The month of Ramadan, known as Sultan-Queen of eleven months is the most sacred among all the months.

The Koran has descended during the month of Ramadan and during the night of Kaadir.* This fact has increased the interest in this month.

Prophet Mohammed states;

"When Ramadan arrives, the doors of Heaven, the doors of Mercy are opened; the doors of Hell are closed and the satans are chained up". (Muslim Siyam 2)

The descending down of Koran during Ramadan, the month of fasting is free from any concept of place, is not a coincidence, but something related to divine reason.

During the month of fasting, the human brain functions with utmost ease, comfort, with utmost efficiency, has a better capacity of understanding. Taking these facts into account, it would be rather foolish to consider the descending of Koran as a coincidence.

"Oruç" is the turkish word for "savm" in Arabic. The meaning in the dictionary for oruç is "to hold".

Oruç, fasting is one of the five main conditions of Islam. However, starting from Prophet Adam it has been made imperative for all the prophets and their communities.( Bakara, 183.Verse)

It is accepted that each prophet has his own divine laws. Prophet Jesus, in his teachings, has suggested love and fasting to his community as understood from the subjects in the Bible. Prophet Jesus says "Whenever you fast do not look upset, be clean and cheerful." (Matthew 6/16-17)

So, fasting is an important function of servitude, made obligatory to human kind starting from the first Prophet.

Prophet Mohammed, apart from the obligatory way of fasting has recommended different methods depending on the capacity of the person. Some of his disciples, by his recommendation applied the fasting method of Prophet David, namely, eating one day and fasting the following day. Some of them fasted 40 days consecutively without breaking, whereas some shortened this period to 7 days.

Fasting, has been accepted as the preliminary rule in various schools of thought. It is a fact that Saint Abd al-Qadir Gilani, during the time he lived, has fasted 40 days each year apart from Ramadan, without eating foods obtained from animals.

The most efficient way of fasting is to fast consecutively for 120 days, consisting of 3 periods of 40 days each without getting animal food. This kind of work is called "riyazat" (a method or mental discipline)

Here, the main goal is the refining of the animal food, that make the brain lazy and which creates parasitic electricity.

In this manner animal like power leaves its place to angel like power. Thus, the person starts acting with this angel like power and if directed correctly, the person reaches the level of having the manners of Allah.

The fasting in Ramadan lasts from time to time 30 days and sometimes 29 days and starts with the new moon (crescent).

Prophet Mohammed in one of his hadiths says "Don’t start fasting if you don’t see the new moon and don’t make celebrations of Bairam^* without seeing it. If the weather is cloudy, then make calculations and (according to a rumour) complete the number fasting days to 30." (Müslim Siyam 3)

While saying this he didn’t mean to start or to stop the fasting period randomly. What he wanted to tell was these functions should be made according to the phases (movements) of the moon.

People, are not yet aware of the fact that each and every prayer is performed in accordance with the movements of the sun and the moon. In our case, the principle of fasting as indexed to a period of 30 days is not correct. I’ll try to explain these later...

Our Prophet says; "If we could see all of the virtues manifesting (occuring) in Ramadan, then we would no doubt wish Ramadan to last the whole year long."

In another hadith he said;

"The month of Recep^* belongs to Allah,

the month of Shaban^* belongs to me,

and the month of Ramadan belongs to my people (community)".

(Sahih-i Müslim)

I would like to point out that in the month of Recep, the manifestations of the Essence become visible. I leave the comments for the others to you.

It is said that the Koran has descended in Ramadan, during the special night known as Kaadir. The Koran had come to the sanctuary place of Beyt-ul Izze (home of Izze) in Allah’s preordained will. In other words this has been the first time that Allah’s commands have condescended altogether to the dimension of life energy. In this dimension there isn’t a concept of time and this causes the formation of the expression "have been brought down at once".

When you examine the Books of Hadith, you can find many enlightening words of wisdom. In this sacred month it is recommended that we do all kinds of studies which may be the means of many blessings. However, this recommendation is valid not only for this month but for all the months.

Each Ramadan, Gabriel and our Prophet Mohammed made a comparative recital of the whole Koran and listened to one another. As it is made clear in the hadith, it is interesting that during the month of Ramadan in the year of our Prophet’s death, this application of reading and listening to the Koran was made two times.

What was the motive of reading two times?...

This special message was perceived by Hazrat Abu Bekr in the farewell speech of Prophet Mohammed (may the peace and blassing of Allah be upon him).

It is necessary to contemplate and make evaluations to be able to perceive the things that have been informed symbolically.

The month of fasting is the month of avoiding sins.

The act of fasting is not only the principle of staying without eating. At the same time fasting is a means of expanding and increasing the capacity of understanding. It enables the refining mechanism to function.

Actually, fasting is directly related to the brain. During fasting the brain is not spending any effort to assimilate the food intake whether solid or liquid. In a way, it can be said that it has a lot of free time. Therefore with all its capacity it is loading the Spirit with the prayers performed. This process is explained in the Kudsi Hadith as:

"All the practices of the Son of Men is for himself, only fasting is an exception. Because, it is mine; I am the one to reward that". (Sahihi Buhari)

Our Prophet commands as follows;

"There is no doubt that the smell of the fasting person’s mouth is more pleasant than the smell of musk in the understanding of Allah."

The concept of mouth smell mentioned in the hadith contains the external meaning. It should be understood as the state of being of a person who is in control of his tongue, speech, and who doesn’t let any unkind word come out of his mouth.

When we think about this comment more deeply, the saying "the smell of the mouth" reaches the following blessed words said by our Prophet Mohammed about the Saint Veysel Karani;

"I am feeling the smell of Allah from the direction of Yemen".

The doctors, in general, say that from the point of view of medicine, fasting is very beneficial. However, they also agree that fasting is inconvenient for patients who have an active ulcer, for people with an irregular balance level of blood sugar and for those who have a loss of memory beyond normal limits.

If a person does not fast, he/she can give money to another person in need, equal to the amount of his own daily expenses for food. In this way he/she can realize the atonement for the period he could not fast.

People often ask questions about fasting of a person who is travelling, the fasting of people living in the North or South Poles, since daily fasting starts from sunrise and lasts until sunset.

The answers to these questions are as follows.-

In each of the four sects, fasting is not an obligation for a travelling person. If a Muslim goes to the Poles while travelling, he/she doesn’t fast. When he/she comes back, he /she fulfilles his/her duty. If a Muslim is living in a place where the days are very long, he starts fasting at a given time and finishes at a agiven time. The length of the fasting day is set to be equal to the regions where the length of the days and nights are normal.

Naturally, fasting is a duty of each Muslim who is healthy. In addition to this standard method of fasting there is another type which the people of devotion apply. However, the most important of them all is the one which covers the above two and means "to see nothing else but Allah". May Allah grant us with this kind of fast.

May Allah be helping and supporting you.

^* Bairam: A three day holiday period at the end of Ramadan for celebrating the ending of the fasting month. Muslim festivities of sugar.

^* Recep: The 7^th month of the lunar year.

^* Taban: The 8^th month of the lunar year.

^* Kaadir: The very holy night in ramadan, during which all the angels come down to the earth.

Ahmet F. Yuksel