The Inner Secrets of Fasting(1)

"O who believe, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you; perchance you will guard yourselves. (2:183)

Worldly knowledge allows the intellect to grow whereas Islamic knowledge allows one to enlighten the inner and outer self, allowing the heart to grow.

There are 3 Levels of Fasting:

Fast of the Layman:

This is the fast of the average person and is the lowest type of fasting where one just abstains from food, drink and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset.

Fast of the Elect:

This is the fast of people who have a desire to reach Allah. Sawm means to stay away or to strip yourself from. The elect would try to refrain from the harms of the world, ultimately allowing the heart to beat in purity.

The Fast of the Elite from the Elect:

This is the highest level. The elite have been selected from the elect that were walking towards Allah. Hearts are already beating with this light the elect are trying to attain.

FASTING OF THE ELECT

A shaykh said 'the heart is a vast ocean.' The eyes, ears and limbs are sources of the ocean inside. If the eyes, ears, tongue and limbs are contaminated, heart will be contaminated.

1. Fasting of the eyes: We need to keep eyes away from everything which takes you away from the remembrance of Allah, not necessarily sinful to look at the object, but a mere glance could be a distraction, hence destructible. This could be not looking at ghair mahrams, avoiding looking at adverts, reading nonsense, cutting down the amount of time spent in front of the television etc.

2. Fasting of the ears: We should avoid exposing our ears to anything which is not beneficial, anything which is harmful should be avoided. You should only listen to somebody's problem if you can genuinely help them.

'The one who backbite and the one who listens are equal in the crime.' (hadith)

We should expose good things to the ears I.e. recitation of the Qur'an, Islamic lectures, nasheeds etc.

3. Fasting of the tongue: The eyes are covered by one eyelid, the ears in order to avoid something creeping in you must use your hands to cover them . Whereas in order to misuse the tongue one must separate the two lips and separate one's teeth, much more effort is required just to allow movement in the tongue, hence engaging in sin.

The tongue is like a 2 edged sword-it can either cause you to reach Allah or to the lowest pits of hell.

4. Fasting of the limbs: One must not walk towards sins or bad places. One should walk towards that which is beneficial and will draw one close to Allah. One should avoid misusing their hands I.e. using hem for cursing or hitting.

5. Abstaining from that which is permissible: One should not eat too much when breaking the fast. 'The sons of Adam have not filled a vessel worse than their own stomachs.' Eating too much breaks the spirit of what one has been dong all day. The gratefulness one feels for having the ability to choose what one desires or having hot food etc is lost as one only realises the worth of something when it is absent.

Shaytan reaches to a person through desire, so one must avoid indulging in their desires even if they are permissible as you become slaves of your desires rather than a slave of Allah.

Benefits of Ramadhan

O young man, the word Ramadhan consists of five letters:

1 - ra'

2 - meem

3 - dhad

4 - alif

5 - noon.

The ra' is derived from rahma (mercy),

the meem from mujazat (recompense), mahabba (love) & minna (favour),

the dhad from dhaman lilthawab (assurance of reward),

the alif from ulfa (affinity) & qurb (nearness) &

the noon from nur (light) & nawal [the receiving (of grace)].

If you give this month its due and act properly during it, these things will come to you from the True One (‘Azza wa Jall).

They will come to you in this world as strengthening and enlightening for your hearts, & as favour & receiving of grace, outwardly and inwardly.

In the hereafter there will come to you what no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard & has never occurred to any human heart.

O People give up habitual practice and keep to worship. Fast for the sake of Allah (‘Azza wa Jall). Do not get bored of fasting & worshipping in this month. Do righteous deeds, during it, & make sure that you act with sincerity. Make a regular practice of the prayers of taraweeh. Illuminate the mosques, for this will be a light for you on the Day of Resurrection. When you fast, give up lying, giving false witness, backbiting, defaming people & embezzling their properties. In principle, you fast in order to purify yourselves of your sins & keep away from them, so what benefit could you derive from your fasting if you commit, these sins yet again?

Woe unto you! What Benefit would you derive from fasting if you break it on unlawful food & Sleep during these noble nights having committed acts of disobedience? You fast out of dissimulation & hypocrisy as long as you are among creatures, & once you are on you own you break your fast! Then you come out & say: “I am keeping the fast”, while throughout the day you are involved in verbal abuse, levelling defamatory accusations, swearing false oaths & taking people’s money by way of defrauding, trickery & exaction. This sort of behaviour makes you no good at all and does not count as a fast.

The Prophet (Salla Allah ta’ala ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

“There are so many people who fast yet get nothing out of their fasting other than hunger & thirst & there are so many people who spend the night in worshipful acts yet earn nothing out of their worship other than fatigue & vigil”

When one of you fasts, let his ears, his sights, his hands, his legs, his limbs & organs & his heart all fast.

In this month, there is a night that is the greatest night of the year, which is Laylat al-Qadr. This night has signs that the righteous can recognize. Among the servants of Allah (‘Azza wa Jall) there are those who have the veil removed from their eyes so they see the lights of divinity that is held in the hands of the angels, the light of their faces, the light of the doors of heaven & the light of the countenance of the True One (‘Azza wa Jall) because on that Night He manifests Himself to the people of the earth.

O People do not make obtaining your food your concern because it is a low concern. You have been put to test through eating & drinking, but you have been saved the trouble of securing sustenance, so do not have any concern about it. Glory be to the Self – Sustained One who never eats, drinks or sleeps. Your greedy keenness has increased, while your pious restraint and faith have decreased. Woe unto you! This world lasts only one hour, so spend it in obedience.

By Shaikh Abd al-Qadir al-Gaylani