Hawzah News Agency - The holy month of Ramadan, the ninth lunar month, called the month of Allah, the month of Allah's feast, the month of Allah's blessing, Allah's forgiveness and purification of the soul. It is a month whose days and nights are better than all the days and nights of the year.

At this month, we are guests of honour of Allah; divine forgiveness is falling and the meeting of Allah will be the result of such feast. Believers in this divine feast can gain access to the Almighty better than ever. Fasting is One of the deeds that facilitates this closeness; Fasting is a loving, sincerely and piously worship that has become obligatory for Muslims on this month. Verses 183-185 of Surah Al-Baqarah explain this matter very well.

Fasting is considered as one of the most important deeds of worship and part of the identity of the Muslims of the world; the worship that has a history in all previous laws. Even primitive tribes fasted to cleanse themselves of sins, drive away demons and to gain the pleasure of their Allah. The ignorant Arabs also believed in a kind of fasting and abstinence as worship and purification. Fasting is mentioned as "Sawm" and "Seam" in the Holy Qur'an; sawm (fasting) means abstaining from eating and fasting in Divine Law is a special abstinence which is kind of avoiding eating, drinking and sexual intercourse in pure intention from morning to evening. Fasting is considered as Zakat of the body and the temperament and manner of people would spiritually change to the manner of angels by fasting; because they deprive themselves of the material food and engage in spiritual affairs like Allah's remembrance, glorification and the ejaculation《La-Allah-Illa-Allah.

The fast of the holy month of Ramadan is the shield of the Hell-fire; Sultan- al-Arefin, Amir-Al-mu'minin (P.B.U.H) in 110th sermon of Nahj al-Balaghah, has considered the fasting of the holy month of Ramadan as a shield against divine punishment. In this month, believers accustom themselves to divine attributes; in the sense that they stop back-biting, slandering, lying, cursing, insulting and seek only the pleasure of Allah. In fact, the devils are confined at this time.

Fasters get an opportunity to bathe themselves in the boundless ocean of divine forgiveness, so that they are clean and purify, and return to the Almighty with a body and soul free from all impurities and pollutions. They practice humility and patience, lighten their body and soul and provide the ability to ascend their soul by enduring hunger and thirst. Fasting before Allah is the confinement of the soul from the sensual desire, because fasting restrains the soul from the lust for food and wine. Fasting of the soul is spiritually higher than just enduring hunger, thirst and regular worship.

The best virtue of fasting is that it prevents the soul and other organs from committing any minor or major sins and engages people in the remembrance and glorification of Allah. If human beings try to free their souls from what is other than Allah and to keep their bodies free from evil deeds, then they will gain their spiritual sustenance. If they feed their souls into spiritual food and refrain from sensual food, they will be saved; they will remember the hunger and thirst of the Day of Judgment and their sincerity of the will be tested by restraining themselves. Many of the sins that human beings commit are due to involving in sensuality and lusts. The lust for wealth, fame, beauty of appearance are like a firewood that burn the soul and body of people and that fire does not go down and ruin every thing so that Allah punishes and burns them.

So there are secrets and mysteries in this abstinence. Ignoring avarice and extravagance, reducing lusts, cutting off human interests, leaving what is other than Allah and finally suppressing the devil that is the same sensual lusts, and achieving austerity and purification of the soul, i.e. the heart and depth of fasting, are effects and blessings of this special worship. With the blessing of this month, the opening of the fountain of our hearts, are opened to the light of the illumination of Allah, and we achieve the divine attributes. What a beautiful and sweet feeling would be to reach the beloved.

Tahereh kangaziyan