And those who follow guidance, He increases them in guidance and grants them their observance of duty” (Surah 47 Verse 17) and “Whomsoever Allah intends to guide, He expands his breast for Islam.” (Surah 6 Verse 125). These verses of the Holy Qur’an describe that increase in guidance or expanding as the “observance of duty” or action of Faith that He, Allah (God) has granted in the revealed laws and commandments of His Scripture. The Principles and Restrictive Laws of Islam are practical instructions for Freedom, Justice, and Equality that directly address the problems of society and “self,” by transforming the way we think and act through the lessons and discipline of prescribed duties that purify the heart and mind of spiritual disease.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us in “The Time And What Must Be Done, Part 28,” that “ ‘All life,’ The Qur’an says, ‘comes up out of water.’ So we are “born” of the water; but, a special kind of water. The Wisdom of God and its revelation is compared to ‘water,’ and ‘The Spirit’ of that Wisdom is The Creative Force that will allow us to build The Kingdom of God. This Book, Qur’an, is a ‘womb.’ So when you’re born out of ‘the water’ of this revelation, The Holy Qur’an, I submit to you: You will be made anew.”
“We have not taught him poetry, nor is it meet for him. He (this) is naught but a Reminder and a plain Qur’an.” (Surah 36 Verse 69). Therefore, Muhammad is the “Qur’an walking.” There is no Guidance of the Qur’an without a demonstration through the character of a human being. We thank Allah (God) for giving to us “a light giving sun” in His servant, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, one who is demonstrating the greatness of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the renewal of Islam in the Resurrection of the Dead and the Resurrection of the Righteous, as the Representative of his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, like no other.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes in “Our Saviour has Arrived,” page 75: “The dawn of a new day has arrived to seek our place in that which is new. We must have a guide. Allah (God) has always provided guides for those who seek to walk in His path. We should hasten ourselves to the light of truth as we hasten to get ourselves into the light of the day (the sun). The light of Allah (God) is even greater than the light of our day (the sun). We must learn to be intelligent enough to distinguish truth from falsehood and seek refuge in the God of truth.”
Humanity has not been forsaken in this hour of darkness without the Light of Guidance. We invite you to learn of these men. But, as with all True Servants of God, we must seek knowledge of them outside of the lens of the enemies of God that attempt to skew the Light of Allah (God). It is in the example of those that have been raised as the Light of Islam in the West that we see the darkness of an old world to which we once belonged expelled. Al-Mahdi (“The Guide”) — The Great Mahdi is among us. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan stated recently on Ramadan: The Ummah Reflects podcast, “The Guide is here; He is offering us life. He is asking us to submit our life into the hands of The Guide, and your life will be made better and more prosperous and successful as we go through this hour.”
When we are in this Holy Month of Ramadan, we are not only celebrating the reality that we are becoming closer and nearer to Allah (God) through His Guidance toward spiritual life, community life by raising us out of moral darkness, but we are celebrating the reality that the Holy Qur’an itself is the womb in which we, as a Nation (Ummah), can be born again. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan points to the goal of self-renewal that we seek in this month: “I plead with all of the Muslims to do everything in your power to make this fast successful. Follow it all the way through, and at the end of this 30 days, you will find yourself a new person.” Praise be to Allah (God)!
Sultan Rahman Muhammad serves as the Student National Imam of the Nation of Islam and resident Imam of Mosque Maryam National Center, Chicago. Visit NOI.org/ramadan, follow @ImamSultanM on Twitter, or email: [email protected].
