Establishing a close relationship with God and the Holy Quran and asking God for His help are good characteristics. If jihad, in the arena of war, which delights in great significance is not done with a divine purpose nor connected to God, it will turn into an object of little or no value, or it may altogether turn against value.
Therefore, I place great emphasis on this matter particularly because it is the month of Sha'ban.
This month is imbued with divine mercy and satisfaction. "The Holy Prophet (God's greetings be upon him and his household) fasted in this month. He used to keep a vigil at night in order to show his humility and appreciation for the value of this month. And he continued this until the time of his demise". This means that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) continued this until the time of his death. The month of Sha'ban was the month of the Holy Prophet's (pbuh) fasting and qiam. Notice that despite his greatness and despite standing at the peak of immaculateness, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) did not stop, until his death, making the kind of effort that helped him get close to God.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) achieved perfection on a daily basis, too. The Holy Prophet of the first year of Mab'ath and the Holy Prophet of the 23rd year were not similar. The last year was the 23rd year that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) had moved towards approaching God. But even until the last year - when he had passed through such high stages of human values that no individual can imagine at all - he did not show negligence in establishing a close relationship with God, showing humility to Him and saying dhikr.
Now, consider the fact that we are far behind him and we need this very much. We need to get close to God more than that great personality did. However, we are not as determined as he was. In any case, you should not forget about getting closer to the Holy Quran, saying prayers on time, reading the Holy Quran daily, engaging in dhikr, asking God for His assistance and relying on Him when task become very difficult and the load becomes unbearable. These are very important characteristics.
~Ayatollah Khamenei, August 28, 2006
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