What is the importance of RAMADAN?

Almighty God says in the Qur’an thus:

O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous - The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it…. (The Qur’an 2:183,185). 

As the Qur’anic verse says, it is the month in which the Qur’an was revealed. To express our gratitude to God we celebrate the whole month by way of observing fasting. This, in turn, makes us patient and pious. The end of Ramadan is marked by celebration known as Eid-ul-Fitr or the festival of fast-breaking. We thank the Merciful God for having given us the opportunity to experience the blessed month of Ramadan. The day is accompanied by celebration, socializing, festive meals etc. But before the festivities begin, every person, adult and child, must have already contributed towards Zakat-ul-Fitr. This is the giving of a meal, or cash equivalent, to a needy person to make sure that none are excluded from this happy occasion. 

What is the importance of QUR’AN?

The Qur’an is the holy book which Muslims recite and turn to for guidance in all aspects of their life. It is the last testament in a series of divine revelations from God. It comprises the unaltered and direct words of God, revealed, to the final Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) through the angel Jibreel (Gabriel) some 1400 years ago. It is sent to us as ‘The Criterion’ to distinguish between right and wrong in our life on the basis of which we will be judged on the Day of Judgment.

Is the QUR’AN restricted to Muslims only?

No, it is a misconception prevailing among many Muslims as well as non-Muslims. It is an undeniable fact that our Creator is only One, Who has created us from a single pair of male and female. He had sent His Messengers at different points of time in the past to different nations with the same message.

 What was the message? It was this: ‘O people, be obedient to your Creator. If you lead a life of obedience to Him you will be rewarded with eternal bliss and if you disobey you will enter Hell’. (Arabic word for obedience is ‘Islam’. ‘Muslim’ is a person who is obedient to the Creator). In the long chain of Messengers, the Last and Final Messenger of God is Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who revived the same message (of obedience to the Creator). The Holy Qur’an is the collection of revelations sent to him from God. How can it be restricted to a group of people? The above verse itself is a proof that it is addressed to the whole of mankind!

What is the message of the Qur’an?

 The important message of the Qur’an can be briefed as:

1.      Oneness of mankind:

 People are created equal in front of the Law of God. There is no superiority for one race over another. God made us of different colors, nationalities, languages and beliefs so as to test who is going to be better than others. No one can claim that he is better than others. It is only God Who knows who is better. It depends on piety and righteousness.

O' mankind! We have created you from male and female and have made you nations and tribes that you may know each other.  The noblest of you in the sight of God is the most righteous (Qur’an 49:13)

2.     Oneness of God

Only Almighty God Who is the Creator and Cherisher of this world deserves worship and not His creations. We are asked to worship Him directly without any intercessors. Worshipping any of His creations, making figures for Him, associating anything or anybody in worship with Him etc. are false and are considered major sins as it contaminates the real belief in God and causes spread of evils in the world.

‘Say (O Prophet): Allah is one and the only. He is absolute. He neither begets nor was He begotten. There is none comparable to Him.’ (The Qur’an 112:1-4)

(Allah is an Arabic word that means “The one who is worthy of worship”. In simple term Allah means in Arabic ‘The God’ In Hindi we say Ishwar, in Kannada we say Devaru, and in Arabic we say Allah.)

3.     Accountability of deeds and life after death:

The present world is a temporary one and we are answerable for our deeds. One day, the whole world will be destroyed. Again God will resurrect us in order to judge our performance here. That is called the Day of Judgment. Depending upon the weight of our good and bad deeds we will be sent to Paradise or Hell. That will be our eternal abode.

4.     Prophethood:

To convey the above message, God selects good souls among men and appoints them as His messengers. They preach the message they receive from God and live as role models for their people. The last one in this chain of messengers is Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Earlier prophets were sent to specific regions, but Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is sent for the whole world.

5.     Innocence of Man at Birth:

People are born free of sin. It is only after they reach the age of puberty and it is only after they commit sins that are to be charged for their mistakes. No one is responsible for or can take the responsibility for the sins of others. However, the door to forgiveness through true repentance is always open.

The distinctive approach of the Qur’an is that its spiritual message includes practical injunctions aimed at the general welfare of human beings, society and the environment in which we live. The Qur’an’s message is eternal and universal, transcending our differences in race, color, ethnicity and nationality. It provides guidance on every aspect of human life – from economics and the ethics of trade to marriage, divorce, gender issues, inheritance and parenting. It neither condemns nor tortures the flesh nor does it neglect the soul. It does not humanize God, nor does it deify man. The Qur’an describes signs of God’s existence in the universe and how everything is carefully placed in the total scheme of creation.

 Dear brothers and sisters! Thus, the Holy Qur’an has come as a mercy from God for the whole of mankind. Irrespective of the religion in which we are born, we are all cherished by our Merciful Lord. The bounties we enjoy every second in our body and around are boundless. Is it not our duty to show our gratitude to Him? How do we express this gratitude? Yes, The Qur’an shows the way… It calls all of us to lead a life of obedience to our Lord and thus achieve peace here and in the hereafter. In this very month, while celebrating the receipt of His Gift, let us commit ourselves to sincerely serving Him.

Why surya namaskaar is wrong?

Common sense answers:
1. Only the God who is the Creator and Cherisher of the universe deserves worship and not his
creations however big they may be.

2. The sun cannot see, feel or listen to your prayers whereas God the Omniscient, Omnipotent
Master can hear them and answer them as He wishes.

3. The sun, which is one among the stars in the cosmos has a beginning and an end as per the
dictations of God. Whereas God is ever living and ever watching.
It is worth metioning a verse from the Quran here:
'And of His portents are the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Adore not the sun nor the moon; but adore Allah Who created them, if it is in truth Him whom ye worship. '(Quran 41:37)

4. Worshiping God directly as taught by His messengers and scriptures is easy, simple and totally expense-less. It does not require any intermediaries who exploit in the name of Him.

5. Worshiping any thing other than God leads to anger of God and to sin as it is condemned in the holy scriptures sent by God.
 For example, In the Qur'an we can see these verses:
"Indeed Allah does not forgive shirk (i.e. act of associate any partners with Him), but He forgives other than that to whom He pleases." [An Nisaa 4:48]

"Indeed shirk is the greatest oppression." [Luqman: 13]

"...Indeed he who associates partners in worship with Allah, then Allah has forbidden Jannah (Paradise) for him, and the Fire (of Hell) will be his abode ."
(Allah - means 'the only God who is worthy of worship'. The uniqueness of this word compared to the other words denoting God is that it does not have plural or gender)

In the holy books revered by Hinduism also we can still see such verses. for example,
 Yajurveda Chapter No. 40 Verse No. 9, says, “They are entering darkness those who worship the ‘Asambhuti’, the natural things like fire, water, air, etc and the verse continues, they are entering more in darkness those who worship the Sambhuti, those who worship the created things like idols, chair, table etc.

6. Worshiping anything other than God distorts the concept of God in human minds and thus
removes the seriousness about presence of God. This leads to growth of sins in the society as
man feels there is none to question about his deeds.

7. Worshiping anything other than God draws the wrath of Him as we are insulting His Mejesty by equating Him with something which does not have any of His attributes.

8. Showing some lifeless and senseless objects and attributing to it godhood is a Big lie. It is like showing a pencil and calling it as washing machine or showing an apple and calling it an elephant!

9. As ignorant people start believing this lie, tactfully fabricated by middlemen, people start believing in the superstitions they propogate. This is the basis for further exploitation in the name of religion.
Thus they loot the income of rich and poor of the country. One can imagine the volume of collections falling in the hundies kept at these shrines (including darghas) by multiplying number of shrines and their average income. Everyone knows about crores of rupees worth jewels stored idle inside the shrines and how they are exploited by the middlemen from the media reports.

10. Imagining God in various forms and worshiping Him in such different forms makes permanent divisions in humanity such as castes. Each of them tends to believe that they have their own, separate, rightful gods.  But worshiping the Creator directly without attributing any figures to Him leads to abolition of such castes and building of universal brotherhood, cutting across the barriers of race, color, country etc.  Indeed, this unity is quite evident among the people who have accepted the faith of Islam.  Muslims of India, for example, are the people, who at some point or the other in the past, belongs to different creeds and castes. However, today their cohesion as a single community is so complete that none of them now knows the caste their respective ancestors belonged to. Similarly, elsewhere in the world, Islam abolished – at a very practical level – the differentiation of people on the basis of color.

So the best way beneficial for citizens and the nation is to worship the Creator directly with out attributing godhood to any of His creations and without allowing any intermediaries. Let us understand God as He Himself describes in His Book:
 Say (O Prophet): 'Allah is one and the only.  He is absolute.  He neither begets nor was He begotten.  There is none comparable to Him.’ (The Qur’an 112:1-4)
 And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided. (The Qur'an 2: 186)