Quranic Ayats

In Allah’s Overflowing Bounty of Love

Cherished Companions,

Greetings and congratulations on your sixth day of honoring the best of months!

Today we are going back to some earlier Ayats from Surah Baqara which speak of the good of spending and sharing what Allah has bestowed upon us.

The likeness of those who spend their substance, seeking to please Allah and to strengthen their souls, is as a fertile garden on high ground. Heavy rain falls upon it and it yields an abundant harvest. If it does not receive much rain light moisture still suffices it.

And Allah sees clearly whatever ye do.

2:265

Sharing is one of the crucial spiritual practices for the soul, whose limited side tends to selfishness, self-preservation and stinginess.  The limited self, because it dwells in fear and smallness, sees everything as limited, and therefore wants to hold on to things and preserve them for itself. It wants to hold on to its own life reserves and not spend those so it can live as long as possible. And so Allah addresses us to help lift us out of our dilemma, “Spend. Share. Share your self and share your possessions. Whatever you give I know it and I cherish it and I will replenish it with something even better and more abundant.”

The parable of those who spend their substance in the way of Allah is that of a single grain of corn: when planted in the ground it grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred grains. Allah gives abundant increase to whom He pleases: And Allah is all embracing generosity, intimately knowing. 2: 261

This beautiful Ayat is the basis for what Shaykh Nur calls the mathematics of Divine generosity. The proportion of Divine response to whatever good we bring is at the very least seven hundred to one. Where else could we expect such a return?

Allah is Rich beyond any possibility of decrease. In a hadith Qudsi Allah reveals that His richness is like an infinite ocean and even of all of humankind and all creatures asked for all their desires this ocean would not decrease even by as much as a pin dipped into it.

One of the guides of the Way has said, “How could I worry about giving and spending as I have a Master Who is infinitely rich?”

Our work in the Ramadan is to focus our vision on Allah rather than on our limited means, turning our gaze to Allah as Allah is gazing at us.

When we gaze at unlimited Goodness what worry can there be that supplies will run out?

The Koranic teaching is always in balance. We are not requested as in some Paths of poverty to give everything we have, only a portion of it. And that portion will protect the rest and actually make it grow.

Those who spend their substance in the cause of Allah and follow not up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with harmful acts - for them their reward is with their Lord: on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.

 2:262 

You will not attain righteousness until you give from that which you love; and whatever ye give, truly Allah knows it well.

3:92

Ramadan is such a wonderful time to contemplate and focus. So let us focus on the infinite Generosity and unlimited Abundance of Allah. Focus on the dazzling Beauty of Allah. Focus on the unrestricted and boundless Love of Allah. Focus on the perfect Justice of Allah. And then look at how the Unlimited takes on the appearance of the limited in the world, just as a mirror catches the rays of unbounded light and reflects it as limited forms. “We send down in due proportion.” And then looking upon the mirror we will not feel fearful or limited by the dimensions of the mirror or by the superficial appearances in the mirror. We will know that the mirror is the place where the unbounded Divine light dances for our delight, and so that we can be instructed and guided and perfected. The secret essence of our hearts is always with Allah, always dwelling in the boundless realm of Love’s Light.

Here is a practice for helping to free our self from spiritual constrictions:

Sit quietly and look at where you feel limitation in yourself. Look at where you feel constriction and fear  in your soul and body. And then allow the Divine Mercy to enter into that place and dissolve it.

You can do this several times.

“It is the Rebel who threatens you with the fear of poverty.”

2:268

Spiritual maladies are similar to the physical parasites which hide in our cells and in the recesses and in the small meshes of toxins and wastes niched in our body. The Ramadan fast is a great healer for these little adversaries.

                                       ………..

And then, the word from Allah which lifts us to a whole other level… the level of the ‘friend.’ And Nur has said that in the Ramadan “wherever I look I see only Saints!”

And among the people there is the one who gives their whole life to find the pleasure of Allah.      

2:207

For the sake of the Ramadan may we be included among those!

Fariha Nur Jerrahi