The month of Ramadan has come to earth for God’s friends. He is saying, “Now the month of Ramadan has turned to the friends. It is a month that both washes and burns. It washes the hearts of the sinners with the water of repentance and burns the bodies of the servants with the fire of hunger.”
The word Ramaḍān is derived either from ramḍāʾ or ramaḍī. If it is from ramḍāʾ, it means hot stone, which burns whatever is placed upon it. If it is from ramaḍī, it means rain, which washes whatever it meets. Muṣṭafā was asked, “What is Ramadan?” He replied, “In it God burns the sins of the faithful and forgives them for them.”
2:185 The month of Ramadan is that wherein the Qur’an was sent down as guidance.
Anas Mālik said that he heard God’s Messenger say, “Ramadan has come. In it the gates of the Garden are opened, the gates of the Fire are shut, and the satans are fettered. If someone reaches Ramadan and is not forgiven, then when?”
He also said, “Were God to give the heavens and earth permission to speak, they would give those who fast during Ramadan the good news of the Garden.”
Think! You do not know the worth of this blessing. You are caressed everywhere in the world, and eminence has been put down next to you, but you are unaware. The submission, which is higher and better than all the creeds, is your religion.
The Qur’an, which is more exalted than all the books, is your book. Muṣṭafā, who is the master of Adam’s children, the eyes and lamp of the empire, the leader of the world’s folk at the resurrection, is your messenger. The Kaabah, which is the most eminent of spots, is your kiblah.
The month of Ramadan, which is more excellent and eminent than all other months, is your month and the season of your practice. It is a month in which all acts of disobedience are forgiven, the satans subjugated, paradise embellished and its doors open, and the doors of hell shut. In it the bazaar of the workers of corruption is broken, the deeds of the obedient are joined with self-purification, and past sins and recorded defilements are burned.
The Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī said, “Had God wanted to chastise Muḥammad’s community, He would not have given them the month of Ramadan, nor the surah, ‘Say: He is God, One’ [112].”
Here the lords of recognition see another closeness. They say that it is called “Ramadan” because in this month the Exalted Lord washes other than Himself from the hearts of the recognizers, then He burns them in His love. Sometimes He keeps them in fire, sometimes in the water, sometimes thirsty, sometimes drowning. “It is that someone falls into the grasp of the Real. When someone falls into the grasp of the Real, he is incinerated there, but the Real is behind him.”
