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Essential elements of a banquet

For grasping the character of divine banquets, we should first note that every banquet consists of four essential elements:
1. When you are invited you will not be rejected. Thus, the host is expected to welcome his guest; otherwise, an "invitation" is meaningless when the invitee is denied of reception. Accordingly, when Allah (S.W.T) invites His servants to the banquet of Ramadan, the gates of His mercy will be opened to those who accept the invitation.
2. When you enter the venue of the banquet, you will be treated with honor and respect. Although every person who has been let in is not competent of being respected, the same is not true for the one who has been invited as a guest. In light of this fact, one may understand the following statement in the above-mentioned sermon:

و جعلتم فیه من اهل کرامه الله

In this month, you are made of those people whom Allah respects and honors.
[Al-Amali by Saduq, p. 93]
3. When you go to a banquet you will be given or shown something without payment. In other words, you expect to gain something without return. Correspondingly, in the banquet of Ramadan, Allah (S.W.T) not only rewards our actions generously, but also entertains His guests with various bounties without them doing something so much so that He counts the sleep of His guests as an act of worship and their breaths as His glorification, as explicitly stated in the same sermon:

انفاسکم فیه تسبیح و نومکم فیه عباده

Your breaths in it (the month of Ramadan) are glorification (of God) and your sleep in it is worship. [Al-Amāli by Saduq, p. 93]
4. When you are invited to a party, you naturally expect to meet the host and consider his absence as a humiliation. Accordingly, when Allah (S.W.T) invites His servant to His banquet, by nature, He is ready to show Himself to His guests and meet them.
"This is the month in which you have been invited to the banquet of Allah.” This part of the sermon inspires the fact that this blessing has been dedicated to the month of Ramadan. The Holy Prophet of Islam added:

شهر هو عندالله افضل الشهور و ایامه افضل الایام و لیالیه افضل اللیالی و ساعاته افضل الساعات

In the sight of Allah, this month is the best month, its days are the best days, its nights are the best nights and its hours are the best hours. [Al-Amāli by Saduq, p. 93]
Although this month's prominence over others involves that its days, nights and hours are the best as well, by mentioning these three phrases independently, the Prophet emphasized that every portion of this month is better than its counterpart in every other month.

Taken from: Al Islam.org

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