Ramadan traditions in Turkey are about being together and enjoy life. Having meals together, praying together, listening to music together, going to street theaters together.
Ramadan joy starts after iftar with stories, poems, and songs – all kinds of human expressions inspired by the beauty that the eye could see.
In this blog post, you will read a Ramadan story that I wrote, 2 Ramadan poems by Rumi, and a Ramadan song by Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam.
You can also read Countdown the Month of Ramadan: Ramadan Daily Quotes & Sayings for 30 days
Enjoy!
Story of Ramadan
The journey of a little girl during one lunar cycle
“When will you begin that long journey into yourself”
Rumi
Once upon a time, there was a little girl that lost everything about her. She was not remembering where she was coming from nor where she was going.
She was very sad sitting under a huge tree. While crying, an old man with a white beard came closer to her and asked what was that thing that was worrying her.
She explained to him, that she did not remember anything, neither where she was coming from nor where she was going.
This old man with a bright light on his face calmed down the little girl and said to her to listen to him very carefully.
That night was the start of magical times, where life can guide her to answer all those questions she had in her heart and even remember what she had forgotten.
She needed to go on a journey. First, she needed to look for the sight of the crescent moon and travel during one lunar cycle.
The old man gave her 3 special objects: a lantern to light her way, a magical carpet that she could travel wherever she wants, and a magical drum. And he disappeared.
Suddenly she felt full of hope. Without losing any time, that the same night she looked for the crescent moon, took her lantern, magical carpet, and drum, and started her journey.
She traveled all the places on the Earth as the Moon was traveling upon the sky. The journey was not an easy one. She met with evils and giants, she passed through the fires and floods, she did not eat all day and night, nor she drinks any water.
All those hard times, her lantern gave her hope. Then she got her magical drum and suddenly all the voices around her just got silent but only the sound of her drum remained as close as her heartbeat.
At these moments of deep silence, she climbed on her magical carpet and went to any place that she wished for.
One day while she was traveling again on her magical carpet, she went to a place where there was a big bonfire with many people around dancing and singing with joy and laughter. She danced and sang and laughed and even cried from laughter with all the people around her. There, another person around the fire came closer to her and said
“I believe your soul and my soul are very old friends.”
At that specific time, in that person’s eye, she saw herself and she remembered from where she was coming and where she was going to. A tear flowed down from her cheek. She lifted her head and looked up to the sky with the feeling of gratitude and praise and she realized that one lunar cycle had just completed.
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Ramadan poetry
Here you can read 2 Ramadan poetries, both from Rumi, and be translated by the writer of this blog. Enjoy!
The mother of fasting has come
Fasting has come like a kind mother
warmly embracing her children.
Hey kiddos, don’t act so weak,
hang on tight to your mother’s veil of fasting!
Gaze upon her beautiful fasting face,
suck her delicious breast milk,
fast exactly as she fasts,
and wait patiently by her door of fasting.
Look how fasting makes you
generously give a helping hand to a charity.
Look how fasting fully blossoms
like Lord’s beautiful Spring season.
Look how the garden of your soul
gets filled up with the heavenly
narcissus flowers of fasting.
Come on now,
stop acting so fragile like a flower bud
while you are fasting!
So what if you happen to feel a bit weak while fasting?
So what if you had to give up your daily routine for a while?
You are the fearless falcon of the Spring season,
fly up high and join the circles of fasting.
You look like a blood dripping rose,
how come you are so happy and smiling?
Don’t tell me you are Issac son of Abraham
happily smiling under the knife of fasting!
Why are you so in love with eating?
Why are you so addicted to food?
Look at this new world of fasting
unfolding right in front of your eyes.
Go collect some wheat grains
for your starving and fasting soul.
Hurry Up!
Go down the wheat fields of your own soul,
and keep on searching for your soul’s harvest
in the haystacks of fasting.
Rumi
Tie up some tight knots in your tablecloths
Oh, moon-faced lover,
the fasting month of Ramadan has come.
Tie up some tight knots in your tablecloths,
the upward path towards reaching God
has just become wide open.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a clueless wanderer,
or a spiritually detached individual,
this is the perfect month for you to come back to God.
How long will you keep on searching for some halwa-sweets?
Dig deeper, search for the actual halwa-maker [God].
The parched lips of a fasting and thirsty lover
stay dry for the sake of a glimpse of Beloved’s wet lips.
The empty stomach of a fasting lover
groans and moans like a crying reed-flute
for the sake of being heard by Beloved’s attentive ears.
Go empty yourself like a reed-flute.
To become completely empty.
Place the flute just below your lower lip and blow hard into it.
Go fill up your empty soul.
Then ask for some sweet divine red wine to break your fast!
You haven’t lost anything by giving up on some food.
Just don’t ask: Where is my soul-nourishing Beloved?
Where is the abundant divine meal on my tablecloth?
It’s through pain and endurance that we become purified.
It’s through purity that we reach spiritual self-sufficiency.
And it’s precisely through spiritual self-sufficiency
that a mortal bird becomes the immortal phoenix bird.
Though hardship of fasting turns our faces yellow,
from that sacrifice, we reach the soft white Hand of God.
Throughout the rest of the year, we never really get
to clear all the mud and debris clogging our inner streams.
It’s during the fasting month of Ramadan
when we finally flush the clogged upstreams
to irrigate our beautiful inner gardens.
Go ahead and throw all your food into the flowing stream,
so every single part of your body is brought back to life
by the rejuvenating divine waters of life.
The Prophetic saying “We’ve closed the Gates of Hell”
actually means: Go and close your gates of gluttony!
The Prophetic saying “We’ve opened the Gates of Paradise”
actually means: Polish and purify your own heart!
You have been working so hard
taking loads of hay and straw to Christ’s donkey,
It’s high time for you to also offer
your good services to Jesus.
Follow the shining examples of Jesus,
so you can get to see the abundant divine meal
being laid out on your tablecloth.
Follow the shining examples of Jesus,
so you can get to finally see
The Soul of all souls and the Soul of both worlds.
O Jesus who are ascended
into the heavenly spheres,
take a look down here
and pull us high up there with you.
O my dearest fasting friends
who’re seeking the blessings of Soul of both worlds,
go and do something good for your own soul
and for your world.
Sacrifice your soul for the sake of well beings of others.
Never embrace the soulless habits of jealousy and envy.
The more your burn yourself like a bright candle
for the good of the others,
the more the shining divine rays
will be bestowed upon you from high above.
Go straight into the lion’s den,
if you really want to hunt some wild deer.
Go straight into the King’s reception hall,
if you really want to taste some genuine royal wine.
Rumi
Songs for Ramadan
Ramadan Moon
Lyrics:
Oh, the people are coming and going;
getting ready, to-ing and fro-ing
There’s a buzz in the world tonight;
people are so excited
Daddy’s coming home soon;
hoping to see the moon
Hoping to catch a sight;
everyone’s so happy
Moon, Moon, come out soon
We’re out to see the Ramadan Moon
Clouds shift; fog lifts!
The city put out your lights
We want to see the
Ramadan Moon – tonight!
Now Ramadan has started;
and the Moon has just been sighted
Tomorrow we all fast –
every Muslim must
Now ‘Esha time is here;
and it’s time to leave for prayer
The Imam is in the Mosque;
the Qur’an is in his heart
Moon, Moon, come out soon
We’re out to see the Ramadan Moon
Clouds shift; fog lifts!
The city put out your lights
We want to see the
Ramadan Moon – tonight!
From the early break of dawn,
we’ll go the whole day long
Shops are full of dates
but still, we have to wait
Till the sun goes down,
and it’s time to break our |iyyam,
The food is on the plate
ooh! It tastes so good!
Moon, Moon, come out soon
We’re out to see the Ramadan Moon
Clouds shift; fog lifts!
The city put out your lights
We want to see the
Ramadan Moon – tonight!
Now, Granddads in Itikaf;
only ten days are left
He’s praying every night; dressed all in white
Hands held high; with tears in his eyes
Asking for forgiveness; and Paradise
Moon, Moon, come out soon
We’re out to see the Ramadan Moon
Clouds shift; fog lifts!
The city put out your lights
We want to see the
Ramadan Moon – tonight!
Now it’s time again for Eid;
Ramadan ran with speed
Will it come again?
Like an old friend?
Ramadan Moon
Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam
Ramadan music
If you would like to listen to some good spiritual music during Ramadan, Spotify created some lists here, you can take a look.
Below is a Pinterest-friendly photo…. so you can pin it to your Ramadan Board!
