The Inner Dimensions of Fasting

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 Allah, 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 Allah,
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 Allah. 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 Allah, Great and Glorious is He, to
the neglect of everything other than Allah, 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 Allah
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A
chaste regard, restrained from viewing anything that is blameworthy or
reprehensible, or that distracts the heart and diverts it from the
remembrance of Allah, 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
Allah's curse. Whoever forsakes it for fear of Allah 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 Allah'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 What Displeases Allah
Guarding
one's tongue from idle chatter, lying, gossiping, obscenity, rudeness,
arguing and controversy; making (the tongue) observe silence and
occupying it with remembrance of Allah, 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 Allah'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 Allah'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 Allah made lawful to them, and have broken their Fast on what
Allah, 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 What Displeases Allah
Closing
one's ears to everything reprehensible; for everything unlawful to
utter is likewise unlawful to listen to. That is why Allah, 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] Allah, 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. Allah, 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 What Displeases Allah
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 Fasts
like this may be compared to one who builds a castle but demolishes a
city. Lawful food is 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
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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
Allah, Great and Glorious is He, than a belly stuffed full with lawful
food. Of what use is the Fast as a means of conquering Allah'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 that 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 (Laylat al-Qadr)
represents the night on which something of this Kingdom is revealed.
This is what is meant by the words of Allah, 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 Allah, 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 Allah 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 Allah, 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: "Allah, 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 Allah, 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. I am 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 Allah, 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 by 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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» Fasting According to the Quran
» The Real Purpose of Fasting
» Making up missed days of fasting