Nourishment for The Hearts (Qutul Qulub)

Specialized Fasting of the Muqinin ( The People of Certainty- those with no doubt)

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May Allah The Sublime grant you success—Know that regular fasting amongst the fasters is that of their corporeal form (i.e. abstaining from eating and drinking) while the specialized fasting of the Muqinin (The People of Certainty) is the fasting of:
1.   The Qalb (Heart) in abstaining from the preoccupations & musings of the world
2.   The ears, the eyes and the tongue in abstaining from transgression of the Hadd (Divine Limits)
3.   The hands and feet in abstaining from exerting force upon, and striving towards the causes and instruments of the Nahy (Divine Prohibitions)

He who fasts in such a manner has fully grasped and comprehended the passage of his time each day and the occurrence of each hour—living his entire day in full Dhikr (Remembering the Divine). It is of such that it has been said: “The sleep of the faster is Ibādah (Serfdom & Worship) and his breath is Tasbih (Praise & Adoration)”. (This specialized form of fasting in which the heart empowers the Murid (Seeker) to savour each moment of his life regardless of the external conditions. Today we hear millions saying: “Life is passing me by” or “The week just went by so fast” or “My life is all wasted”. This peculiar form of fasting is the definite cure for the wasting away of human life. It can be practiced by anyone anywhere anytime and at any age!)

The Exalted, the Mighty—Allah, has coupled the notion of hearing Bātil (Falsehood, Vanity) or speaking offensively with that of eating Harām (Unlawful Provision)! Were it not for the Harām (Unlawful) within what is heard and spoken for the listener as well as for the speaker, Allah would not have conjoined them with the notion of eating Harām (Unlawful), which is one of the Great Sins.
Allah The Sublime has said: “(They are fond of) listening to falsehood, of devouring anything forbidden” (Qur’an [5:42]) and again: “Why do not the rabbis and the religious learned men forbid them from their (habit of) uttering sinful words and eating things forbidden?” (Qur’an [5:63]).

Indeed a slave preserving & observing the Hadd (Divine Limits) set by Allah remains as though fasting in presence of Allah even after he breaks the fast, by eating or by sexual intercourse, due to the virtue of continuous compliance (with the limits). Whoever fasts by abstaining from food and sex but continually transgresses the Hadd (Divine Limits) is not considered a faster in presence of Allah— for his Nafs (Psyche, Self) is not fasting, for what he has missed of the fast is dearer to Allah than what he has complied with. (There is nothing dearer to Allah than preserving & observing the Hadd (Divine Limits). (Hadd is a limit set for human behavior e.g. do not steal. In Islamic tradition fasting requires the faster to abstain from both food & sex during the fasting hours of the sunrise to sunset.)

The example of someone who fasts by merely abstaining from food yet leaves the rest of his limbs ungoverned is the example of a person making ablution by merely ‘wiping’ over the limbs ‘thrice’ then praying, his prayer is void because all he succeeded in doing was to maintain the number (three) of wipes while he abandoned the obligation of ‘washing’—Failure of functionality. The example of someone who breaks the fast by eating but remains fasting with his limbs by preventing the Nahy (Divine Preventions) is the example of a person making ablution by washing his limbs only twice, abandoning the number of rinses, so he has perfectly performed his prayers by acting upon the knowledge (of how to perform ablution and prayer). The example of someone who fasted by abstaining from food and sex and preserved his limbs from all sins is the example of a person making ablution by washing his limbs thrice meeting the necessary requirements thus performing the prayers in the most perfect status as stated by Allah: “Fulfillment of the best for him who does good”( Qur’an [6:154]). And as was said by the Prophet—peace be upon him—”This is my ablution and that of the prophets before me, the ablution of my forefather Abraham and indeed Allah said: “The nation of your father Abraham” (Qur’an [22:78]), in other words it is upon you to fulfill and follow him (Abraham). (In Islamic tradition the worshiper makes ablution prior to prayers by rinsing the limbs thrice each. Makki is setting an example of an invalid behavior as opposed to the perfection of an action or a ritual.)

“The grateful person eating has the same status as a patient faster” Narrated by the Prophet peace be upon him.

During the time of the Prophet, two women fasted struggling with thirst and hunger till they were at the point of death at the end of the day. They sent a dispatch to the Prophet seeking permission to break their fast. In response the Prophet sent them back a bowl saying:” Tell the women to vomit what they have eaten into this bowl”. One of them vomited blood and much meat and the other woman did the same, until the bowl was filled up. This bewildered the people (since the stomachs of the women were supposed to be empty), the Prophet then explained: “These two women were fasting in abstaining from what is allowed by Allah for them (food & drink) while they broke their fast by not abstaining from what was forbidden by Allah for them: They sat one next to one another backbiting people and this (the content of the bowl) is the meat of the people (they were backbiting). (In Qur’an backbiting is equaled to the eating of the flesh of the people: “O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: And spy not on each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?” (Qur’an [49:12]))

Abu Dardā’ said: “How wonderful! The sleep and the breaking of the fast of the clever people dishonors the moron’s fasting and a single particle endowed with Yaqin (Divine Certainty) and righteousness is preferred over the mountains of worship performed by the ignorant who is deceived by this evanescing world”. (Clever people are those worshipers who understand the spiritual meaning beyond the physical actions and the ignorant worshiper is lost within the surface-manifest of the physical actions, even though his actions (worships) are numerous.)

All that is forbidden for you to utter is forbidden for you to listen to, and all that is forbidden for you to do is forbidden for you to look at or think about : “you would be like them” (Qur’an [4:140],( this verse is about blasphemy, ‘them’ refers to those who ridicule the Divine Words, the one who listens to “them” speaking is equal to them).

Fasting is similar to repenting since both require patience. Repentance covers up the loathsome actions committed in the past; it requires patience for that which has passed of foul habits and the parting with  bad habits requires safeguarding the limbs that were the conduits for loathsome deeds. In the same way, fasting is protection against the fire (of Hell) and a virtue of those who rank amongst the righteous! When the faster applies patience, he safeguards his limbs against the sins, but when he commands his limbs towards sinful actions his situation is similar to a repenter who is on the verge of breaking his promise (not to do the sinful actions); his repentance is insincere and his fast less than virtuous as you can see in the words of the Prophet peace be upon him: “Fasting is the protection against the Fire (of Hell) do not impair it (the protection) with lying or backbiting”. And again in his words: “During the day when one of you is fasting do not be obscene or foolish, and if it (devil, Nafs (Psyche)) abuses him (by commanding him to evil), the faster should say, “I am fasting””. In other words, the day of fast and the day of non-fasting should not be the same i.e. preserve the sanctuary of the fast.

And in other Prophetic words: “Fasting is a ‘trust’ so each one of you must preserve what is entrusted upon him”, the preserving of this trust is that of safeguarding the limbs (against committing evil).

Similarly, as the Prophet was teaching the verse: “Allah doth command you to render back your Trusts to those to whom they are due” (Qur’an [4:58]):  he placed his hands over his ear and over his eye and said: “The ear is a trust and the eye is a trust” and this is the figure of speech when the faster says: “I am fasting”. Namely he (the faster) remembers the trust that is being carried and the fact that he is to return it to its rightful owners. He who preserves a trust hides it (e.g. covering the eyes not to see evil); if he shows it, in the absence of a valid reason, he indeed has betrayed the trust since the consignor did not allow for it to be revealed. The reality of preserving a secret is forgetting all about it; for a secret to be lost, its vault should be fortified. Therefore the reality of fasting is to forget all about the fast itself and not to wait for the time to break the fast i.e. busying the fasting with transience (Feel the fasting to be a continuum of staying away from evil, thus forget about the very act of fasting and completely ignore the transition of breaking the fast).

End.
Note: Muqin is a person who has reached the high rank of doubtlessness with regards to the Divine Beingness. This person is above and beyond the confinements of human logic and reasoning that allow for doubting and probabilities.

© 2004,  Dara O. Shayda  and Dr. Hind Rifai