The Relationship between Fasting in Ramadhan & Haj

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is by Shaykh Tu’sun Bayrak al-Jirrahi. 

There is a hidden meaning in the arrangement of the obligations of Islam: kalimat ash-shahadah, swalah, swa’um, zakat and haj.  Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is our attempt to recognise and practice the Divine Attributes, the Asma’ al-Husna, the Beautiful Names of Allah (s.w.t.) which He Taught our father, Adam (a.s.).  Patience, compassion, love, gentleness and forgiveness, which we may experience during fasting, bring the Creator and the Created closer as we experience aspects, at the human level, of these Divine Qualities.  Through this connection, we strive to truly become the sons and daughters of Adam (a.s.). 

During the five daily prayers, especially during the position of prostration, we are in the Presence of Our Lord, and we are speaking with Him.  When we become conversant with our Lord, He may Ask us to come and visit His House.  Thus, one is Permitted to perform the haj. 

Haj embodies the state of “dying before dying”, of leaving everything behind, of wrapping ourselves in our shrouds and presenting ourselves to our Lord, crying, “Labbayk Allahumma labbayk,” “I am present; I am here, my Lord!”  Kissing the Hajr al-Aswad, the Black Stone, is kissing the Lover, the heart of the Beloved of Allah (s.w.t.), Sayyidina Muhammad Musthafa (s.a.w.).  If we have felt that which is Divine and Eternal in us, spoken with our Lord, and seen the Truth by visiting His House, we should be cleansed, purified, of all that is not proper in a human being. 

The function of zakat is, therefore, a purification, not only of our worldly possessions, but also of all that is material and temporal in our beings.  During the fast of Ramadhan, the believers, the faithful ones among us, were able to bring to our consciousness the Beautiful Names of Our Lord which were concealed within us.  At the end of fasting, on the day of ‘Iyd al-Fithr, which means return, we come back to the life of this world to act upon those Divine Characteristics, and to share with others what we have Received, until the tenth of the month of Dzu al-Hijjah, the day of ‘Iyd al-Adhha’.