Trans. By: Mr. Walid Assfar

Praises be to Allah - praises that would match His blessings and equal His bounties! O our Lord! Praises, as great as your glorious Face and great Sovereignty, be to You. O Lord, the Exalted! I can't number eulogies as due to You as You eulogize Yourself. I testify that there is no god but Allah Alone, Who has no partner, and that our master and Prophet, Muhammad, is His bond-servant and messenger, His chosen one and His dear friend, and the best of the prophets He had ever sent. He was sent by Allah to the whole world as a bearer of good tidings and warner. O Lord! Have perpetual blessings upon our master, Muhammad, and upon his kinsfolk to the Day of Judgement. I counsel my sinful soul and you, O Muslims, to fear Allah, the All-High.

Dear bond-servents of Allah! One of the most outstanding evidences of the greatness of the Mercy of Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) to His bond-servants is making this religion, which He has honoured us with, an indispensable means for reciprocal communication, compassion and intimacy among people. As a matter of fact, should Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) have known another means which would be more beneficial for kindling love feelings among His bond-servants and more advantageous for extending the network of reciprocal compassion and communication among them, He would have replaced it with this religion. But Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified, the All-High, the All-Wise) knows that there is no means more instrumental for unifying His bond-servants and for rousing love feelings among them than this religion which He has honoured us with.. Should Islamic faith be established in the heart of man, no doubt he will be conscious, by virtue of this religion itself, that all humans who live on this globe are his brothers in their bondage and devotion to Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High). He will also know for sure that the nearest and dearest people to Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) are the most benevolent to His bond-servants.

Moreover, out of His Mercy and Bounty to His bond-servants, Allah (The Al-Mighty, the All-Glorified) has prescribed sequential degrees of reciprocal communication and compassion. He has prescribed a degree of reciprocal communication at the quarter's level and made congregational prayers which are reiterated five times every day and night the nourishment thereof. In addition, He has prescribed another degree of reciprocal communication at the whole town's level and made the Friday noon prayer that you are now celebrating the nourishment thereof. Furthermore, He has prescribed a degree of reciprocal communication at the whole Islamic world's level and made the ritual of Al-Hajj to His Sacred House (i.e., the pilgrimage to Mecca), which is reiterated once a year, the nourishment thereof.

Notice how Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) has made most religious observances, or rather all of them, at the service of reciprocal compassion and communication in this nation. So, what is the wisdom of the fact that Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) has ordered us to fast and to stand to prayer by night in Ramadan, which Allah (the Almighty, the All-Glorified) has favoured us with.

The aim of the month and of fasting, which Allah (The Almighty, The All-Glorified, the All-High) has prescribed, is achieving more of the reciprocal communications, reciprocal compassion and intimacy which should take place and prevail among the bond-servants of Allah (The All-Glorified, the All- High). However, I will tell you a declaration, I have read, of an American man who has recently embraced Islam.

He said: "I was fasting in Ramadan, when it was very hot in the town which I was living in, and the day was rather long. By mid-day I was completely exhausted, so that in the afternoon I lay in bed unable to move at all due to the severe fatigue that had come upon me. Anyway, I waited patiently for the time of breaking the fast. When the call of the evening prayer was announced (which is the time of breaking the fast) I was too weak to take any food. My wife brought me some soup, and I took a spoonful of it after another until Allah enabled me to eat my meal. When I sat at the table, however, the TV was in front of me. It chanced that the news bulletin was being broadcast, and I saw pictures of those Africans who had been hit by the famine - with the round blown bellies and the legs which have become as slim as sticks."

"Many times I have seen such a sight and have never been affected thereby. But when that scene caught my eyes at that moment, it was immediately correlated with the day I had passed and the fatigue I had suffered. I said to myself: 'I have suffered such fatigue for a few hours; but, though expecting to sit to this table, I felt that my life had turned into hell during them. But what about those people who are starving without any hope and suffering weariness from hunger and starvation before a wall of despair!"

Thereupon, he collected most of his possessions and sent them to the nearest body he trusted in order to deliver the amount that Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) had enabled him to collect to those needy people.

This news that I have read, O brothers, exactly incarnates the Divine Wisdom of fasting. Thus, fasting during Ramadan is also prescribed by Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) to serve the principle of reciprocal compassion among bond-servants of Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) and to be the nourishment of the principle of reciprocal communication and intimacy among all bond-servants of Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High). So, it is neither non-sensible nor illogical that the Chosen One - Muhammad - (May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was the most generous of all people, and that he was more generous than the unconstrained wind. He was even more generous than ever in this blessed month.

Fasting excites the feelings of mercy in the folds of the hearts (as is clear from the story I have just told you). Hence, you can notice the correlation between fasting, benevolence and generosity, which are the token of the nearness to Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) and of the bondage to Him. . In fact, the best thing Man can do is to follow the ethics of Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified).

So is the case, O brothers: Prayer has been prescribed in order that people be merciful to each other and communicate with each other. Fasting has been prescribed for this target. Pilgrimage has been prescribed for this sacred objective and also Zakat (i.e., almsgiving) has been prescribed for the same sacred end.

In fact, I have never known any Islamic prescripts but having a sense of extending the network of reciprocal intimacy among the bond-servants of Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High). Being in this blessed month, I want to concentrate on the generosity by which the Chosen One -Muhammad- (May the blessings and Peace of Allah be upon him) was characterized. He left to us a great legacy, and the best of those who are apt to keep his legacy are you yourselves, O Muslims! Didn't the prophet (May the blessings and Peace of Allah be upon him) say in a sound saying (hadith): "Allah has allocated as much an amount of the wealth of the rich as it will suffice the poor. However, the poor will never be enervated, if they starve or be shabby-dressed, save by the deeds of the rich. And Allah will bring them to severe account for those deeds." We should always bear in mind this unusual speech imparted to us by the Messenger of Allah (May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and should not forget it at all.

Somebody, however, might say: "Why has Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) deposited the lot of the poor in the pockets of the rich? Why hasn't Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) left the belongings of the poor with the poor themselves, as he has sent the rich their own riches?" In fact, this is the same statement that the polytheists have made to the Messenger of Allah (The Almighty, the All-Gorified). Allah says: "And when it is said to them: 'Spend of that with which Allah has provided you,' those who disbelieve say to those who believe: 'Shall we feed those whom, if Allah willed, He (Himself) would have fed? You are only in a plain error'."[Ya Sin, 36:47]. As a matter of fact, the wisdom that you have to bear in mind is as follows: Should Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) have not deposited the allotments of the poor in the safes of the rich, and so gave each one of His bondservants his provision, without making them in need of each other, all fraternal and amicable ties among people would have been severed due to their dispensation with each other's help. No means of amicability will remain between us. But Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) has willed to make people in need of each other, so that reciprocal communication appears among them and makes love relations also extend among them. Should Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) will that every man be completely self-reliant and in need of nobody else, whether a friend or a neighbor, it would have been possible to do so. Then every one will turn his back to his brother humans, and this amicability, that Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) has made this religion (which He has honored us with) at its service will never be wide-spread. We mustn't forget this fact, O brothers! Al-Tabarani and Al-Bayhaqi relates, on the authority of a large number of Companions of the Messenger of Allah (May the blessings and Peace of Allah be upon him), that the Messenger of Allah said: " Secure your wealth with Al-Zakat (alms-giving), cure your sick relatives with charity and face the waves of trial with supplication and petition!"

"Secure your wealth with Al-Zakat!" This is another fact! A sheer stupid is he who imagines that he will cause a loss and a decrease in his wealth if he gives away a portion of his wealth, whatever it may amount to, in the form of Zakat,. A sheer stupid is he who imagines that! In fact, the reverse is that which is true. It is the fellow who passes a twelve-month period, with his wealth becoming chargeable with the right of Allah (i.e., of the poor), and refrains from giving away that right, is he who makes his wealth liable to loss. No doubt, the Messenger of Allah (May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was utterly truthful in his saying: " No wealth will be decreased by giving away a charity." It is the Zakat which is given away as a right of Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) that will secure it. The postman who will deliver that right to Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High), however, is the poor whom you are tested by and who is also tested by you. "We have made some of you as a trial for others: will you have patience? For Allah is One Who sees (all things)." [Al-Furqan, 25:20]

Accordingly, O brothers, if you are conscious of the fact that Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) has made this religion-with its beliefs, religious observances and laws-at the service of one sacred objective-that bond-servants of Allah communicate with each other, then you should not forget the value of this reciprocal mercy and intimacy. There could be a fellow who is too weak to sit up at night for prayer, as Allah (The Almighty, the All-glorified) describes His bond-servants whom He loves and who love Him, and unable to be such a devout and pious person, as godly bond-servants of Allah used to be. But you should know that there is a short way to the satisfaction of Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) and to an ever-lasting and vital resort of His Mercy. That short way is reciprocal intimacy and communication. Yes, the Chosen One - Muhammad - (May the blessings and Peace of Allah be upon him) says: "Whosoever does not show mercy to others, will not be shown mercy (by Allah)." As a matter of fact, the whole aeon, or rather the whole life-time of Man, is the right framework and the land and soil prepared by Allah for reciprocal mercy. But the best deeds carried out by man with a view to realizing this great tenet is the observance of this present month. So, don't let this month come to an end without extending the ties of reciprocal mercy, intimacy, kinship and affection among you and both your close and distant brothers.

O brothers! If you contemplate the Words of Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High), you will discern this fact which I am telling you about. In addition, the whole tree of this religion, from the stem of its beliefs to the boughs of its doctrines, has been designed by Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) as a nourishment of the network of compassion and of communication. If you bear this in mind while you believe that you are bond-servants of Allah and that the Creator is your Lord and Guardian, this belief will no doubt oblige you to sacrifice every thing and to give away yourself and your dearest possessions for nourishing this reciprocal compassion and this reciprocal communication.

In fact, the Mercy of Allah-represented by the sustenance which falls from the heavens; i.e., rain, by the prosperity which spreads all over whatever Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) wills of His Land and by the state of delight which the individual does not know how he could obtain-is dependent on such reciprocal compassion and communication. Accordingly, whosoever wishes not to be deprived of the sustenance of the heavens or of the provisions and fruits of land; whosoever wishes that Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) favor him with prosperity in his homeland; and whosoever wishes that Allah (The Almighty, the All-Glorified) bestow delight on him, should extend the relations of friendship, intimacy and compassion to others, not only by word of mouth but also by deeds, as the Messenger of Allah (May the blessings and Peace of Allah be upon him) used to do.

Thus, you will find an aspect in which the meaning of Allah's Description of Himself as the All-Compassionate and All-Merciful is incarnated. No doubt, the first Attribute that will strike our minds and which we declare in our prayers is that Allah is the All-Compassionate and All-Merciful. Do you know when this meaning will be incarnated, and when you will find the credence of this Quality? It is when you put what I am telling you into implementation. But to pick up the outwardly aspects of devotion - prayer, fast and pilgrimage - without correlating these aspects with the wisdom for which Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) has designed this religion, this will make us far away from Allah (The All-Glorified, the All-High) and will probably make us subject to His punishment.

Having said that, I ask forgiveness of Allah (The All-Great).