and worthy of all praise. We praise and thank Him for the 'Id-ul-Fitr,
that great blessing; and we testify that beside Him there is no God. He
is alone. He has no partner. This witness which we give to His Unity
will be a cause of our safety here, and finally gain us an entrance to
Paradise. Muhammad (on whom be the mercy and peace of God) and all
famous prophets are His slaves. He is the Lord of genii and of men.
From Him comes mercy and peace upon Muhammad and his family, so long as
the world shall last. God is greater than all. There is none beside
Him. God is great! God is great! and worthy of all praise. O company of
Believers, O congregation of Muslims, the mercy of the True One is on
you. He says that this Feast day is a blessing to you, and a curse to
the unbelievers. Your fasting will not be rewarded, and your prayers
will be stayed in their flight to heaven until you have given the
sadqa.[258] O congregation of Believers, to give alms is to you a wajib
duty. Give to the poor some measures of grain or its money equivalent.
Your duty in Ramazan was to say the Tarawih prayers, to make
supplication to God, to sit and meditate ('Itikaf) and to read the
Quran. The religious duties of the first ten days of Ramazan gain the
mercy of God, those of the second ten merit His pardon; whilst those of
the last ten save those who do them from the punishment of hell. God
has declared that Ramazan is a noble month, for is not one of its
nights, the Laylut-ul-Qadr, better than a thousand months? On that
night Gabriel and the angels descended from heaven: till the morning
breaks it is full of blessing. Its eloquent interpreter, and its
clearest proof is the Quran, the Word of God, most Gracious. Holy is
God who says in the Quran: "This word of God comes down in the month of
Ramazan." This is a guide for men, a distinguisher between right and
wrong. O Believers, in such a month be present, obey the order of your
God and fast; but let the sick and the travellers substitute some other
days on which to fast so that no days be lost, and say: "God is great!"
and praise Him. God has made the fast easy for you. O Believers, God
will bless you and us by the grace of the Holy Quran. Every verse of it
is a benefit to us and fills us with wisdom. God is the Bestower, the
{252} Holy King, the Munificent, the Ki