RAMADAN: A Perfect Time to Implore God

Supplication: A Form of Worship

[40:60] Your Lord says, “Implore Me, and I will respond to you. Surely, those who are too arrogant to worship Me will enter Gehenna, forcibly.”

Footnote: Supplication, imploring God for anything, even material luxuries, is a form of worship. Hence the commandment to implore God whenever we have any need. An atheist will never implore God for anything.

Only people who are not arrogant implore God. [13:14] Imploring Him is the only legitimate supplication, while the idols they implore beside Him, cannot ever respond.  [55:29] Imploring Him is everyone in the heavens and the earth. Every day He is in full control. [11:47] He said, “My Lord, I seek refuge in You, lest I implore You again for something I do not know. Unless You forgive me, and have mercy on me, I will be with the losers.” [110:3] You shall glorify and praise your Lord, and implore Him for forgiveness. He is the Redeemer. [19:48] “I will abandon you and the gods you worship besides GOD. I will worship only my Lord. By imploring my Lord alone, I cannot go wrong.”

Our bodies need water and food and our minds obligate us to provide them.

This need-deprivation imbalance can be perceived as adversity, albeit a self-imposed adversity, during the days of fasting in Ramadan. We who fast do so in obedience to God’s commandments. [2:183] O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may attain salvation. [2:187]…. You may eat and drink until the white thread of light becomes distinguishable from the dark thread of night at dawn. Then, you shall fast until sunset.

We use this God-given opportunity to grow and develop our souls.  [30:44] Whoever disbelieves, disbelieves to the detriment of his own soul, while those who lead a righteous life, do so to strengthen and develop their own souls.

Testing by God is a necessary step in the growth and development of our souls. [2:155-7] We will surely test you through some fear, hunger, and loss of money, lives, and crops. Give good news to the steadfast.  When an affliction befalls them, they say, “We belong to GOD, and to Him we are returning.” These have deserved blessings from their Lord and mercy. These are the guided ones. [2:214] Do you expect to enter Paradise without

being tested like those before you? They were tested with hardship and adversity, and were shaken up, until the messenger and those who believed with him said, “Where is GOD's victory?” GOD's victory is near. [6:42-3] We have sent (messengers) to communities before you, and we put them to the test through adversity and hardship, that they may implore. If only they implored when our test afflicted them! Instead, their hearts were hardened, and the devil adorned their works in their eyes.

Imploring God acknowledges His Omnipotence. [1:5] You alone we worship; You alone we ask for help. [23:88] Say, “In whose hand is all sovereignty over all things, and He is the only one who can provide help, but needs no help, if you know?”

We can use the tool of imploring God to help us pass His tests, especially during Ramadan. We can implore Him when we feel the pangs of hunger and thirst that cannot be quenched. My oft-repeated supplication during Ramadan is: “Please God, give me the strength, steadfastness and perseverance I need to complete this day of fasting.”

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