Tariq Ramadan – Chronicles of Ramadan #07 Separations

Peace be with you.

We talked about the bad memories

about the judgment of people around us.

And when we come to

Islam, when we come to the spiritual way,

we understand that,

everything has to do with separation,

with the fact that you have to separate

yourself

in order to achieve

your spiritual journey.

When we come to this understanding,

and this is part of

repairing,

to try to fix, to mend,

to reform ourself.

We understand that separation

is a condition.

Remember that when we start the counting of

the years in Islam, it's starting with an

exile.

Leaving Mecca to go to Medina is a

separation,

and this separation is also experienced during the

pilgrimage.

You have to leave your comfort, to leave

your beloved,

to go to the center, meaning to go

to your heart, and the point is that

we are experiencing exactly the same with the

conversion of the heart.

In order to come close to god, you

have to separate yourself

within yourself

to all the bad dimensions

of your

character,

your temper,

the bad habits that you have.

In order to change your heart,

you have to separate yourself from a part

of your own self in order to become

someone who is coming close to god.

That's essential in our understanding, and this is

the very meaning of,

your heart. It's

revolution.

This is the root of the same words,

and this is what the prophet, peace be

upon him, was saying to god.

Oh, you who are converting

the hearts of everyone.

Help us to come close to you. In

order to do this, you have to experience

the very meaning of separation,

separating yourself from your own self and the

bad dimension,

the dark side of yourself.

You have to separate yourself from this. You

have to separate yourself from your,

daily routine in order to come close to

god and to get this wisdom that he

is helping you to become a spiritual being

on earth. This is what we have to

do, every one of us. So this separation,

which is

hurtful,

it's not easy. It's even sometimes very complicated

to experience,

and yet you understand

that you have to separate

in order to reconcile.

Reconciliation

means that at the beginning,

you are separating yourself

from one dimension,

from one side, from one reality to achieve

the spiritual reality, which is reconciling yourself with

God, coming close to him, reconciling yourself with

your own heart, the very, very,

light that is in your heart and to

come to the original roar, which is this,

very

deep understanding of what is al Fitra, which

is the natural

aspiration towards god. But to do this, there

is only one way.

Separate yourself,

reconcile yourself,

and come close to the one who is

telling you it's out of this inner peace

that you will become

that you that will

come close to me. This is what Allah

is telling us. This is what god is

expecting from us, and this is what we

have to achieve during our life. Don't forget

to tell the people you love that you

love them. Life is fragile.