The Second Section, which is the Second Treatise

On the Month of Ramadan

[Since at the end of the First Section brief mention was made of the marks of Islam, this Second Section discusses Ramadan the Noble, the most  brilliant  and  splendid  of the  marks.  It  consists  of  nine  points which explain nine of the numerous instances of wisdom in the month of Ramadan.]

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard to discern true from false.(2:185)

F i r s t  P o i n t

The fast of Ramadan  is one of the five pillars  of Islam;  it is also  one of the greatest of the marks and observances of Islam.

There are many purposes and instances of wisdom in the fast of Ramadan which look to both God Almighty’s dominicality, and man’s social life, and his personal life, and the training of his instinctual soul, and his gratitude for divine bounties. One of the many instances of wisdom in fasting in respect of God Almighty’s dominicality is as follows:

God Almighty creates the face of the earth in the form of a table laden with bounties, and arranges on the table every sort of bounty as an expression of “From whence he does not expect.”(65:3) In this way He states the perfection of His dominicality  and  His  mercifulness  and  compassionateness.  People  are  unable  to discern clearly the reality of this situation while in the sphere of causes, under the veil of heedlessness, and they sometimes forget it. But during the month of Ramadan, the people of faith suddenly appear as a well-disciplined army: as sunset approaches, they display a worshipful attitude as though, having been invited to the Pre-Eternal Monarch’s banquet, they await the command of “Fall to and help yourselves!”