Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

altmuslim

Home
Muslim
The Infused Knowledge of Ramadan

The Infused Knowledge of Ramadan

Last updated on: June 19, 2017 at 5:28 pm by Guest Contributor

The Infused Knowledge of Ramadan 2017-06-19T17:28:53-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image source: Pixabay

This is Day 24 of the 2017 #30Days30Writers Ramadan series – June 19, 2017

By Kabir Helminski

Each year we discover new meanings and experiences during Ramadan. It seems that in Ramadan we are more open to be infused by new understandings. What was once merely a stretch of time, a challenging 30 days in which I faced my own attachments and weaknesses, has deepened into a new sense of relationship with Allah. The catalyst for this was my discovery of a Prophetic prayer, known to many Muslim children, but new to me:

O God:

It is for You that I have fasted,

and in You that I have faith,

and on You that I have relied,

and with Your provision that I have broken my fast.[1]

Previously I had considered how Ramadan helps to develop will and discernment. In a culture where we are encouraged to fulfill our desires, and abstaining from desires is usually conceived in terms of self-improvement or some long-term gain, doing something simply for the sake of God is a foreign notion. To be relieved of the strategies of the self, to acknowledge fasting as pure offering, opens a more pure-hearted relationship to the divine.

But there’s something even deeper. Whereas before I thought I would rely on my own will and willpower to accomplish the fast, I would struggle with myself to accomplish this most difficult obligation. I come to experience that Allah not only gives me the strength needed, but certain peace as well.

I am simply amazed at how the example of the Prophet opens us to new dimensions of experience and understanding. Through his example we are guided to an appreciation of divine grace and beauty. And it is only when we have experienced this grace and beauty that we come to recognize our true need for Allah.

Consider the wisdom in, “He knows all that lies open before human beings and all that is hidden from them, whereas they cannot encompass Him with their knowledge.” [Surah Ta Ha 20:110]

This verse helps to explain my own discovery of the deeper levels of fasting. There is a knowledge that comes from outside our limited human experience and infused understanding that comes from a higher level of reality.

In Surah al Furqan 25:32 we read:

The Quran has been revealed in this manner [in a series of contextual revelations rather than in one single revelation] so that we might strengthen your heart thereby – for We have so arranged its component parts that they form one consistent whole …

Just as the Quran was revealed in stages to the prophet Muhammad, we are also under going an experience of incremental understanding, opening into deeper and wider dimensions of experience.

Returning to Surah Ta Ha 20:114: “God is sublimely exalted, the Ultimate Sovereign, the Ultimate Truth: and so do not approach the Quran in haste, before it has been revealed unto you in full, but say, ‘O my Sustainer, cause me to grow in knowledge!’.” [Rabbi zidni ilmin]

As Muhammad Asad puts it in a footnote to this verse, “Since the Word of God, all its component parts – phrases, sentences, verses and surahs – form one integral, coordinated whole, … one must beware of a ‘hasty approach’ – that is to say, of drawing hasty conclusions from isolated verses or sentences taken out of their context – but should, rather, allow the whole of the Quran to be revealed to one’s mind before attempting to interpret single aspects of its message.”

Bukhari relates the famous statement of the Prophet Muhammad, salah Allahu ‘alayhi wa salam, “My analogy in comparison with the other prophets before me is that of a man who has built a house nicely and beautifully, except for a place of one brick in a corner. The people go about it and wonder at its beauty, but say, ‘Would that this last brick be put in place!’ So I am that brick, and I am the last of the Prophets.”

In Ramadan, the heart is capable of receiving inspiration (ilham), an infused knowledge, that begins to show us the deeper coherence of this Path. The word for this deeper coherence is nazm, which refers to the inimitable truth we gradually find both in the revelation and the Prophet Muhammad’s example. Gradually, too, the deeper coherence of this Path has its influence on our own souls. It is something alchemical, realigning and transforming the very substance of our souls.

Human beings are brought into the world incomplete and can only be completed under the influence of heaven. It is during Ramadan that we are disassembled and reassembled along lines truer to our innate nature, and through this process come to humbly accept our need for the Divine.

[1] Allahumma: laka sumtu, wa-bika amantu, wa-`alayka tawakkaltu, wa-`ala rizqika aftartu

Kabir Edmund Helminski (long with his wife Camille Adams Helminski) is the founder and director of the Threshold Society and has been working within the Mevlevi tradition of Sufism for about thirty years. He blogs at The Living Tradition at Patheos Muslim.

30 Days 30 Writers 2017

Previous Post

June 19, 2017

Beauty and the Beast - Which of the Two Faces of Islam Will Prevail?

Next Post

June 20, 2017 Ramadan Deprivation Leads to Despair and then Deliverance

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What nature miracle did Jesus perform during a storm on the sea?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Walked on water Turned water to oil Fed the crew Calmed the wind and waves