The blessed Month of Ramadhan has once again graced us with its presence, bringing with it the sweet breezes of Mercy, Forgiveness and the Divine Word, the Glorious Quran. It is described by the Holy Prophet as:

‘…A month in which you have been invited to the banquet of Allah, and have been selected as the recipient of this special favour’.

This Holy Month is a training period, in which we habituate our physical body to listen to and obey the spiritual soul, each acting in obedience to the commands of the Creator. These thirty days are essentially an opportunity to ‘reset’ both our physical and spiritual selves; the first facilitating the second. Fasting with the physical body inevitably weakens it, but initiates a detoxification and purification. And when the physical senses are dimmed, the spiritual ones have a chance to shine and compensate.

No longer veiled by carnal desires and a full stomach, the spirit can soar to new heights, not least because in exercising its willpower, it has gained mastery over the body. And just as a blind person’s sense of hearing is sharpened to compensate for a lack of physical sight, so the ‘ears’ of our spiritual souls are sharpened to hear Divine Whispers, following our physical weakness during the fast.

But what is to be served at this Divine Banquet; what are we ultimately preparing our souls to receive?

We were each created in ‘the best of moulds’ [95:4] by a Perfect Creator, for the Divine purpose of Worshipping Him alone, and therefore gaining proximity to Him. (And also because there is none worthy of worship but Him.) However even the most basic manufactured product comes complete with an instruction manual, and human beings are no exception. It is in this blessed month that Allah (The Praised & Exalted) sent down our Guidebook – our Instruction Manual, our means to perfection and salvation. He sent it along with Shining Beacons to light the path and deliver His message and book, and therefore to help us reach our absolute goal; taqwa (God-consciousness).

And that is ultimately what this Holy Month is about. We press the reset button, and stop, and contemplate. And then start at the beginning with our ‘factory settings’, this time Instruction Manual in hand.

And so, in this Holy Month of the Quran, we pray that He gives us the strength and patience to etch and inscribe these Divine words upon our souls, and fill the purified container of our hearts with its understanding so that we can proceed along our path to perfection.

With this in mind, in the coming days we hope to present some ayaat (verses) to place spotlights on the gems and treasures contained in this blessed book, InshaAllah (God-Willing).