Building a More Lively Connection to God and His Beloved:
Reflections from Istanbul on Bettering our Ramadan Experience
While there is simplicity to the basic declaration of Islam, la ilaha ila Allah (there is no god but God), once you establish for yourself that God does exist, that His signs are all around us, both in the Revealed Book and the ‘Book’ all around us, where do you go? How do you implement and actualize serving that God and seeking God’s pleasure?
The answer that comes to mind immediately is through the second part of the declaration of faith, Muhammad rasul Allah, (Muhammad is the Messenger of God). In seeking God’s mercy, we should also be especially mindful of the one who was sent as a mercy to the universe (Q21:107), so that we can better receive more of God’s mercy. Indeed, in his role as the manifestation of God’s mercy, he taught us,
“Be merciful to the ones in the earth, and the One in the Heavens will be merciful to you.”
Turning to the blessed month we are in, while the Qur’an tells us that Ramadan is the month of the Qu’ran (Q2:185), the Prophet of God shows us how we ought to be in Ramadan. For example, we read:
The Messenger of Allah, peace upon him, was the most generous of people. He was especially generous in Ramadan when the Angel Gabriel would come and review the Qur’an with him….Verily, when Gabriel would come and review the Qur’an with him in Ramadan, the Messenger of Allah was more generous than the free-blowing wind.
Among others, there are the hadith describing how the Prophet would exert himself in worship and ‘roll his sleeves up’ so to speak, in the blessed nights of Ramadan, especially the last ten nights, with particular vigor.
As we recite the Qur’an through the days of forgiveness, we may reflect upon verses that indicate the importance of connection to the Holy Prophet to better receive God’s forgiveness. For example, “And if, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you, [O Muhammad], and asked forgiveness of God and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found God accepting of repentance and Merciful.” (Qur’an 4:64).
While one can try to ‘establish’ connection directly with the sources — and there’s great merit to keeping the focus and primacy on the Qur’an and Sunna — there’s something about history, tradition and having a sense of roots to our spiritual ancestors that I find appealing here in Istanbul where I will be spending the summer, in sha Allah.
There’s something about structures that have stood for hundreds of year, where generations of believers have prayed in the very rows that we now pray in, believers who are often buried in these cities, sometimes right outside the mosques that I am praying in.
There’s something about visiting a Companion of the Prophet, like the grave of Abu Ayub al-Ansari, that establishes a connection beyond that just reading their names when reading the narrator of a hadith.
Indeed, baraka (blessing) is real. If we choose to deny that, opting for a materialistic understanding of the cosmos, it is to our loss!
Practices we could perhaps adopt to make our devotional practices in Ramadan a bit more lively
If the process of engaging with tradition inherently involves selection, the task of what we will choose from the various practices from around the world remains for us. Here are some ideas that we could perhaps implement with like-minded folks in our communities:
- Singing qasidas (poems) together
A friend who is a Muslim chaplain at a prestigious university recently shared how the Muslim students in an interfaith camping trip felt lacking in their reservoirs of singing, which other religious students groups were able to engage in much more confidently. With the increasing availability of qasidas online and an openness and appreciation to the tradition of sama’, and practice, God-willing, Muslim community members will no longer be at a disadvantage. The qasida of Qad kafani by Imam al-Haddad (d. 1720), for example, is a poem begging God for gentleness and relief in taking care of our needs (see text here, audio here; also see this version). This is something interested folks could get together and sing.
In Istanbul, I witnessed singing at night in a type of religious ‘concert’ in the Sultan Ahmet square, that was mostly attended by youth, that kept the audience beneficially engaged through the wee hours of the night, after the tarawih prayers were over and ending before suhur. The host shared stories that engender love for the Prophet and the singers sungs songs of love for God and His beloved Prophet. Stories that engender longing and desire to be with the Prophet, even in one’s separation from this worldly realm, are extremely touching. For example, look at this Companion who sought to be connected with clothing that the Prophet had worn:
Imam al-Bukhari relates a hadith from Sahl bin Sa’d that a cloak was given to the Messenger of Allah. He wore it and he really needed it. A man asked him for it and he gave it to him. The Companions rebuked him saying, “He needed it and you know that he never refuses a request.” He said, “I only asked for it so it could be my burial shroud.” And it turned out to be his burial shroud.
- Promoting the idea that love for the Prophet also extends to his family
Something I noticed during the Friday sermon here was that when the khatib wished peace and blessings upon the Prophet and the Sahaba, he also specifically mentioned the ahl bayt (the family of the Prophet). I’ve noticed that in many of the mosques in Istanbul, along with the name of God and the name of the beloved Prophet, which are featured prominently, there are also the names of the Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, Uthman, and ‘Ali, as well as that of the Prophet’s grandsons, Hasan and Husayn. This reverence for the family of the Prophet is something I feel is currently marginal in most circles of Sunni American Islam.
The salat al-ibrahamiyya that the Prophet instructed the Companions to pray with in their tashahud — where we wish blessings for the Prophet and the family of the Prophet, just as God blessed Abraham and his family is something we do in every tashahud in our salat. It would do good to reflect a greater appreciation for this side of our devotional teachings and also help in overcoming some of the unnecessary barriers in sharing love of the family of the Prophet with our Shi’i brothers and sisters.
- Creating more opportunities to hear Qur’an rather than just in the tarawih prayers
While reciting the entire Qur’an in tarawih and even tahajjud is very rewarding, it may be difficult for many folks. An interesting thing I observed in Istanbul is that there are some masajid that offer the full recital of the Qur’an and others that only recite select verses or short chapters. In either case, something I appreciated, is that the recitation of the Qur’an generally was clear and distinct, even if the imam just stuck to a very short recitation.
But beyond personal reading of the Qur’an, there were also opportunities to hear the Qur’an in the masjid from a melodious, accurate reciter — a juz (1/30th of the Qur’an) after the fajr call to prayer, some more before the Friday sermon, after the jumu’a/dhuhr prayer and after the ‘asr prayer.
Creating such opportunities makes it easier to really experience Ramadan as the month of the Qur’an. Of course, people can recite on their own, but it can also be helpful for a community to know there are public recitations with a proper melodious recitation that they can avail themselves of, if they like.
- If not reciting Qur’an, dhikr. Subhas abound, people are dhikiring all the time, especially if they’re not reciting Qur’an.
Indeed, it’s not so much about having a super nice set of dhikr beads as it is using them! :)
May Allah bless us with increased vigor and with resolve to worship Him with more love and dedication! May He strengthen our connection with His Book and His beloved and those who are beloved to His beloved! May we have tongues that are moist with His remembrance and hearts that are softened and more aware from the beautiful meanings that we hear and recite! Amin!
Ebadur Rahman is a PhD student in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. He has previous degrees from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University and is a graduate of the pilot seminary program of Zaytuna College. At the age of 15, he memorized the Qur’an while in high school in New York. Currently, he is studying Turkish in a summer intensive program in Istanbul.
