Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani's speech about the virtues of the holy month of Ramadan

We thank God that we were blessed to be in this holy month and were invited to this divine feast. It is necessary to pay attention to several things here.

First, regarding fasting God Almighty, in verse 183 of Surah Al-Baqarah says, "O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous." The believers have been addressed in this verse.

In verse 21 on the same chapter God the Almighty says, “O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous.” This verse also says, “that you may become righteous,” but here all mankind has been addressed.

It is narrated from Imam Sajjad (as) that the mankind in this verse are the duty-bounds. 

Those who think that the Quran and its injunctions are only for those who lived at the time of its revelation are ignorant and have no knowledge of the Quran. “O mankind” includes all people, those who lived at the time of its revelation as well as all the following generations until the end of the world. It even includes those who lived before Islam but they are not anymore to act according to the Quran.

It says, “worship your Lord.” Why should you worship your Lord? “Because He created you and those before you.” Worship is specific to the Creator, man should worship the One who created him, we cannot worship our parents because they are not our creators, the world and material things such as stone, wood, water, earth, etc. cannot be worshiped because they are not our creator, our Creator is God. Because God is the creator, we should worship God. About “worship your Lord,” there are some profound traditions that you can refer to and study yourself.

Then it says, “that you may become righteous.” Worship leads to piety. This is about all kinds of worship, that is, any kind of worshiping Allah results in piety. But when it comes to fasting the same is said about the believers, "O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous."

It is said in the hadiths that the previous prophets were also obliged to fast, but one of the favors that God the Exalted gave to the Muslims and the Prophet himself was that he made this fasting obligatory in the month of Ramadan.

Now we should see that whether “that you may become righteous,” in this verse is the same as “that you may become righteous,” in verse 21. That is, fasting results in piety like any other worship or, because the believers have been addressed here, fasting results in a different level of piety.

Sometimes some people ask that all months and months are related to God Almighty, all hours and moments belong to God. Then why the month of Ramadhan in particular has been named the month of God in the words of the Prophet? Is this to convey a certain meaning?

The description “a month in which you have been invited to divine feast,” is one reason for that. God has a special invitation and feast in the month of Ramadan. God always invites people through his angels, for example he appoints an angel in the month of Rajab to call every night: Who has a need, so that I can fulfill his need? Who has a prayer so that I answer him? The same is the case in all other days, but the invitation in the month of Ramadan is a special invitation, because it is a special feast, and for that this month is called the month of Allah.

“You are worthy of the generosity of God.” In other months God the Almighty checks to see who has become worthy of His generosity to shower His blessings on him but in this month it is God who initiates showering His mercy on people.

When we put these two points together, and add to that what the Prophet said on the last Friday of Shaban that “your sleep in it is counted worship,” we come to a very clear conclusion; the month of Ramadan is a month in which God's favors flow to mankind continuously, on all days and nights, in a state of fasting or non-fasting. The fact that Satan's hands and feet are shackled is because God cares for mankind in all moments, there is no moment when man might be far from God's mercy, blessings, grace and care.

We should make use of the precious month of Ramadan by worshiping, by reciting the Quran, by thinking about God Almighty since “the best worship is thinking about God,” and by studying religion which is one of the best examples of worship.

Beware! Make the most of the month of Ramadan. Imam Khomeini (may God bless him and grant him peace), has some words about the month of Ramadan that you will not find in anyone's sayings after what has been said by infallible imams! He says that benefiting from this month is on the condition that the guest only pays attention to the Host of this feast. Just pay attention to God! Of course, it is very difficult.

If you want to benefit the most from this month, don't pay attention to anything other than God. In this feast, let's ask God to make our worships correct, to make our prayers correct, to cleanse our minds from pollution, this month; is the month of purification. At the beginning of the month, let's see how much impurity is there in our souls, and at the end of the month, let's see how much we have been able to reduce this impuriy thanks to this divine feast. We should not neglect recommended prayers in this month, especially late night prayer, you can see how short lives are, it is not known whether we will be alive at the end of Ramadan or not, let alone next year's Ramadan.

According to an authentic hadith Imam Sadiq (as) was asked what would distance Satan from us. A similar hadith has been narrated from the Prophet (pbuh) according to which he said, “Do you want me to tell you about something that if you do it, Satan will be far away from you, just as the East is far from the West?”

According to the hadith, “fasting blackens Satan’s face, “Sadaqah breaks his back,” especially in the month of Ramadhan, “affection for others because of God and helping each other in good deeds destroys him and repentance severs his jugular vein.” (Wasa’il al-Shia, vol. 10, p. 396 and 405)

I hope this holy month of Ramadan will be the most blessed month of our lives.

May God remove the veils from us and prepare our hearts for more worship and servitude.

May He make us enjoy worship more.

May he remove the love of the world from our hearts and what He has set for His best servants in this holy month of Ramadan and in Layla Qadr, may He decree for all of us.