True spirit of 'Eid-ul-Fitr'

Eid-ul-Fitr is the gift of Allah to Muslims to reward them for their endurance as well as their obedience and devotion to Him during Ramadan. Since fasting is obligatory on all Muslims during Ramadan, celebrating Eid is incumbent upon them as a community (one Ummah). It is the occasion offered to them to enjoy divine favours, to rejoice, to wear their best, to be at their best and to eat and drink what best has been prepared for it is expressly forbidden to fast on this festive day. But as always in Islam, all in spirit of moderation!

Eid-ul-Fitr is a day of peace and blessing; it is a day of sharing; it is also a day celebrated in the warmth of the family. The festivities of Eid-ul-Fitr commence with thanksgiving, assemble in the mosques in the early morning, prayer is offered and a special sermon is delivered, often on the theme of the gains obtained in the outgoing blessed month of Ramadan and the efforts which one and all must make to keep up with the good habits and the mode of behaviours that Ramadan has helped to achieve. Thereafter greetings are exchanged, visits are paid to friends and relatives, the young visiting the elders, gifts are offered to children, dainties are shared especially with neighbours; in certain families, there exists the tradition of visiting the dear departed ones (in cemeteries) to invoke the Almighty’s blessings on their souls. 

‘Heart’ as a Spiritual Metaphor

The heart, a vital organ and essential in its role of pumping blood in the human body is considered, since ages, as the seat of feelings. This is certainly due to the fact that the heart rate increases with emotions. Indeed, love is symbolized by a heart! The heart is small but can contain vast emotions like the ocean. Over the centuries, an infinite amount of expressions in different languages ​​have been linked to heart; expressions associated with emotions (e.g. with a good heart, with all my heart, with rage in the heart), courage (e.g. having one’s heart in the stomach – French Expression “avoir du coeur au ventre”), others in which a loved one is designated (e.g. my little heart, my heart), the inner life (e.g. speaking from the heart), or even the memory (e.g. learning by heart). In our local Creole language there can also be found: Lekér sale (dirty heart), Lekér roche (having a stone in place of the heart),Lekér fermal (a wounded heart), Lekér l’or (a golden heart/ a heart of gold)...

The heart is also a great symbol related to many interpretations, including: The dwelling of faith and of knowledge, understanding, thinking, feelings etc. The heart is described by scientists as the king of organs; it is the seat of the sincerity of a person, without which none of his actions are accepted.

Several hadiths explicitly cite the supremacy of the heart. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Surely there is in the body a small piece of flesh; if it is in good condition the whole body is in good condition, and if it is corrupt the whole body is corrupt and that is the heart.” (Bukhari). He (pbuh) also said: “Surely Allah does not look at your bodies nor your faces but He looks at your hearts.” (Muslim).

Wabisah Ibn Ma’bad (ra) said: “I once went to the Messenger of God (pbuh) and he said:" 

“Have you come to inquire about virtue (good)?” 

“Yes,” I replied, and he said: “Ask your heart. Virtue is that which contents the soul and comforts the heart, and sin is that which causes doubts and perturbs the heart, even if people pronounce it lawful and give you verdicts on such matters again and again.” (Musnad Ahmad)

'Tabligh' among Ahmadis: A Kerala Incident

Freedom of religion in any civilized society includes the fundamental human rights to profess, practice and preach one's spiritual convictions, regardless of whether the State or other persons in society approve of those beliefs and practices. There can be no compulsion in matters of religion. Just as no one can be forced against their will to listen to a discourse, no one has the liberty to obstruct the peaceful preaching of a message to others, either. And the preaching of Islam is an appeal to the spiritual conscience of men and women. As the Holy Qur'an says, 'the truth has come from your Lord: let those who wish to believe in it do so, and let those who wish to reject it do so' (18: 30). Divine Messengers in the past had repeatedly been asked to convey the situation as it is: "People, the Truth has come to you from your Lord. Whoever follows the right path follows it for his own good, and whoever strays does so to his own loss: I am not your Guardian" (10:109).

For a century or so, the mainstream Ahmadis had relied on these sublime Islamic principles of freedom of human conscience and the liberty of individual choices in their extraordinary efforts in spreading the message of Islam-Ahmadiyyat among hostile opponents and other adversarial elements everywhere. Yet, today they are increasingly intolerant. This is starkly visible in Kerala these days, even as the message of Allah, being conveyed through the Divine Reformer of our times, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius, has recently reached the corners of India. 

When the disciples of the Khalifatullah (atba) recently sought to convey the Divine message in the town of Karunagappally, the Ahmadi youths in Kerala (India) got enraged and wanted to extinguish the possibility of the message reaching the common Ahmadis. In his Friday Sermon of July 18, 2014, in the course of his expositions on the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Khalifatullah (atba) took note of the Tabligh Incident.

'Laila-tul- Qadr' in Ramadan

“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Indeed, We sent the Qur’an down during the Night of Decree. And what can make you know what the Night of Decree is? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.” (97: 1-6)  

In the light of these verses of the Chapter Al-Qadr (the Destiny/Decree), it shall be good for us to recall once again how these verses were revealed.

One day, the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) was relating the life of a pious man (Wali) by the name of Shamsun (ra) who used to live among the Children of Israel. From what we understand, he was someone who used to pray a lot and struggle hard for the cause of Allah for the duration of a thousand months. When the companions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) heard that, they became sad upon thinking that they would never be able to surpass Hazrat Shamsun (ra). As an encouragement, Allah said that if the Community of the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) indulge in acts of worship during the Night of Decree (Laila-tul-Qadr), therefore their prayers would earn rewards better than a thousand months of worship. (Ruh’ul Bayan, Vol. 10 pg. 483)

In Hadith, Hazrat Anas bin Malik (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah stated about the month of Ramadan: “This month (of Ramadan) has begun and there is a night in it better than one thousand month. So, any one deprived of its blessings is actually deprived of all goodness. Indeed, He is truly deprived who is kept away from its good.” (Ibn Majah, Mishkat)

Therefore, the Night of Decree is a night filled with blessings and is very valuable. It is a great divine favour upon the Ummah of the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) when transforming acts of worship made during the Night of Decree into acts of worship (prayers) which is worth more than a thousand months of blessings. For the communities of the past prophets, there were no such designed night reserved for the descent on earth of Hazrat Jibreel (as) and the angels except for the Muslims whereby they send the divine peace on the Muslims absorbed in any act of worship and thus these angels prays for them and ask forgiveness for them. In His wisdom, Allah has hidden that special night in the last 10 holy nights of Ramadan so that the Muslims make efforts to seek it. In this way, their courage increase and they spend their time in worship for Allah so as to reap the blessings concealed in the Night of Decree.