Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Ramadn 4th Late Night Majlis Kashf alMahjb and the Mysteries of Fasting 05302017
AI: Summary ©
The book on Islam discusses the reward for fasting, which is a combination of good behavior and reward for the creator. It highlights the importance of fasting for spiritual gifts and the importance of performing voluntary acts to develop one's spirituality and personality. The speaker emphasizes the need for sustained hunger and avoiding cluttered bodies to achieve spiritual health and success in life. The book also discusses the importance of learning from the past and finding the best end of the deal.
AI: Summary ©
Tonight I wanted to read for our Majlis,
the 21st chapter of
the kashf al Mahjub of Sayyid Ali Hajwari
for those of us who have
had the pleasure and enjoyment of visiting the
wonderful city of Lahore.
The Sheik who is popularly known as Datag
Ganj Bakhsh.
Well, many of you have eaten the free
charity
sweet rice from his Mazar.
Now you may as well learn something from
his
from his teachings.
He says Allah Ta'ala has said,
Oh, people who have belief
fasting has been
written as a law for you. And the
messenger of Allah, sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that
he was informed by the angel Jibril alaihi
salam that Allah ta'ala said,
fasting is for me and I'm the one
who will recompense for it. Because the religious
practice of fasting is a mystery unconnected with
any external thing, a mystery which none other
than Allahu Ta'ala participates.
Hence, his recompense is infinite.
It has been said that mankind enter paradise
through God's mercy
and their rank therein depends on their religious
devotion.
And that they're abiding therein forever is the
recompense of their fasting because Allah said, I
have the best right to give recompense for
it. So this is an interpretation or an
interesting tawil.
This is that Allah says, I'm the one
who will reward for fasting.
The reason
the reason for one of the interpretations is
the reason for people going to Jannah forever
is what? Because Allah ta'ala,
himself takes it upon himself to give the
reward for fasting unconnected to any sort
of mathematical relationship between the amount
of good that's done and the amount of
reward.
And the the reason for that, he mentions
very interesting that the the the fasting is
something that is unconnected with any external state.
So unlike salat, which people can see or
sense or the zikr that people can see
your lips moving or hear
the words, being said, unlike,
all of the other,
you know, acts of worship that they can
see you walking around the Kaaba
or giving charity, fasting is something that is
kind of a secret between the slave and
between Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And and that's
the reason he
he says that it has such a high
reward.
Imam Junaid Baghdadi
said fasting is half of the tariqah.
The path to Allah fasting is half of
it.
The sheikh continues, I have seen sheiks who
fasted without intermission and others who fasted only
during the month of Ramadan.
The former were seeking recompense and reward from
Allah and the latter were renouncing their self
will, and renouncing ostentation or showing off.
Again, I have seen others who fasted and
were not conscious of anyone and ate only
when food was set before them. This is
more in accordance with the sunnah. It has
been related that the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam came to Aisha and Hafsarah
and
who said to him, we have kept some
dates and butter for you.
Bring it, he said. I was intending to
fast, but I will fast another day instead.
The sheikh continues, I have seen others who
fasted only on the white days,
which are the 13th 15th
13th, 14th, 15th of every lunar month, and
on the 10,
days of the blessed month of,
of Dhul Hijjah,
and also during the sacred months of Rajab
and during the month of Shaaban and during
the month of Ramadan.
Others I have seen who observed the fast
of Dawud alaihis salam,
which the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam
called the best of fasts, I. E. They
fasted one day and broke their fast another.
Once I came into the presence of Sheikh
Ahmed Bukhari,
he had a dish of halua of sweets
before him,
from which he was eating, and he made
a sign to me that I should eat.
As is the way of young men, I
answered without any consideration that I was fasting.
He asked why. I said in conformity with
such and such a person.
He replied to me, it is not right
for human beings to conform with human beings.
I was about to break my fast because
of his,
because of what he said. But he said,
since you wish to be a quid of
conformity with,
him,
then do not conform with me either because
I also am a human being.
This is,
amazing,
because,
nowadays,
in some quarters, Sufism has turned into some
sort of, like, a blind hero worship.
Something that those of you who have the
misfortune of following me on Twitter
see me mock as Hazratism that every person
is
doing some sort of, like, almost like
deification or,
prophetification
of their, of their sheikh. Not understanding the
sheikh is a human being,
and definitely you benefit from their state and
you benefit from their teaching and you should
have the utmost respect for them, but you
have to draw a line. And so people
think that this kinda like super,
indulging in your your your teacher's
spiritual glory is is somehow what Tis'o'af is.
And this book, the Kasher Mahdub, for those
of you who don't know, it's one of
the first books written on the,
on the, on the subject of tasulaf. And
you'll see he comes up with a lot
of very, very interesting insights that are very
well grounded in the Hadith of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam in the book of Allah.
And interestingly, also in the Aqidah of the
of the Muslims. So he mentions this, that
he was fasting
when he visited a sheikh, the sheikh Ahmed
Bukhari.
And he he puts some halwa in front
of him.
And, he says, no, I'm fasting,
as is the practice of such and such
sheikh. And the sheikh told him,
that that you shouldn't conform to any other
human being.
And when he heard that, he was about
to break his fast. And then the sheikh
also did something which was like, you know,
light on light and gold on top of
gold, which is he says now because I'm
a human being and you're about to listen
to what I said, just keep fasting because
you shouldn't conform to me either.
Which is, which
is an amazing insight and shows that these
people, what they wanted and what we want
also. Allah gives the tawfiq out of this
life is only
the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
and anything
and that's something that's very far from any
sort of hero worship or blind
blind following of anybody.
Is a sense you wish to be quit
of conformity with him? Do not conform with
me for I too am a human being.
And this is very,
amazing and very beautiful. It's a Kamal of
his nephew, of his self. It's a perfection
of his negation even of his own self
and giving a superior
piece of advice.
Fasting is really abstinence, and this includes the
whole method of Sufism.
The last degree or the least degree in
fasting is hunger, which is God's food on
the earth and is universally commended in the
eyes of the law and reason.
1 month's continual fasting is incumbent on every
reasonable Muslim who has attained manhood,
or adulthood.
The fast begins on the appearance of the
moon of Ramadan and continues till the appearance
of the moon of Shawwal.
And for every day, a sincere intention and
firm obligation are necessary.
Abstinence involves many obligations,
I e keeping the belly without food and
drink and guarding the eye from lust looks
and the ear from listening to evil speech
about anyone in his absence and the tongue
from vain or foul words and the body
from following after worldly things and disobedience to
God. Whoever acts in this manner is truly
keeping his fast for the apostle sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said to a certain man, when
you fast, let your ear,
let your ear fast in your eye, and
your tongue and your hand in every limb.
He also said, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, many
one has no good of his fasting except
hunger and thirst.
Meaning they don't receive any reward and they're
definitely not developing themselves.
He then shares his own personal experience and
says, I dreamed that I saw the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and asked
him to give me some words of advice,
and he replied, imprison your tongue and your
senses.
The sheikh,
then expounds to imprison the senses is complete
mujahada, a complete struggle, because all kinds of
knowledge are required through the 5 senses.
Sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. 4 of
the senses have a particular locus, but the
5th, namely touch, is spread over the entire
body.
Everything that becomes
known to a human being passes through these
5 doors except for intuitive knowledge
and divine inspiration.
And in each sense, there's a purity and
an impurity.
For just as they are open to knowledge,
reason and spirit, so they are open to
imagination
and passion,
being organs which partake in the piety and
the sin of felicity and misery.
Therefore, it behooves him who is keeping a
fast to imprison all the senses in order
that they may return from disobedience to obedience.
It's a very
outlay of how a person can cleanse the
the the the the roads to the heart
as it means to cleansing the heart.
To abstain from only food and drink is
child's play. 1 must abstain from idle pleasures
and unlawful acts, not just from eating lawful
food. I marvel at those who say that
they are keeping a voluntary fast and yet
failed to perform an obligatory duty.
This reminds me of
an Internet,
poster that's going around with regards to the
sheikh,
in in Madinah Munawwara
that he's he said that that the sweat
that a person
perspires on their way to
Zuhr during Ramadan
is worth more with Allah Ta'ala than the
the tears that they shed during the Taraweeh.
Because what? Because performing your obligations properly is
a higher priority than performing the voluntary acts
and performing voluntary acts in the deen.
They only gain when a person is performing
their obligations properly. Now as a Desi, that's
very difficult to hear because in our Desi
popular religion, Tarawi has some kind of like
a very sacred farb.
And,
so many people will not go to the
Masjid for their 5 daily prayers, but they
will,
they'll they'll make extra effort to go to
Taraweeh.
And, the fact of the matter is had
they gone for their 5 daily prayers, they
would have received more reward.
And, you know, one of the reasons I
think the masha'ach don't bring this up is
that many people will say, okay. Well, I'll
just go to Zohar instead.
And, they'll just go to Zohar for a
couple of days and they'll stop going to
Zohar as well.
And,
you know, then both sides are lost. But
from an Usuli point of view, and this
is the issue that that the sheikh is
bringing up as well,
keeping the keeping the obligations is a is
a higher
is a higher, calling and has more reward
than doing things that are voluntary.
I marvel at those who say that they
are keeping a voluntary fast, yet fail to
perform an obligatory duty.
Not to commit sin is obligatory, whereas continual
fasting is a prophetic custom which may be
observed or neglected.
When a man is divinely protected from sin,
all his circumstances are a fast,
Meaning the person not divinely protected in the
sense of isma because that's only for the
prophets in the sense of infallibility, rather divinely
protected in the sense that they have tawfiq
that they wanna avoid sin and Allah allows
them to.
It has been related by Abu Talha al
Maliki, the Sahil bin Abdillah,
Atustari,
was fasting on the day of his birth
and also on the day of his death
because he was born in the forenoon and
tasted no milk until after the Maghrib prayer.
And on the day of his disease, he
was keeping a fast. But continuous,
fasting or wussal has been forbidden by the
messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. For when
he fasted continuously,
his companions,
conformed with him. And in that respect, he
forbade them, saying, I'm not as one of
you. I passed the night with my Lord
who gives me food and drink.
The votaries of self mortification
or the the followers, the devotees of Mujahada,
the path of of struggling against the self
in order to find Allah Ta'ala assert that
this prohibition was an act of indulgence,
not a veto declaring such,
fast to be unlawful.
And others regard them as contrary to the
Sunnah.
But the fact is that continuance or wisaw,
in fasting is in itself impossible. So he
sees that there are branches of the Sufis
who
advocated Mujahada as a way to Allah Ta'ala.
And from amongst them, there are those people
who
saw this,
custom of fasting continuously,
to be permissible. And so he negates that.
And really the amongst the Sufia, if there
were people who saw that as being permissible,
the fuqaha,
to my knowledge without exception,
deemed it impermissible.
And he takes the side of the fuqaha
as a sound person sound spirituality would.
He says the fact is that we saw
this impossible because the day's fast is interrupted
by the night or at any rate because,
it cannot continue beyond a certain period.
It is related by Sahib bin Abdullah Aftostar
that he used to eat only once in
15 days. When the fast of the month
of Ramadan arrived, he ate nothing until Eid
and performed 400 rak'ahs every night. This exceeds
the limit of human endurance and cannot be
accomplished by anyone without the divine aid, which
itself becomes a nourishment. And he'll come back
to this issue after after a little bit
in a very good way, and he'll explain
it further.
It is well known that the sheikh Abu
Nasr Sarraj,
the author of the Kitab al Luma, was,
surnamed
the Tawus al Fookara, the peacock of the
those who are poor in front of Allah
meaning amongst the people who,
the people of Allah's remembrance and the people
of humility in front of Allah, he was
a peacock amongst them. He was given a
private chamber in the,
Shunazia Masjid and was appointed to preside over
the the the
other, Darwish's that that stayed in that,
Hanqah,
to worship Allah Ta'ala,
all the way until Eid.
During the nightly prayers of Ramadan or Talawi,
he recited the entire Quran 5 times. Every
night a servant brought a loaf of bread
to his room. When he departed from the
Hanqa,
on the day of Eid, the servant found
all 30 loaves of bread untouched.
Ali bin Baqar relates that Hafs al Masisi
ate nothing in Ramadan except for on the
15th day of the month. We are told
that Ibrahim and Adham fasted from the beginning
to the end of Ramadan.
And and, although it was the month of
July, he worked every day as a harvester
and gave his wages to the other,
to the other Darishas, the other people of
dhikr in remembrance,
and prayed from nightfall till daybreak. They watched
him closely and saw that he neither ate
nor slept.
It is said that Sheikh Abu'Abdullah,
Khafif,
during his life kept 40 uninterrupted fasts of
40 days. And I have met with an
old man who used to annually keep 2
fasts of 40 days in the desert.
I was present at the deathbed of Danish
man Abu Mohammed,
Banghari.
And he said that he tasted no food
for 80 days and had not missed a
single occasion of praying salat with congregation in
public.
At Maru, there are 2 spiritual sheiks.
One was called Mas'ud, and the other was
called Sheikh Abu Ali, Seah.
Mas'ud sent a message to Abu Ali saying,
how long shall we make empty pretensions?
Come, let us sit fasting for 40 days.
Abu Ali replied, no. Let us eat 3
times a day, and nevertheless require only 1
wudu during these 40 days.
So
I guess,
I
guess some people you don't you know, they
have ranks above others, and Allah knows best.
The difficulties of this question are not yet
removed. Ignorant persons conclude that continuous and continuance
and fasting is possible while the physicians
alleged that such a theory is entirely entirely
baseless.
I will now explain the matter in full.
To fast continuously without infringing
on the, on the divine command is a
miracle, a karama.
Miracles have a special, not a general application.
If they were vouch safe to all, faith
would not be, an act of necessity,
or faith would Afan be an act of
necessity. Meaning that if everyone could do stuff
like this,
miraculously,
then then faith would be an act of
necessity.
And the people who have the gnosis of
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, would not be recompensed
on account of that gnosis.
The messenger of Allah, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
brought evidentiary miracles or mawajazat,
and therefore divulged in his continuous fasting.
Therefore, he divulged his continuous fasting, meaning not
only did he fast continuously, but he let
people know about it.
But he forbade the oliya and the people
of Karamat
to divulge it, because the Karamah involves concealment.
The miracles of the saints involve concealment, whereas
the Mu'adiza,
which is the miracles of the prophets,
involve revelation.
There's a clear distinction between the miracles performed
by the prophets and those performed by the
oliya.
And to and the knowledge of that will
be sufficient for anyone who is divinely guided.
The 40 days fast of the saints are
derived from the fast of Musa, alayhis salam,
which is mentioned in the Quran, the mikat
of saying the Musa, alayhis salam, which is
Lord 40 days. When the saints desire to
hear the word of God spiritually, they remain
fasting for 40 days. After 30 days have
passed, they rub their teeth.
Then they fast for 10 days more. And
God speaks to their heart because whatever the
prophets enjoy openly, the saints may enjoy secretly.
Whatever the prophets enjoy openly, the saints may
enjoy secretly. A person may ask, what does
it mean?
That's, I guess I'm the wrong person to
ask. And, if you were listening to anything
that, was being said right now, even if
a person didn't know what what it meant,
he's not gonna tell you on a SoundCloud
recording. But the point of the the point
of sharing this with you is just that
there were people from this Ummah who were
so keen to,
so keen to interface with Allah, ta'ala. And,
contrary to,
the propaganda, those were not people who jettison
the Sharia. Rather, they're the ones who understood
the Sharia the best and conform to it
the best. And then charlatans who came afterward
tried to fake it, and they couldn't,
fake it while keeping the sharia together. And
Allah knows
best. As this is when the saints desire
to hear the word of God spiritually,
meaning not as revelation, but through intuition. They
remain fasting for 40 days. After 30 days
have fast passed, they rub their teeth. Then
they fast 10 days more. And God speaks
to their hearts because whatever the prophets enjoy
openly,
the saints may enjoy secretly.
Now hearing the word of God, is not
compatible with the subsistence of natural temperament. Therefore,
the 4 humors must be
deprived of food and drink for 40 days
in order that they may be utterly subdued,
and that the purity of love and the
subtlety of the spirit may hold its absolute
sway.
Suffice to say, kids,
don't try this at home.
Regarding hunger and the matters connected with it.
Hunger sharpens the intelligence and improves the mind
and health. The messenger of Allah, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, said, make your bellies hungry and
your livers thirsty and your bodies
naked,
that perchance your hearts may see God in
this world.
Now, a slight note. Ali Hajuri was not
a Muhadith, so he may mention a Hadith
here and there that are that are are
are are,
you know,
upon scrutiny,
not Sahih Hadith.
And a couple of them, they're they're actually
so far out that,
that, I I can't even find any hassle
for them.
But the idea is is is correct.
And you should understand it in the in
the, the context of the sacred law. Make
your bellies hungry and your livers thirsty and
your bodies naked. Not meaning, like, show your
nakedness to people, but,
but but meaning don't don't clothe yourself clothe
yourself in extravagant
clothing, so that your hearts may see God
in this world.
Although hunger is an affliction to the body,
it illuminates the heart and purifies the soul
and leads the spirit into the presence of
Allah.
To eat one's fill is an act worthy
of a beast.
One who cultivates a spiritual nature by means
of hunger in order to devote himself entirely
to God and detach himself from worldly ties
is not on the same level as one
who cultivates his body,
by means of gluttony
and serves his lusts.
This is a very important point that people
who are so accustomed to eating their full
fill that they never go without it,
those people, they literally cultivated their nafs. Cultivate
means what? It's like to prepare a piece
of land
in order to to see a harvest.
And so the harvest they prepared it for
is just a harvest of
of the ego.
And if a person isn't able to control
their nuffs from self fulfill fulfillment every single
time,
then they shouldn't
be surprised when the deen doesn't make a
whole lot of sense to them and they're
not able to, you know,
control themselves. It doesn't mean that a person
has to be hungry all the time. But
if you can't do it even some of
the time, it's it's a problem.
One who cultivates a spiritual nature by means
of hunger in order to devote himself entirely
to God and detach himself from worldly ties
is not on the same level
as one who cultivates his body by means
of gluttony and serves his lusts.
The men of old ate to live, but
you live to eat. For the sake of
a morsel of food, Adam fell from paradise,
alayhi salam,
and was banished far from the neighborhood of
Allah.
He whose hunger is compulsory is not really
hungry because one who desires to eat after
God has decreed the contrary
is virtually eating.
He says what? He says his he whose
hunger is compulsory is not really hungry,
because one whose desire to eat after God
has decreed the contrary is virtually eating.
The merit of hunger belongs to him who
abstains from eating, not him who is debarred
from eating.
Qahtani
in his nafahat says,
the
novice shall sleep only when he is overpowered
by slumber and speak only when he must,
and eat only when he is starving.
According to some, starvation or faqah involves,
abstention from food for 2 days 2 nights.
Others say 3 days 3 nights or a
week or 40 days, Because true mystics believe
that a sincere man, a sadiq,
is only hungry once in 40 days, and
his hunger merely serves to keep him alive.
And all hunger besides,
is natural appetite and vanity.
You must know that all the veins in
the bodies of the Gnostics, the people who
know Allah ta'ala, are evidence of the divine
mysteries, and that their
hearts are tenanted by visions of the most
high.
Their hearts,
their hearts, are doors opened
in their *.
And at these doors are station reason and
passion.
Reason is reinforced by the spirit and passion
by the lower soul.
The more natural humors are nourished by food,
the stronger does the lower soul become, and
the more impetuously is passion diffused through the
members of the body. And in every vein,
a different kind of veil or hijab is
produced.
But when the food is withheld from the
lower soul, it grows weak. And the reason
gained strength, and the mysteries and evidences of
God become more visible until when the lower
soul is unable to work and passion is
annihilated,
every vain
desire is effaced in the manifestation of the
truth,
in the manifestation of the truth, Jallo'ala. And
the seeker of God attains
the whole of his desire.
This is a very important
lesson. And he's put in very fancy,
wording to the point where I think maybe
people will not understand what's being said. To
put it in plain English,
without hunger, you're not going to be able
to subdue the thoughts in your mind, which
which
lead your heart to believe that this world
is nothing but money and and and and
sexual indulgence and,
carnal indulgence.
When you're able to
not only be hungry but sustain hunger in
yourself,
slowly, slowly, you will weaken you will weaken
that impulse inside of you to the point
that the heart will start to naturally attract
toward,
existence being,
only validated by knowing Allah ta'ala and by
doing works of good and good deeds and
telling the truth and being an honorable and
upright person.
And that's one of the beauties about Ramadan,
is that the person in his first fast
feels different, in his 10th fast feels different,
in his 20th fast feels different, and in
his
29th 30th fast feels different. Meaning, by the
end of the month, a person, Masha'Allah,
has, you know,
you know, become already like 80% of an
angel if they're doing their fast correctly because
they
have so, again and again beat down the
lower,
soul that the process of thinking is reshaped
and refashioned,
in order to be, in accordance to the
higher realm
rather than the lower realm which, you know,
constantly nags a person's heart in order to
try to convince them that there's nothing in
this world except
for money and food and and and carnal
desires. Allah ta'ala
give us the higher, station and and and
prevent the lower station from from from robbing
the liquor store of our heart and and
making us bankrupt.
From from robbing the liquor store of our
heart and and making us bankrupt on the
day of judgment when we meet him.
It is related,
that Abu Abbas al Qasab said my obedience
and disobedience depend on 2 cakes of bread.
When I eat, I find myself the stuff
of every sin. But when I abstain from
eating, I find myself
the fountain of every act of piety.
The fruit of hunger is contemplation of God,
Mushahada,
of which the forerunner is mujahada.
The fruit of hunger is a contemplation of
God,
and what comes before the contemplation of God
is what?
Struggling against your own self. You won't be
able to contemplate Allah until you've been through
a requisite amount of struggle. You won't be
able to bear witness to Allah and mushahada
until you've done a requisite amount of struggle,
which is mujahhadah.
Repletion combined with contemplation is better than hunger
combined with mortification.
To, to eat,
and and and bear witness to God is
better than
being hungry and struggling against your own soul.
Because contemplation is the battlefield of the men,
whereas mortification is a playground of children. Meaning
what? You will train kids at first by
by what your harshness and your threats to
them or your promises of reward.
When someone gets to a PhD level,
you no longer threaten them with time out
or or or give them, a candy for
being good. Rather, they're on a completely different
level. But the idea is that this Mujah
then struggle against the soul
is a prerequisite to be able to get
there. And unfortunately, if you get on Twitter
and Facebook,
you know,
The person who uses Facebook has made big
buckwas.
The unfortunate part is there are a lot
of people who pretend that they're at the
the point where, they're, you know, making mushahada
of the divine. And the fact of the
matter is that that none of us
except for a few of us that Allah
has had a very, very, very,
special type of mercy on have put in
the requisite struggle and difficulty,
and and struggle against the soul in order
to be able to be allowed into the
court where they can witness the the divine
in his workings.
But many of us pretend like it's there.
Brothers and sisters, by pretending it's not going
to make it true,
by putting in the work, maybe one day
Allah Ta'ala will give us the opening of
our spiritual eye inside and the eye of
the heart. The insights that Allah gave to
His Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and to his
companions of His Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the
Uliya, Nurulama, and the Salihin.
But if we don't put in the struggle
that those people put in, if
we're accustomed to eating and indulging all of
our, all of our desires, whether it's during
the day or whether it's at the time
of Iftar,
then how are we ever going to,
be able to understand the knowledges? And not
every knowledge is taken from a book, some
are are are discernments and no sees no
sees in the heart. How are we ever
going to be able to
understand those those those branches of knowledge that
that were opened up to,
our pious forebears before us except for through
struggle and through going through difficulty,
and suppressing the nuffs through hunger and through
through matters like that. And I'm the one
who's most in need of those things, and
I'm the one who's run away the most
from them. I don't claim any sort of
maqam over another person.
But, all I can say is whatever little
benefit I've had, if, a person sees that
I have any sort of benefit, it's been
through that mujahada.
And if I've seen anything, it's been through
that mujahada and that difficulty.
We need to not run away from it
or think of it as a plague. We
need to not run away from it as
if it's death. Rather, in it, there's a
great life for us and there's a great
benefit and a great mercy for us. And
we shouldn't run away from it. And we
should
put it on ourselves and impose it on
ourselves in metered doses as is the sunnah
of a messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and his companions. And we should impose
it in metered doses on our children
and on those people who are,
in our charge and in our care,
not going overboard
but also not
completely abstaining from from that mujahada,
because,
like the the text said, a person who's
never, imposed on themselves hunger and never gone
without indulging a passion that they've had or
or a difficulty that they've, you know, not
gone without lifting a difficulty that they're going
into immediately.
That person, how are they going to how
are they going to be able to remove
the veils that are there in every single
vein of their body,
and how are they going to imbibe and
imbue the light that Allah Ta'ala has given
given to the people who know him.
This is something Imam Ghazali talks about as
well. And even Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
talks about,
Shaitan flowing through a human being
as
as blood flows through their veins. Shaitan flowing
through a person's
veins as blood flows through through their veins
and to use fasting as a means to
constrict those veins and squeeze Shaitan out.
So Insha'Allah this is some him for for
those of us especially in the more northerly
reaches that are going through, this very difficult
and long fast
that what you're doing is not in vain
and the the blessing and the return for
it is much greater than whatever you're you're
losing in terms of food and drink. So
rejoice and be happy that Allah doesn't write
these things for someone except for it's because
he wants them to know him,
and he wants to be known by that
person. And that's the greatest gift of all.
It's greater than money, and it's greater than
material property and wealth,
and those, temporary and perishing things of this
world. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, give all of
us,
from his gnosis that we should know him,
in this world and the hereafter and from
his friendship and his wilayah that we should
be his friends and that he should befriend
us as well. And from his love that
we should love him and he loves us
and from his that he we should be
pleased with him and he'd be pleased with
us before we pass from this world. And
we're definitely getting the better end of the
deal, should Allah Ta'ala accept Allah Ta'ala accept
from all of us. Sallallahu ta'ala Al Rasulahi
Sayidina Muhammad Wa Alaihi Usahbihi
Ajma'in.