Hasan Awan

I pray that, as we continue to lovingly welcome and vigilantly discover the blessings inherent in Ramadan upon us, we awaken to all the moments and especially the moment that Allah has chosen to place us. A quotation from Charles Dickens, the opening to one of his novels, is worth reflecting on: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

The joy of breaking of the daily fast (iftar) is aligned to the joy of breaking and parting with the fasting month of Ramadan through the Eid (Al-Fitr). This joy is found to be the very peace of our inherent, God-given nature (fitra).

Whether that child is a US elementary school student, a villager, or a student in a distant land, is of no matter. There is no distinction in the killing of children. It is always wrong.

The existential and cosmic "seeking" which is the privy of all creatures and servants from the Heavens to the earth—but the privy of human beings in a specific and special way—can only take on two general modes of seeking: seeking God through a state of need and seeking God through a state of thanks.

"Prayer is the spiritual ascension of the believer", and understanding this allows us to further appreciate how salat is a form of "yoga" in the most profound and highest sense of the term—aligned as it is to our inner, spiritual ascension to the Divine Presence.