Sumiya Khan (sukhan@ucdavis.edu)
Tue, 14 Dec 1999 18:12:15 -0800 (PST)
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>From Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship by Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
trans. from the Ihya' by Mukhtar Holland
S * A * W * M * S * A * W * M * S * A * W * M * S * A * W * M
THE INNER DIMENSIONS OF FASTING
Three Grades
It should be known that there are three grades of Fasting: ordinary,
special and extra-special.
Ordinary Fasting means abstaining from food, drink and
sexual satisfaction.
Special Fasting means keeping one's ears, eyes, tongue,
hands and feet -- and all other organs -- free from sin.
Extra-special Fasting means fasting of the heart from
unworthy concerns and worldly thoughts, in total disregard
of everything but God, Great and Glorious is He. This kind
of Fast is broken by thinking of worldly matters, except for
those conducive to religious ends, since these constitute
provision for the Hereafter and are not of this lower world.
Those versed in the spiritual life of the heart have even said
that a sin is recorded against one who concerns himself all
day with arrangements for breaking his Fast. Such anxiety
stems from lack of trust in the bounty of God, Great and
Glorious is He, and from lack of certain faith in His
promised sustenance.
To this third degree belong the Prophets, the true awliya
and the intimates of God. It does not lend itself to detailed
examination in words, as its true nature is better revealed in
action. It consists in utmost dedication to God, Great and
Glorious is He, to the neglect of everything other than God,
Exalted is He. It is bound up with the significance of His
words: 'Say: "Allah (sent it down)": then leave them to play
in their vain discussions.' [al-An'am,6:91]
Inward Requirements
As for Special Fasting, this is the kind practiced by the righteous. It
means keeping all one's organs free from sin and six things are
required for its accomplishment:
1. SEE NOT WHAT DISPLEASES GOD
A chaste regard, restrained from viewing anything that is
blameworthy or reprehensible, or that distracts the heart and
diverts it from the remembrance of God, Great and Glorious is He.
Said the Prophet, on him be peace: 'The furtive glance is one of the
poisoned arrows of Satan, on him be God's curse. Whoever
forsakes it for fear of God will receive from Him, Great and
Glorious is He, a faith the sweetness of which he will find within
his heart.'
Jabir relates from Anas that God's Messenger, on him be
peace, said: 'Five things break a man's Fast: lying, backbiting,
gossiping, perjury and a lustful gaze.'
2. SPEAK NOT...
Guarding one's tongue from idle chatter, lying, gossiping,
obscenity, rudeness, arguing and controversy; making it observe
silence and occupying it with remembrance of God, Great and
Glorious is He, and with recitation of Quran. This is the fasting of
the tongue. Said Sufyan: 'Backbiting annuls the Fast.' Layth quotes
Mujahid as saying: 'Two habits annul Fasting: backbiting and
telling lies.'
The Prophet, on him be peace, said: 'Fasting is a shield; so
when one of you is Fasting he should not use foul or foolish talk. If
someone attacks him or insults him, let him say: "I am Fasting, I
am Fasting!"'
According to Tradition: 'Two women were Fasting during
the time of God's Messenger, on him be peace. They were so
fatigued towards the end of the day, from hunger and thirst, that
they were on the verge of collapsing. They therefore sent a
message to God's Messenger, on him be peace, requesting
permission to break their Fast. In response, the Prophet, on him be
peace, sent them a bowl and said: "Tell them to vomit into it what
they have eaten." One of them vomited and half filled the bowl
with fresh blood and tender meat, while the other brought up the
same so that they filled it between them. The onlookers were
astonished. Then the Prophet, on him be peace, said: "These two
women have been Fasting from what God made lawful to them,
and have broken their Fast on what God, Exalted is He, made
unlawful to them. They sat together and indulged in backbiting,
and here is the flesh of the people they maligned!"'
3. HEAR NOT...
Closing one's ears to everything reprehensible; for
everything unlawful to utter is likewise unlawful to listen to. That
is why God, Great and Glorious is He, equated the eavesdropper
with the profiteer, in His words, Exalted is He:
'Listeners to falsehood, consumers of illicit gain.' [al-
Ma'idah, 5:42]
God, Great and Glorious is He, also said:
'Why do their rabbis and priests not forbid them to utter sin
and consume unlawful profit?' [al-Ma'idah, 5:63]
Silence in the face of backbiting is therefore unlawful. God,
Exalted is He, said: 'You are then just like them.' [al-Nisa, 4:140]
That is why the Prophet, on him be peace, said: 'The backbiter and
his listener are copartners in sin.'
4. DO NOT...
Keeping all other limbs and organs away from sin: the hands and
feet from reprehensible deeds, and the stomach from questionable
food at the time for breaking Fast. It is meaningless to Fast -- to
abstain from lawful food - only to break one's Fast on what is
unlawful. A man who Fast like this may be compared to one who
builds a castle but demolishes a city. Lawful food injurious in
quantity not in quality, so Fasting is to reduce the former. A person
might well give up excessive use of medicine, from fear of ill
effects, but he would be a fool to switch to taking poison. The
unlawful is a poison deadly to religion, while the lawful is a
medicine, beneficial in small doses but harmful in excess. The
object of Fasting is to induce moderation. Said the Prophet, on him
be peace: 'How many of those who Fast get nothing from it but
hunger and thirst!' This has been taken to mean those who break
their Fast on unlawful food. Some say it refers to those who
abstain from lawful food, but break their Fast on human flesh
through backbiting, which is unlawful. Others consider it an
allusion to those who do not guard their organs from sin.
5. AVOID OVEREATING
Not to over-indulge in lawful food at the time of breaking
Fast, to the point of stuffing one's belly. There is no receptacle
more odious to God, Great and Glorious is He, than a belly stuffed
full with lawful food. Of what use is the Fast as a means of
conquering God's enemy and abating appetite, if at the time of
breaking it one not only makes up for all one has missed during the
daytime, but perhaps also indulges in a variety of extra foods? It
has even become the custom to stock up for Ramadan with all
kinds of foodstuffs, so that more is consumed during that time than
in the course of several other months put together. It is well known
that the object of Fasting is to experience hunger and to check
desire, in order to reinforce the soul in piety. If the stomach is
starved from early morning till evening, so that its appetite is
aroused and its craving intensified, and it is then offered delicacies
and allowed to eat its fill, its taste for pleasure is increased and its
force exaggerated; passions are activated which would have lain
dormant under normal conditions.
The spirit and secret nature of Fasting is to weaken the
forces which are Satan's means of leading us back to evil. It is
therefore essential to cut down one's intake to what one would
consume on a normal night, when not Fasting. No benefit is
derived from the Fast if one consumes as much as one would
usually take during the day and night combined. Moreover, one of
the properties consists in taking little sleep during the daytime, so
that one feels the hunger and thirst and becomes conscious of the
weakening of one's powers, with the consequent purification of the
heart.
One should let a certain degree of weakness carry over into
the night, making it easier to perform the night Prayers (tahajjud)
and to recite the praises (awrad). It may then be that Satan will not
hover around one's heart, and that one will behold the Kingdom of
Heaven. The Night of Destiny represents the night on which
something of this Kingdom is revealed. This is what is meant by
the words of God, Exalted is He:
'We surely revealed it on the Night of Power.' [al-Qadr,
97:1]
Anyone who puts a bag of food between his heart and his
breast becomes blind to this revelation. Nor is keeping the stomach
empty sufficient to remove the veil, unless one also empties the
mind of everything but God, Great and Glorious is He. That is the
entire matter, and the starting point of it all is cutting down on
food.
6. LOOK TO GOD WITH FEAR AND HOPE
After the Fast has been broken, the heart should swing like
a pendulum between fear and hope. For one does not know if one's
Fast will be accepted, so that one will find favor with God, or
whether it will be rejected, leaving one among those He abhors.
This is how one should be at the end of any act of worship one
performs.
It is related of al-Hasan ibn Abil Hasan al-Basri that he
once passed by a group of people who were laughing merrily. He
said: 'God, Great and Glorious is He, has made the month of
Ramadan a racecourse, on which His creatures compete in His
worship. Some have come in first and won, while others have
lagged behind and lost. It is absolutely amazing to find anybody
laughing and playing about on the day when success attends the
victors, and failure the wasters. By God, if the veil were lifted off,
the doer of good would surely be preoccupied with his good works
and the evildoer with his evil deeds.' In too full of joy to indulge in
idle sport, while for one who has suffered rejection laughter will be
precluded by remorse.
Of al-Ahnaf ibn Qays it is reported that he was once told:
'You are an aged elder; Fasting would enfeeble you.' But he
replied: 'By this I am making ready for a long journey, Obedience
to God, Glorified is He, is easier to endure than His punishment.'
Such are the inwardly significant meanings of Fasting.
Al-Ghazali, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship
Edited 12/99
Huma Ahmad http://www.jannah.org huma@jannah.org
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
| Narrated Abu Huraira: |
| Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever observes fasts during the month of |
| Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah's rewards,|
| then all his past [minor] sins will be forgiven." |
|_|__|___|___|___|____|____|____|____|_____(Bukhari)__|___|__|__|__|_|
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