This year too Ramadan hosted us like this: Gaza, Syria, Sudan

Ramazan hosted us once again; as every year it came with the sweetest, most meaningful breezes of the climate of being, refreshed us, enlightened us, reminded us, gathered us together, and now it is leaving. It is not abandoning us. It leaves us alone with the trusts it has left us, the very reason for its coming. With the Qur'an, with the thought and feeling of the unity of the ummah, with the Sunnah of the Prophet who recited it to us, taught it to us and purified us... These trusts are the task for which Ramazan, as a magnificent teacher, has prepared us over one month.

In preparing us for this trust, Ramazan, as the "sultan of the 11 months," recited to us the indisputable sovereignty of the Absolute Being over time, over life and death, even over our own bodies. Of course it did this for the believers, for those who want to be purified, who heed this teacher, who want to walk the road with this teacher... For those who ignore it, who stop their ears to it, who persist in lingering in the dungeon of their own selfhood, in the dungeon of racist arrogance, in their hedonistic heedlessness, there was nothing it could do.

With that fast which, we were reminded, was prescribed for those before us, just as we recalled the bonds that hold us to the first human and to all the people in between, today too, with the same fast, we reached a greater consciousness that we are parts of the same body in every part of the world. Thus the fast we kept, in the fullest sense of the word, kept us more, and keeps us.

In this Ramazan our hearts beat in Gaza again. The Zionist killers' savage genocidal attempts, which had continued for 471 days, resumed from where they left off from the second half of Ramazan. We experienced once more the Children of Israel's slipperiness and untrustworthiness, with which we are familiar from the Book. Thus our familiarity with the Book was reinforced still more. They do everything according to the temperament they have acquired from their distorted books. What they do, and everything that ultimately takes place, unfolds as written in God's noble Book. We see neither anything lacking nor anything in excess.

Can these situations open the eyes of those who try to alienate the Qur'an from us and distance us from the Qur'an through debates on the historicity of the Qur'an? For those eyes to be opened, of course, they would need to see themselves as parts of the same body with the people living in that climate of the Qur'an. For those who have made themselves part of another body, it becomes inevitable that those who see with others' eyes and hear with others' ears also become others' hands, arms and feet. Still, may God grant guidance.

Whatever is written about the Children of Israel in the Book comes to pass. For instance, their word cannot be trusted; for instance, they never consent to fight without hiding behind sturdy fortified shields or armor. They are never faithful to their covenants, and you can bring them to a path only by frightening them with force; there is no other way.

Even their consent to a ceasefire came from a need to catch their breath, to buy a little time, in the face of the relentless resistance that fell like a nightmare upon the mujahideen of Gaza, who greet martyrdom like a wedding. Although Hamas complied with all the agreements made, Israel constantly dragged its feet. In the end, when it did go to a ceasefire because of the hostage pressure on Netanyahu, this time it continued carrying out the same genocide in the West Bank without slowing down at all.

Finally, without even needing to put forward any pretext, one morning it declared the ceasefire over by killing nearly 500 Palestinians in attacks on refugee tents. The great majority of the dead are children and women. Hamas may be a pretext for Israel's aggression. But Israel does not attack only Hamas, Gaza. On the very day that Assad, another 14-year perpetrator of genocide, was toppled, it began attacking Syria as if mourning him. Since December 8 it has been repeating these attacks arbitrarily and continuously. It attacks Lebanon in the same way. Only yesterday it carried out an air strike on a building in Beirut's southern suburbs, bombed many towns in southern Lebanon, and dropped incendiary bombs on the town of Hiyam in the south of the country. Then it again bombed Syria's port of Latakia.

As far as we know, Syria's new regime has not formally declared war or even enmity on Israel. This enmity, directed at a people who have only just been freed from a genocidal rule, without giving them a chance to breathe, in fact leads to the uninterrupted feeding of hatred toward Israel. Israel's end will be entirely a result of this aggression, and this is happening exactly as the Noble Qur'an announced.

With this mischief it displays, Israel increasingly shows, in a way that convinces everyone, that it has become a threat to world peace, to humanity.

Setting aside the oppression Muslims suffer because of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, we lived through this Ramazan accompanied by good developments compared to previous Ramazans. In Syria, the people's resistance, which persevered against 14 years of genocidal despotism, toppled the 64-year-old Baath regime with an open conquest. The Syrian people lived a Ramazan perhaps for the first time in a century tasting conquest, freedom and dignity. Their state held all Muslims in joy and happiness on the day of Ramazan as well.

Another piece of news that came from Sudan two days ago is also like glad tidings that will enliven the Eid following a Ramazan. With hardship there is also ease, and it is like a manifestation of the wisdom in God's rotating His days among people. Viewed through the Mirror of Ramazan, this undoubtedly appears much more clearly. The Rapid Support Forces, who for 23 months, with the backing of some corrupt international supporters, tried to seize the country through a coup, were finally driven entirely out of the capital Khartoum. A result of the will the Muslim people of Sudan displayed in the final stretch, merging with their state, in complete solidarity.

This year too Ramazan hosted us in this way. As is known, in fact we are the guests; it comes every year and receives other people, gives them the same training, writes down their duties, and goes.

May we be among those who have passed through its instruction and discipline, to many more beautiful Ramazans. A blessed Eid to you.