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| From Ramadan |
Today is the last day of the month of Ramadan.
Imam Sajjad (‘a) has an amazing du’a for saying good-bye to the month.
I said to my son: “Look at this, talking to a month! Isn’t that weird! What sense does it make to talk with a month, as if the month could hear us in prayer! What is a month, after all? It is just a period of time between sightings of new moons.” My son, Ali, said: “No. It’s not weird. We can be friends with Ramadan. Why not? We can be friends with anything.” Ali is right. We can be friends with the blessed month. It has been a teacher. It has been a protector. It has been a guide. It has been a warner. Of course, the month is none of these things on its own, and certainly not as a mere period of time. But the month is much more than a measure of time, and what it means for us and our friendship with it is due to what God has ordained for us through His sanctification of this month.
Lots of people think that we can only have a meaningful relationship with God if God is a person with thoughts and emotions. Exalted is He far above what they attribute. But we can have a meaningful personal relationship even with a month. There is no need to get silly about it.
Here are some bits of Imam Sajad’s farewell to the month of Ramadan.
Peace be upon thee,
O greatest month of God!
O festival of His friends!
24 Peace be upon thee,
O most noble of accompanying times!
O best of months in days and hours!
25 Peace be upon thee,
month in which
expectations come near
and good works are scattered about!
26 Peace be upon thee,
comrade
who is great in worth when found
and who torments through absence when lost,
anticipated friend
whose parting gives pain!
27 Peace be upon thee,
familiar
who brought comfort in coming,
thus making happy,
who left loneliness in going,
thus giving anguish!
28 Peace be upon thee,
neighbour in whom
hearts became tender
and sins became few!
29 Peace be upon thee,
helper
who aided against Satan,
companion
who made easy the paths of good-doing!
30 Peace be upon thee -
How many became freedmen of God within thee!
How happy those who observed the respect due to thee!
31 Peace be upon thee -
How many the sins thou erased!
How many the kinds of faults thou covered over!
32 Peace be upon thee -
How drawn out wert thou for the sinners!
How awesome wert thou in the hearts of the faithful!
33 Peace be upon thee,
month with which no days compete!
34 Peace be upon thee,
month which is peace in all affairs!
35 Peace be upon thee,
thou whose companionship is not disliked,
thou whose friendly mixing is not blamed!
36 Peace be upon thee,
just as thou hast entered upon us with blessings
and cleansed us of the defilement of offenses!
37 Peace be upon thee -
Thou art not bid farewell in annoyance
nor is thy fasting left in weariness!
38 Peace be upon thee,
object of seeking before thy time,
object of sorrow before thy passing!
39 Peace be upon thee -
How much evil was turned away from us through thee!
How much good flowed upon us because of thee!
40 Peace be upon thee
and upon the Night of Decree
which is better than a thousand months!190
41 Peace be upon thee -
How much we craved thee yesterday!
How intensely we shall yearn for thee tomorrow!
42 Peace be upon thee
and upon thy bounty
which has now been made unlawful to us
and upon thy blessings gone by
which have now been stripped away from us!
This is followed by praise to God, the patron of the knowledge by which He has preferred us, and its prescribed practices to which He has guided us. We have undertaken, through Thy giving success, its fasting and its standing in prayer, but with shortcomings, and we have performed little of much.
Then there is more praise of God, and repentance for shortcomings and sins, blessings on Muhammad and his household, and prayer for moral reform:
49 O God,
with the passing of this month
make us pass forth from our offenses,
with its departure
make us depart from our evil deeds,
and appoint us thereby among its most felicitous people,
the most plentiful of them in portion,
and the fullest of them in share!
Then there is prayer for a good Eid.
Thou art the most generous of those who are beseeched,
the most sufficient of those in whom confidence is had,
the most bestowing of those from whom bounty is asked,
and Thou art powerful over everything!195
http://www.al-islam.org/sahifa/dua45.html
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