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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.'
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