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The Secrets of Fasting and Its Essential Conditions
By
the late Professor Sa`id Hawwa
Mind
that there are three degrees of fasting: ordinary fasting, special
fasting, and extra-special fasting.
(1)
Ordinary fasting means abstaining from food, drink, and
sexual gratification.
(2)
Special fasting means keeping one’s ears, eyes, tongue,
hands, and feet, and all other organs, free from sin.
(3)
Extra-special fasting means fasting of the heart from
unworthy concerns and worldly thoughts, in total disregard of
everything but Allah Most High.
The
extra-special fasting is nullified by thinking of other interests
other than pleasing Almighty Allah. [This is to say, when one
becomes mindful of any other beside Almighty Allah, one loses the
degree of extra-special fasting, which is the best degree of
fasting.]
The
Prophets (peace and blessings be upon them all), the righteous
predecessors (salaf), and the persons close to
Almighty Allah would observe the extra-special fasting.
It
is a degree that requires one to exert one’s utmost and be mindful
of nothing but Allah Most High, following, heart and soul, what is
implied in Almighty Allah’s words: [Say:
‘Allah. Then leave them to their play of caviling.’]
(Al-An`am: 91)
As
for special fasting, it is that kind of fasting that the righteous
people observe. In order to observe it, six steps are required.
First,
one is to lower the gaze and not look lustfully at the opposite sex,
for this distracts one from remembering Allah Most High.
The
Prophet (peace
and blessings be upon him) said: “A lustful gaze to the opposite
sex is a poisoned arrow from the arrows of Satan
(may Allah Almighty accurse him). So, he who avoids it out of
fearing Almighty Allah, Allah Most High will grant him such faith
whose sweetness he feels in his heart.”
Second,
one is to guard the tongue from twaddle, lying, backbiting,
obscenity, etc. One should, rather, utter nothing unnecessary, keep
remembering Almighty Allah (dhikr), and recite the Qur’an.
This is the fasting of tongue.
The
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Fasting is a
shield [for one against evil deeds]. So, the person fasting should
avoid sexual relation with his wife and should not behave foolishly
and impudently, and if somebody fights with him or abuses him, he
should tell him twice, ‘I am fasting.’”
Bishr
ibn Al-Harith, a righteous predecessor, quoted Sufyan, an eminent
righteous predecessor, as saying: “Backbiting nullifies
fasting.”
It
was also reported that Mujahid, an eminent righteous predecessor,
said: “Two things nullify fasting: backbiting and lying.”
Third,
one is to close the ears to everything reprehensible, for what is
reprehensible for one to say is reprehensible for one to listen to.
On describing the evil Jews, Allah Almighty has paralleled listening
to falsehood to acquiring illicit gains. He Almighty says: [Listeners
for the sake of falsehood! Greedy for illicit gain!]
(Al-Ma’idah: 42).
He
Almighty also says: [Why
do not the rabbis and the priests forbid their evil speaking and
their devouring of illicit gain?]
(Al-Ma’idah: 63).
Thus,
he who listens to evil speaking is like he who utters it; both deeds
are reprehensible.
Allah
Almighty says: [He
hath already revealed unto you in the Scripture that, when ye hear
the revelations of Allah rejected and derided, (ye) sit not with
them (who disbelieve and mock) until they engage in some other
conversation. Lo! in that case (if ye stayed) ye would be like unto
them.]
(An-Nisaa’: 140).
Fourth,
one is to keep all other limbs and organs away from what is
reprehensible and avoid altogether breaking the fast with forbidden
food. He who breaks his fast with unlawful food is like one who
builds a palace and then demolishes the area (where the palace is)
completely. Doing unlawful things may ruin one’s good deeds.
The
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “How many a
fasting person that gains from fasting nothing but hunger and
thirst.” There are three points of view in explaining what this
hadith refers to. It was said that this hadith refers to those who
break their fast with unlawful food. It was said also it indicates
those who abstain from eating lawful food during the fast day, yet
nullify it by eating the forbidden flesh of their fellow Muslims
through backbiting them. And it was said it refers to those who do
not keep their organs, in general, from sins.
Fifth,
one is to avoid overeating on breaking the fast. Allah Almighty
dislikes eating to excess even if it is eating lawful food. How can
one fulfill the aim of fasting, i.e., training oneself to overcome
temptations and base desires of the flesh, while one seeks on
breaking the fast to get an excess of he had abstained from during
the fast day?
Moreover,
many people are used to eating during Ramadan alone an amount of
food equal to what they may eat in some months together!
The
theme of fasting is to achieve piety through training oneself to
resist temptations and one’s base desires. If one abstained from
eating throughout the fast day, and on breaking fast rushed madly
upon food, the influence of one’s other pressing desires would be
increased, which would, in turn, ruin the aim of fasting.
It
is the very objective of fasting to weaken the influence of one’s
desires, which Satan employs to tempt human beings to do evil. The
direct means that helps one achieve such objective is to eat little
food on breaking fast, or in other words, to eat the amount one has
been used to eating on having dinner when one is not fasting.
It
is also one of the requirements of special fasting not to sleep a
lot during the fast day, so that one feels hunger and thirst and
experiences the weakening of the influence of one’s desires upon
one. When one meets such requirements, one is provided with such
spiritual feelings that make it easy for one to observe further acts
of worship and dhikr at night. Maybe when one is doing so,
Satan keeps away from one, and Allah Almighty reveals to one part of
the Unseen.
This
occurs on Laylat Al-Qadr (the Night of Power), about which Allah
Almighty says: [Lo!
We revealed it on the Night of Power. Ah, what will convey unto thee
what the Night of Power is! The Night of Power is better than a
thousand months.]
(Al-Qadr: 1-3)
One
can get such a privilege when one manages to overcome one’s
appetite for food and resist all the other base desires, paying
attention only to what pleases Almighty Allah. The key to achieving
all this is to avoid overeating.
Sixth,
after breaking one’s fast, one is to be concerned with whether
Almighty Allah has accepted one’s fast or not. One is to worry
whether Allah will reward one for fasting sincerely and thus will
draw one closer to Him Most High, or will render one’s fast
ineffective and thus alienate one away from Him Most High. So should
be the case of true believers after observing any act of worship.
It
was reported that once, Al-Hassan ibn Abi Al-Hassan Al-Basri, an
eminent pious scholar, passed by a group of people laughing and
enjoying their time in amusement during Ramadan. Seeing them in such
a state, he said, “Allah Most High has made the month of Ramadan a
sphere for His creation so that they may vie sincerely in obeying
Him Most High. A group may do so and win His pleasure, while many
others may abstain from doing so and lose His pleasure. I really
wonder at those who take it easy and enjoy themselves at a time in
which people are supposed to be either winners or losers in Almighty
Allah’s sight.”
Abu
Ad-Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with him) said that one act of
worship observed by pious and devout persons is far better than
heaps of acts observed by persons showing off.
Some
scholars would describe the persons who do not meet the requirements
of sincere fasting as: “How many are those who fast yet they are
not fasting!”
To
conclude, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“Fasting (Ramadan) is a trust assigned to you, so, be keen to keep
(and observe) your trust.”
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