Allah, God, the Most High, has called to us with a command to rush or hasten to the remembrance of Him—and Allah’s remembrance is the greatest of forces.
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If we are heeding the call of Allah, we are heeding His call purely by answering our original nature, the nature in which Allah has created us. For when Allah calls, it is in our nature to answer that call.
But over time we may become misguided. We may fall off the path. But Allah, Most High, does not leave His servants unable to find their way back to His path. Allah has given us ways to keep our compass, ways to understand our goal in life, which is Oneness with Him.
He has prescribed for us fasting, especially during the month of Ramadan, the month in which the Holy Qur’an was revealed. We thank Allah, Most High, for the Holy Month of Ramadan. We thank Allah that He has blessed us with life to give the blessed greeting “Ramadan Mubarak,” a phrase that means the Believer is wishing or praying that his fellow Believer will receive the blessings of this sacred month.
Imam Sultan R. Muhammad Photo: Haroon Rajaee
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Allah prescribed fasting for us as it was prescribed for those before us so that we may learn to guard against evil.
In this Holy Month is a lesson for the Believer, a lesson for the one willing to subdue his or her very nature—the need to drink, the need to eat—so that we may become among the supernatural.
This is a moment in which Believers can tap into Allah, Most High, and tune-in to a better understanding of themselves.
If we study ourselves and study what we must guard against, we become more self-aware.
We should be awakening the self-accusing spirit, awakening the spirit that says: Oh, Allah I should not use such language. Oh, Allah please forgive me for what I have done to hurt my brother, to hurt my sister. What is it that I have said to my brothers and sisters that needs to be purified from my heart and mind? Self-awareness may be found by looking through the microscope of fasting, the microscope that allows us to become self-reflective, if we follow the guidance that Allah has given to us through His prophets and all righteous guides. We become aware of what we are looking at, so our eyes are fasting. We become aware of what we are consuming on every level through our senses, so our ears are fasting. We become aware of what we are consuming, not only through food, through drink, or abstinence from our sexual desires with our husbands or wives during the day, we become aware of the people that we are around. If we study ourselves, we know that Shaitan, or Satan, is not a spook. Satan walks among us, breathing, eating and whispering into our hearts. Whispering in a way that only you and I can hear his whisper.
Muslim woman prays. (R) Iman Sultan R. Muhammad leads Friday congregational prayer service during Ramadan. Photo: Haroon Rajaee
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If we are able to control our inclinations toward evil and wrongdoing, we will find ourselves among those that Allah has granted this beautiful, beautiful title called Muslim.
Islam begins with submission. It begins with submitting our will to do the Will of Allah. So, it is not our feet when we are walking; it is not our hand when striking; not our tongue speaking but we have submitted to the Will of Allah, who loves and is One with His servants.
This Holy Month is an hour and a time in which we can have a secret relationship with Allah, Most High. How is it secret? Only Allah knows you’re fasting. Only Allah knows every moment of the day that you are spending. Allah says He is with the Believer at all times. Allah has said in the Holy Qur’an be patient, be patient, surely the promise of Allah is true. And let not those disquiet you who have no certainty. It is through the fasting brothers and sisters and this secret relationship with Allah that we begin to discover certainty. We become certain that we have not just become Muslims, or those who submit, but we have become Believers.
Muslims pray in masala (prayer room) at Mosque Maryam.
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We have seen certainty, so we not only submit ourselves to Allah’s Will, but we believe in what Allah has promised us. We believe in the unseen, that which has not yet been made manifest.
We believe Allah has designed that we would come through a journey of life as a people with Allah’s promise. And, the promise is Islam, the faith and practice of submission, peace, freedom, justice and equality will reign supreme over all other ways of life.
Let us impose discipline upon ourselves that will allow us to deepen our strength beyond the natural urges so that we become a superpower within self. Then brothers and sisters we will see the rise of a nation that will rise to be a superpower, by Allah’s Permission.
Do we deny what Allah has given to us as medicine for healing? Let us see who the Master Doctor is. Allah has given us guidelines for fasting that we sometimes choose out of our egotistical ways to ignore. We sometimes try to make easy what should be a struggle. And we try to make hard what should be easy for us.
Allah has established us in the best of makes, the best of creation and He has established us Khalifah, as His successors on the planet earth; His successors of the universe. Let us tap into the superpower of self. Let us take on the character of Allah, take on His attributes and let us become among the thankful, among those that submit their will to Allah and become servants of the Most Merciful.
Let us respond to and obey the call of God.
Sultan Rahman Muhammad, student National Imam of the Nation of Islam, is based in Chicago.
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