EID-UL-FITR
H.MUHAMMAD FAZLUR RAHMAN ANSARIAL-QADERI
NEARLY
fourteen centuries have elapsed since the occurrence of the greatest event in
the history of mankind, — the event, namely, of
the commencement of the revelation of the Holy Qur'an in the month of Ramadan.
The Holy book came carrying in its pages the writ of the greatest and the
noblest resolution of human history and the inauguration of the new era wherein
the progeny of Adam was lie realize all the potentialities of its greatness.
Fed and nourished by continuous guidance from its Maker and having completed a
long preparatory march through the stormy stretch of time mankind fed reached
its stage of maturity, and consequently, enveloped although it was in the
darkness of a mighty crisis, its soul was praying for a perfect and final
Divine dispensation to guide it in its
onward journey..... That Dispensation, and that Guidance came in the form of
the Holy Qur'an and in the sacred month of Ramadan, as we find clearly stated
in God's clearly stated in God's Word:
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِيْۤ
اُنْزِلَ فِيْهِ الْقُرْاٰنُ هُدًي لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنٰتٍ مِّنَ الْهُدٰي وَالْفُرْقَانِجفَمَنْ
شَهِدَ مِنْکُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُط وَمَنْ کَانَ مَرِيْضًا اَوْ عَلٰي
سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّة'' مِّنْ اَيَّامٍ اُخَرَ ط يُرِيْدُ اللّٰهُ بِکُمُ الْيُسْرَ
وَ لَا يُرِيْدُ بِکُمُ الْعُسْرَ ز وَ لِتُکْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُکَبِّرُوا اللّٰهَ
عَلٰي مَا هَدٰئکُمْ وَلَعَلَّکُمْ تَشْکُرُوْنَ(البقره:١٨٥)
The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance
for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the criterion (of right and
wrong), So everyone of you who is present in the month should spend it in
fasting, but if anyone is ill or in a
journey, the prescribed period (should be made up) by days later. Allah intends
every facility for you. He does not want to put you to difficulties. He wants
you to complete the prescribed period, I to glorify Him in that He has guided
you and perchance ye I be grateful" (II: 185).
Thus Ramadan comes every year to every Muslim home throughout the
world as the commemoration of the new era of Blessings which the Holy Quran
ushered and this commemoration consists in a two-fold activity according to the
above verse, viz: (1) Self-discipline, and (2) Offering thanks to God.
As regards self-discipline, Islam believes in and aims at all
disciplines of the self, i.e. physical mental, moral, aesthetic and spiritual,
and consequently, it blends them with perfect harmony and equilibrium in its
scheme of fasting and prayer which operates throughout the month of Ramadan.
Glorification of God and seeking Divine blessings through it are also
comprehended by that scheme. They, however, form the special feature of a day
especially set aside for that purpose-the day of 'Id-ul-Fitr.
The 'Id-ul-Fitr is thus a purely spiritual festival. Physical
rejoicing does of course form part of it, and that solely because Islam does
not believe in the separation of the physical and the spiritual. But
all-importance fact should not be lost sight of that the key-note of this
festival is piety. Coming in the wake of a month of rigorous discipline which
is meant to re-equip the human soul, the day of Id-ul-Fitr can only be the day
of the formation of fresh determination for the conquest of vice and the
establishment of the reign of virtue within one's own self and in the
world-at-large a goal and an ideal for the achievement of which the Holy Qur'an
was revealed,— thus becoming, in the
final analysis, the first important day of what might be called the Qur'anic
Year.
Post a Comment