Understanding the spirit of Ramadan

The holy month of fasting has arrived. This is the month of abstinence from the worldly pleasures, the defiance of desires and the month of pure intentions.
Allah granted us this month to purify our hearts from the blackness of sins we have inflicted upon it. It is a month to renew and refresh our life by returning and repenting to Allah.
A clear understanding of what makes Ramadan a blessed month, why do Muslims fast during this month and what are the spiritual benefits of fasting will be helpful for one observing these fasts.
The Quran says: "The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion." (2:185) 
The entire month of Ramadan is in essence a celebration of the Quran's revelation, which is described as a "Guide and Mercy for those who do good." (31:3 Holy Quran)
Ramadan celebrates God's mercy by which He sent a guiding light in the Quran that leads us towards the path of good and virtue and protects the human soul from evil and vice. Muslims show their gratitude to God for this guidance by abstaining from eating, drinking and sexual intimacy at the time of fasting, as a way of coming closer to God and developing a deep inner awareness of God's presence in life.
This feeling of God's presence leads the soul to do right even in the most difficult situations, and protects the soul against wrongdoing even when it is the easier or more tempting path to take.
When the soul enters into a station of gratitude and submission to its Lord, through fasting, there is a recognition that life has been given by God as a gift and trust to be used for good works that reflect God's mercy, compassion, love, generosity and so on.
In fact, the Quran says that the natural inclination of our souls is to submit to God's Will by having sincere belief in One God and doing righteous acts of worship (30:30).
Fasting, then, seeks to free the soul from these shackles by suppressing the lower self of desire and raising the God-conscious soul of giving that naturally aspires towards good. By depriving the soul of life's basic necessities for some hours, one is able to teach the soul self-restraint and self-control from such evils as anger, revenge, lying, stealing, sexual immorality and so on.
One of the most important qualities fasting seeks to develop within an individual is humility. Hunger and thirst cause one to realise that if it were not for God's mercy and sustenance, one would be in a most difficult and undesirable state of affairs.
The act of fasting, therefore, also provides the fortunate, wealthy members of society to experience for a time the pain and suffering which millions of people go through everyday without food, water and other basic necessities of life.
Fasting bridges the gap between rich and poor, sustained and impoverished, fulfilled and needy. This experience should then inspire compassion and mercy, which is manifest by generosity of wealth and time to help those in need.
In a nutshell, even though the real purpose of the dynamic institution of Fasting is to discipline our soul and moral behavior, and to develop sympathy for the less fortunate, it is a multi-functional and a comprehensive tool of change in various spheres of our lives, including: social and economic, intellectual and humanitarian, spiritual and physical, private and public, personal and common, inner and outer -all in one!
(The writer is former Khaleej Times staffer)