Days pass so quickly. In an instant Ramadan began with its first day as the Islamic world prepared for it in great fervour and enthusiasm. People are joyful to live this blessed month once again. Niyats [the prayer for beginning the fast] are taken, tables are made ready, fasts are broken and suhoors are prepared. And in another instant, Ramadan is already about to end.
Those who spent the month of Ramadan in summer time in their childhood are in their 40s right now. The month of Ramadan coincides with the summer months only once every 33 years. These people will encounter Ramadan in summer time again maybe when they are in their 70s; Ramadan is gradually moving towards spring and then winter.
Ramadan in summer has a different flavour. Especially the iftar meals set in summer gardens, the riot of colours in the sky due to sunset adds thrill to the human spirit at the time of breaking the fast. The sound of the azan in still summer nights arouses a different feeling in Muslims. Iftar meal eaten outdoors is an important pleasure for people.
Not only Muslims, but members of the divinely-revealed religions around the world all know about this delight. Though in different ways and at different times, non-Muslims also experience spiritual pleasure and they somehow share this spiritual feeling with Muslims. That is why people around the world have an idea of how Ramadan affects the human soul in Muslims.
The end of every good thing makes the heart disquieted. While we are coming to the end of Ramadan, our hearts are experiencing such a feeling. While on one hand people are saying hello to Bairam with the inner peace and clear conscience of having fulfilled their religious duty, on the other they want no end to the beautiful, profound spiritual atmosphere of Ramadan days.
Ramadan Bairam is now a few days away. People will gather together with the first daylight in mosques for the Bairam prayer. They will hug each other despite their differences. Those who don’t speak with each other will talk and the family elders will have visitors. Distinguished Bairam dining tables will be set and families will eat together. Who knows; maybe at the next Ramadan, some people will be missing from those tables. Ramadan Bairam meals are eaten with this kept in mind.
Indeed Ramadan is about to end, yet it is our wish that;
Helping each other will not end,
Friendship will not end,
Mutual love and respect will not end,
The spirit of understanding for the needy and the poor will not end,
That profound and nice speech will not end,
The recognition that spirituality is more important than material things will not end,
That the delights pertaining to Ramadan will continue throughout the rest of the year.
There will be no more beggars in the streets,
The Islamic world will become again a place of historical beauties, and that peace and love will be the order of the day instead of blood and tears,
That we will think of Africa not as a place of misery and famine, but for its natural beauties,
We will live in a world where the rich protect the poor, not in one where the rich oppress the poor,
And that we will not remember these things only when we have to learn from personal experience what famine means.
Let us live every day with the hope of this beautiful world and let us strive to acquire it one day.
Adnan Oktar's piece on Gulf Daily News:
http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/14034/Ramadan-reflections
