IMAM GHAZALI (رحمة الله عليه) – THE MYSTERIES OF FASTING AND ITS INWARD CONDITIONS – Part 2
The fourth is constraining the rest of the senses from sins, restraining the hand from reaching evil, and curbing the foot from pursuing wickedness, as well as avoiding questionable foods at the break of the fast. Otherwise, if the fast is going to be abstinence from lawful things, it will have no significance at all. Such a fasting man is like one who builds a cabin but destroys a capital (city).
For lawful food is harmful not because of its quality but because of its quantity and fasting is designed to induce moderation. Similarly, the person who, for fear of the bad effect of an excessive dose of medicine, resorts to taking a dose of poison, is indeed foolish. The unlawful is poison detrimental to religion while the lawful is like a medicine a little of which is beneficial but the excess of which is harmful. The purpose of fasting is to induce moderation therein. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said, “Many a man gets nothing out of his fast accept hunger and thirst .” (Ibn Majah)
In explanation of this it has been said that he [Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam] meant the person who breaks his fast on unlawful tilings. Others said that he meant the person who abstains from lawful food and breaks his fast on the flesh of men through backbiting which is unlawful. Still others said that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam meant the person who does not keep his senses free from sin.
The fifth is that when breaking his fast, a person should not overeat of [even) the lawful food, thereby stuffing his belly full. For there is no vessel more abominable unto Allah than a belly stuffed with lawful food. How could anyone expect to overcome the enemy of Allah and subdue his own appetite through fasting if, when he breaks his fast, he compensates himself for what he had missed during the day and even helps himself to more foods and drinks of diverse kinds. It has thus become the custom to store up all the food for the month of Ramadan, wherein more food and drink are devoured than in several months. Yet it is well known that the purpose of fasting is hunger and the suppression of lust so that the soul might be able to attain piety.
If the stomach were not given any food from the early morning until the evening so that its appetite became aroused and its desire increased and then it were fed with delicacies and stuffed to satiety therewith, its pleasure would be enhanced and vitality doubled, consequently giving rise to passions otherwise dormant.
The spirit as well as the secret of fasting is to weaken the flesh (nafs) which is Satan’s tool for turning men back to evil. [Such weakening of the flesh] is never achieved unless a person reduces his food to the amount of food which he would have eaten in the evening if he were not fasting. But if, on breaking his fast, he should eat an amount of food equivalent to what he would have eaten during both the day time and the evening, he would reap no benefit from his fast.
As a matter of fact, among the proprieties of fasting is that the person should not sleep much during the daytime but rather stay up so that he might feel the pangs of hunger and the flames of thirst and become conscious of the weakness of the flesh, with the result that his heart would be cleansed and purified. He should maintain his flesh (nafs) in such a state of weakness during the Night of Power so that he might find his night worship (tahajjud) easier to perform and his [night] portions (sing. wird) easier to read. It is hoped, then, that Satan will not hover around his heart and that he will be able to lift his eyes unto the kingdom of heaven. In this connection, the Night of Power represents the night on which a glimpse of the invisible world is revealed to man. It is also the night which is alluded to by the words of Allah when He said, “Verily We have sent it down on the Night of Power.”
He who buries his head deep into a nose-bag full of food, cannot hope to see the invisible world. Even if he keeps his stomach empty, he will not be able to remove the veil and see the invisible world unless he also empties his mind from everything except Allah. This is the whole matter, the basis of which is to cut down the amount of food one eats. This will be further discussed in the book on the various kinds of food.
The sixth is that, after breaking the fast, his heart should remain in state of suspense between fear and hope, since he does not know whether his fast will be accepted, and consequently he will be one of the favourites of Allah, or rejected, and he will be one of those who have incurred divine disfavour. He should remain in such a state of suspense after every act of worship.
It has been related that al-Hasan ibn-abi al-Hasan [Yasar] al-Basri once passed by a group of men who were rollicking and laughing and said unto them, ‘Verily Allah has made the month of Ramadan a race-course where men compete in His worship. Some have won their race and were crowned with success, while others lagged behind and lost. We are surprised and astonished at the man who wastes his time in indolence and laughter on the day when the earnest finish victorious and the idle meet with failure and disaster. By Allah, if the veil were to be removed, you will find the good man occupies with his good works and the evildoer with his evil deeds.” In other words, the joy of the man whose fast has been accepted will occupy him and keep him from indolence, while the agony and regrets of the man whose fast has been rejected will take all joy from his heart and make laughter impossible.
