“As for him who is given his book in his right hand, he will say, ‘Here, take and read my book! Indeed I knew that I will encounter my account [of deeds].’ So he will have a pleasant life, in an elevated garden, whose clusters [of fruits] will be within easy reach. [He will be told]: ‘Enjoy your food and drink, for what you had sent in advance in past days [for your future life].’” (Qurʾan 69:19–24)
The day of ʿId al-Fitr is the day of a new beginning, for a new divine hospitality—the hospitality of the All-beneficent, whose mercy embraces all things—and on such a day we renew our resolve to consolidate our gains from the noble month of Ramadan.
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Now that we have become purified of sins—if Allah, the Exalted, wills—we feel lightness, energy and vitality, just as we feel that we are closer to Allah, Glorified is He, than before.
So then, let us think about how to entrench this spirit of faith in the depths of our souls, to keep away from them what we were polluted with before the month of Ramadan came upon us, and to entrench what we were purified with during it.
How, then, can we take this direction? Here are some recommendations in this regard:
First: Solidarity and union with the gathering of the believers, and keeping away from the gathering of evil and the centers of indecency and wrongdoing, even if that costs material loss at times; for Allah is the All-provider, the All-munificent, who will return the benefit to you by another way.
And urge your children, your brothers and your friends to preserve the positive spirit and the spirit of faith, and let there be no gathering in which you sit but that you transform its nature into the nature of faith, the good word, knowledge and development.
Second: Trying to continue the good habits that the noble month of Ramadan has left in us, such as supplication, recitation of the Qurʾan, attending gatherings of knowledge, admonition and guidance in the mosques and ḥusayniyyas, and performing the Friday prayer and the congregational prayer.
Third: Trying to transform all the days of the year into Ramadan days or quasi-Ramadan days; that is, drawing the spiritual atmosphere of the month of Ramadan over the cycle of the whole year.
Then there are some basic recommendations that come in the same context, such as doing good to people—doing good that does not necessarily take on a financial hue, but may take the various forms of good. For we are in urgent need of extending a helping hand to our downtrodden and deprived brothers, and of beginning to build public religious, charitable and humanitarian projects and institutions—institutions that lead us to nearness to Allah, the Exalted.
We ask Allah, Glorified is He, to bless for us the day of ʿId—which is the day of return to the reality of innate nature (fiṭra) and religion, and of moving away from the impurities of unbelief, indecencies and sins—and we also ask Him, the Exalted, to bring it back to us and to you while we are in the most complete health, well-being and security.
Office of the great religious authority (marjaʿ) Grand Ayatollah Sayed Muhammad Taqi al-Modarresi (may his shadow endure)
Website of the Office of the great religious authority (marjaʿ) Grand Ayatollah al-Modarresi
