By Sharhidd Booley

Not infrequently, my reading and attempt at understanding the Qur’an leaves me with the stark realisation that there is nothing of Allah’s creation that does not have ingrained in it all or some of His beautiful attributes or names so divinely embroidered in the Qur’an.

Take Ramadan for example. In the space of only six inimitable verses tersely presented as only Allah can¹, Ramadan is sent to believers as an annual gift in which I see all of the ninety-nine beautiful names of Allah. Individually and seamlessly, His names are impeccably woven into the fabric of each verse as testimony to His incredible Goodness, Beauty, and Truth.

Addressing only those who believe², Allah, as ‘God,’ the Sublime (Al-Aliyy)³, explicitly acknowledges that it is He, as Al-‘Alim (The All Knowing)⁴, who knows for whom Ramadan is best suited. It is not suited for those who reject faith or who are outside the pale of Islam. As Al-Jabbar⁵, He compels and prescribes fasting as he had done to those believers now returners unto Him⁶. This surely is a demonstration of His generous nature, as Al-Karim

This surely is a demonstration of His generous nature, as Al-Karim⁷; that His Rahma and gift should be granted to all of his ummah across the artificial barriers of time and space. Without diminishing his protecting friendship (Al-Wali)⁸ during the throes of fasting, Allah declares that it is His wish that we all learn to restrain ourselves⁹ in the wisest possible sense. A declaration laden with the Divine need to bestow on his ummah the opportunity to reap the benefits of self-restraint, righteousness, strengthened belief, and piety¹⁰,¹¹. This resonates with His attribute as Al-Wahhab

This resonates with His attribute as Al-Wahhab¹². All of this can only mean that He is Al-Wadud¹³, The Loving One, of those who practise this month of siyam.

In His great wisdom and knowledge, Allah Al-‘Allam¹⁴ and Al-Hakim¹⁵ wants us to fast for a fixed period of lunar days¹⁶. But He exempts the ill, those on long journeys, and those indisposed believers¹⁷ because He is Ar-Rahman¹⁸, The Compassionate, and Ar-Rahim¹⁹, The Merciful. Allah decrees this for His ummah because He is Al Khabir²⁰, aware of our limited capabilities, and Al-‘Afuw²¹, the Great Pardoner of our limitations. His Mercy, Compassion, Awareness, and Pardoning nature, however, is conditional, as might be expected from Him, who is Omniscient. He expects us to make up those days not fasted²². Only His attribute as The Firm One (Al-Matin)²³ sees the wisdom in this, yet He is Al- Halim²⁴, the One, who is Clement and Lenient. This clemency is mercifully extended into His awareness that some of us might find this difficult; as An-Nasir²⁵, Al-Maula²⁶, Al-Muhaimin²⁷, and Al-Hafith²⁸, He declares His willingness to help and protect us. He allows us to feed a poor, indigent, and needy person instead²⁹. How great should our gratitude not be for Allah’s concessions? How wrong it would be for us to be blind to his beautiful name of ‘Ar-Razzaq³⁰, The Provider of sustenance, mercy, compassion, protection³¹, pardon, and ease in our ibadah to Him.

Allah does not deprive us of the opportunity to do more than the minimum in our deeds and ibadah. He is The Most Gracious (Al-Mannan)³² when he urges us to add to the above good by doing more of it³³; He is Al-Kafil³⁴ as He stands as surety for all extra good for which He would surely vouch once we are returned to Him. Allah is Al-Fattah³⁵, and as Judge, He offers us the opportunity to consider His decree, that it would be better to fast instead of feeding the poor, destitute, and needy. Only He knows what rewards we would earn should we follow suit; He is Ash-Shakur³⁶, The Appreciative One who has no equal.

I have wondered why Allah would wish ‘If only you knew this’³⁷ when referring to the high status of fasting compared to other forms of good in the month of Ramadan. Cursorily, it does imply that He is The Most Exalted (Al Muta’ali)³⁸, Al-Hakim⁹⁰ (The Wise), Al-‘Alim⁴⁰ (The All-Knowing), and Al-Basir⁴¹ (The All-Seeing); that we, as mere creation, have to acknowledge our subordination to Him; that He is Supreme in His Knowledge of all things. His Qur’an should be taken as the key to our limited, worldly access to His Infinite Being. When Allah announces that the Qur’an was revealed in the month of Ramadan⁴², we, as believers, can only accept it as the best guide for our life in this world, as well as only a keyhole peep into the infinity of His Domain. This Qur’an causes me to jettison all of the arrogance and self that I might have, and concede that It is, per excellence, a tribute to Allah as God (Al-ilah)⁴³, the Creator (Al-Khaliq⁴⁴ and Al-Fatir⁴⁵), Al-Malik⁴⁶ (The Sovereign) over all existence, Al-Qadir⁴⁷ (The Mighty) without bounds, Al-Wasi’⁴⁸ (The All-Embracing), and The Preserver of us all (Al-Hafith)⁴⁹. Allah is Al Hadi⁵⁰ (The Guide), and His choice of Ramadan as the repository of His Guidance is further testimony to the lofty station of this Month of Months. With Complete Compassion by Him who is The Compassionate (Al- Ra’uf)⁵¹ and through the boundless ability by Him who is The Able (Al-Qadir)⁵², it becomes gloriously clear across all of the 114 surah of Al-Qur’an, that He alone is The Source of All Good (Al- Barr)⁵³. Can there be any better source of good? Can there be any way whereby we might be helped to find peace through separation of right from wrong, other than through the intervention of The Giver of Peace (Al-Mu’min)⁵⁴?

Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, is The Governor (Al-Wali)⁵⁵ of His creation; His requirement that those at home and not travelling during the month of Ramadan should fast⁵⁶, is a divine consolidation of His Authority, Wisdom, and Glorious Judgement of what we need for the betterment of our soul and spirit. He is the One who would Maintain us (Al-Muqit)⁵⁷ in our spirituality more than simply provide for our bodily needs and desires. He is the Most Gracious (Al-Hafiyy)⁵⁸ in repeating His expectation that we fast at a later time and for the equivalent days lost should we be ill or travelling⁵⁹, a repetition that echoes His unquestioned regard for His ummah and their right to Glorify Him through their fasting and other ibadah. He is Ar-Rahman⁶⁰, The Merciful, when He declares in the most sublime and resonant terms, His resolve to avoid making this practice in any way difficult for His believers⁶¹. Yet, Allah, The Omniscient One (Al-‘Allam)⁶², knows what is best for us, exhorting that we complete the period determined by Him⁶³, as well as to glorify Him⁶⁴, so that we might gain maximally from the many unique favours on offer in the month of Ramadan. In His sublime being (Al-Rafi’)⁶⁵ as Rabb (The Sustainer)⁶⁶ and Glorious demeanour, we are assured that His guidance given to believers is what we all need. It is His wish that we show gratitude for it, for He is Al Hamid⁶⁷;, The Praiseworthy, while He remains, for all times, Al-Kafi⁶⁸, The Sufficient One for our needs.

Professor Sharhidd Booley has a PhD in (Social Science); MEd (Adult Education); MSc (Social Research); Certificate in Spoken Arabic (UWC); International Consultant for Postgraduate Research; former lecturer of social science, psychology, social work; author of several academic and professional pieces; former Director of SANZAF and Project Designer for IDM; 20 years experience in Family and Child Care (South Africa and United Kingdom). Professor Booley’s Red Kufi Books column ‘AS I SEE IT’ will be featured monthly at redkufi.com

REFERENCES

¹ Al Qur’an, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:183-188
² —————————————- : 183
³ ————, Ta Ha, Surah 20:14
⁴ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:115
⁵ ————, Al-Hashr, Surah 35:23
⁶ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:183
⁷ ————, Al-Infitar, Surah 82:6
⁸ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:257
⁹ —————————————–:183
¹⁰ Haleem, M A S A 2010, The Qur’an, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
¹¹ Ali, A Y 2010, English Translation of the Holy Qur’an, Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI), Durban, South Africa.
¹² Al Qur’an, Ál-Imran, Surah 3:18
¹³ ————, Hud, Surah 11:90
¹⁴ ————, Al-Maida, Surah 5:112
¹⁵ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:129
¹⁶ —————————————–:184
¹⁷ —————————————–:184
¹⁸ —————————————–:163
¹⁹ ————, Al-Fatihah, Surah 1:1-2
²⁰ ————, Al-Saba’, Surah 34: 23
²¹ ————, Al-Nisa’, Surah 4:149
²² ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:184
²³ ————, Al-Dhariyat, Surah 51:58
²⁴ ————, Bani Isra’il, Surah 17:44
²⁵ ————, Al-Nisa’, Surah 4:45
²⁶ ————, Al-Anfal, Surah 8:40
²⁷ ————, Al-Hashr, Surah 59:23
²⁸ ————, Hud, Surah 11:57
²⁹ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:184
³⁰ ————, Al-Dhariyat, Surah 51:58
³¹ Al-Jeraisy, K A-B 2010, Fasting Is Protection, King Fahd National Library Publications, Saudi Arabia.
³² Al-Qur’an, Ál-‘Imran, Surah 3:164
³³ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:184
³⁴ ————, Al-Nahl, Surah 16:91
³⁵ ————, Saba’, Surah 34:26
³⁶ ————, Al-Mala’ika / Al-Fatir, Surah 35:34
³⁷ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:184
³⁸ ————, Al-Ra’d, Surah, 13:9
³⁹ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:129
⁴⁰ —————————————–:115
⁴¹ ————, Ál-‘Imran, Surah 3:15
⁴² ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:185
⁴³ ————, Al-Anbiya, Surah 21:108
⁴⁴ ————, Al-Hashr, Surah 59:24
⁴⁵ ————, Al-Shura, Surah 42:11
⁴⁶ ————, Al-Qamar, Surah 54:55
⁴⁷ ————, Al-Nahl, Surah, 16:70
⁴⁸ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2: 247
⁴⁹ ————, Hud, Surah 11:57
⁵⁰ ————, Al-Furqan, Surah 25:31
⁵¹ ————, Al-Nur, Surah 24:20
⁵² ————, Al-Nahl, Surah 16:70
⁵³ ————, Al-Tur, Surah 52:28
⁵⁴ ————, Al-Hashr, Surah 59:23
⁵⁵ ————, Al-Ra’d, Surah 13:11
⁵⁶ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:185
⁵⁷ ————, Al-Nisa’, Surah 4:85
⁵⁸ ————, Maryam, Surah 19:47
⁵⁹ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:185
⁶⁰ —————————————–:163
⁶¹ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:185
⁶² ————, Al-Ma’ida, Surah 5:112
⁶³ ————, Al-Baqarah, Surah 2:185
⁶⁴ —————————————–:185
⁶⁵ ————, Al-Mu’min, Surah 40:15
⁶⁶ ————, Ál-‘Imran, Surah 3:51
⁶⁷ ————, Al-Hajj, Surah 22:64
⁶⁸ ————, Al-Zumar, Surah 39:36.