Merits of Ramadan

This year the holy month of Ramadan started on 24 April.

Compliance with the rules of Ramadan is of great importance for believers and has impacts as on the human body, as on the human spirit – we restrict ourselves to food, but our soul is filled up. Since ancient times the calendar of oriental nations had a holy month, which banned any military actions, robberies, looting, conflicts, lawsuits, divorces, and carouses. That period allowed people to rest from violence and disputes; farmers, herdsmen, and merchants could take a breather and have no worries about attacks, the society was returning to balance. Prophet Muhammad added this wise tradition with the necessity of Ramadan fasting.

Patience as a part of divine nature of humans

First of all, observance of fasting and rules of Ramadan helps to build and practice patience. Patience, as one of supreme goodnesses, means to see divine providence in everything, and to accept the will of Almighty. It is thanks to patience that we change our attitude to different things in our life – we can control our anger, impulsive actions and not to give over to the emotion of irritation, being a part of our primordial nature. Patience is not in our human nature, but it is in the divine one, therefore we have an opportunity to build and strengthen it. Observance of Ramadan fasting gives us calm. Such a balanced state of soul gets us closer to the source – this calm teaches us to live in harmony with our thoughts and emotions, because we distance ourselves from the vanity of worldly desires.

Reflections on values and intentions

Ramadan gives an opportunity of privacy, reflection and concentration. We can concentrate on our inner state, formulate our intention (niyat) based on reasons of the soul for the whole period of Ramadan, or for every new day optionally (for instance: to look at our life from outside, reevaluate it).
Prior doing something a person initially makes up the roadmap and the ways to reach the goal, for example: getting rid of some addiction, or habit. Intention has a key role in evaluation of one’s steps and ability to focus on them. This rule may be applied to all spheres of human life. Following it, we have a chance to act consciously at any moment of human life, witnessing God in every moment.

Healing effect of Ramadan

The change in daily rhythm and diet, mandatory pray in certain times of the day provide an opportunity to stop identifying ourselves with our body and emotions, with earthly life. In the fuss of everyday routines we identify ourselves through outer factors and circumstances, not through our divine qualities. Showing esteem to the needs of our physical body, taking into account its specifics, we still understand that the body cannot manage our life, subordinate us and our interests, that it is just a shell for our soul. During Ramadan we learn to switch our thoughts, to redirect them, to refrain from usual earthly demands of our body. Here, reading, also of spiritual literature, music, walks are of great help. Due to Ramadan, as to any kind of fasting, we become more stress-resistant, more flexible and adaptable to changing life circumstances.

The diet during Ramadan can give tremendous therapeutic effect to our metabolic and digestion systems (liver, kidney, lymph purification, etc.). As in everything in our life, eating habits also need to be moderate. Following Ramadan rules is extremely important, but personal sincerity and desire of a person, who decided to observe the holy month of Ramadan are important too. In the societies, where Ramadan is not traditional, people may feel it difficult to get to observe stricter rules, specified for this period. This is why it is necessary to be honest to oneself and understand where our inner resistance is, and where is a real reason, connected to our health problems, what our reluctance is based on. We can start accustoming ourselves bit by bit, by forsaking some habits for this time. We can try to get this tremendous experience as a conscious experiment, listening to ourselves, observing our thoughts and desires, learning who we are.

We are wishing to everybody new marvelous discoveries in themselves and in the surrounding world, good health and mood.

With love,
The Mevlevi Order