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Know why you’re fasting:
Many people fast as a ritual, without truly understanding its meaning.
Others reduce it to a simple exercise in empathy with the poor. While this is
a beautiful consequence of fasting, it is not the main purpose defined by
Allah. Allah says in the Qur’an: "Fasting is prescribed for you as it was
prescribed for those before you, that you may attain taqwa (God-
consciousness)." (Qur’an, 2:183) By controlling and restraining our
physical needs, we gain strength for the greater battle: controlling and
restraining our nafs (our soul’s desire). When fasting, every hunger pang
reminds us of God—the one for whom we have made this sacrifice. By
constantly remembering Allah and sacrificing for Him, we are made more
aware of His presence, and in that way we increase our taqwa (fear and
consciousness of Him). The same thing that prevents us from the sin of
sneaking in food while no one else is watching trains us to avoid other sins
while no one else is watching. That is taqwa.
Don’t make fasting just hunger and thirst:
The Prophet
has said, "Whoever does not give up forged speech
and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink." (Al-
Bukhari) The Prophet
also warns us: "Many people who fast get
nothing from their fast except hunger and thirst, and many people who pray
at night get nothing from it except wakefulness." (Darimi) While fasting,
understand the whole picture. Remember that fasting is not just about
staying away from food. It is about striving to become a better person.
And in so striving, we are given a chance to escape the darkness of our
own isolation from God. But like the sun that sets at the end of the day, so
too will Ramadan come and go, leaving only its mark on our heart’s sky.
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I wrote this in the car on my way back home from the burial of a
righteous soul. May Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (swt) have mercy on him
and his family. Ameen.
We buried a man today. And here I am now on my way home in the
caravan of the living. For now.
For now, you and I are in the caravan of the living. But not because
we’re headed for a separate land. Not because they’re going and we are not.
Only because our caravan lagged behind. Right now we’re driving back to
our homes, our beds, our TVs, our stereos, our jobs, our exams, our friends,
our Facebook, and Gchat. Right now we’re driving back to our distractions,
our idols, our deceptive illusions. But that’s just it. I’m not driving back to
my home, my bed, my TV and my stereo. I’m not returning to my job, my
exams, my friends, my Facebook and Gchat. I’m not on my way back to my
distractions, illusions and idols. I’m driving back to where I began. I’m
driving now to the very same place he went to. I’m on my way to the same
place. I just don’t know how long my drive will take.
I’m driving back to where I began: with God. Because God is Al-Awal
(the Beginning) and God is Al-Akhir (the End).
My body is taking me there, but it’s only a vehicle. When I get there, it
will stay behind. As he did today. My body came from the ground and it
will go back to the ground, as it came. It was only a shell, a container for
my soul. A companion for a while. But I’ll leave it here when I arrive.
Arrive—not depart. Because that’s my home. Not this. That’s why when
Allah (swt) is calling back the righteous soul, He says, ‘irjiee’: return.
(Qur’an, 89:28)
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The beautiful, noble soul that we buried didn’t depart from life today.
He just entered a higher—and God willing—better level of it. He only
arrived home. But the body is made of the material world and so he had to
leave it here. The body is of the lower world, the world where we need to
eat and sleep and bleed and cry. And die. But the soul is of the higher
world. The soul has only one need: to be with God.
And so while the body cries and bleeds and feels pain from the material
world, the soul is untouched by these things. There is only one thing that
can cut or stab or hurt the soul. There is only one thing that can kill it:
depriving it of its only need: to be close to its Originator, to be near God.
And so we should not weep for the arriving soul—It isn’t dead. We should
weep instead for the one whose body is alive, but whose soul is dead
because of its alienation from that which gives it life: God.
And so the believing soul races home, even while in this life.
O Lord, make my soul a sanctuary, a fortress within. That no one and
nothing can disturb. A place of calm, silence, and serenity, untouched by
the outside world. The soul that Allah (swt) calls al-nafs al mutmaina (the
reassured soul). (Qur’an 89:27) The soul that Allah (swt) calls back saying:
"(To the righteous soul will be said:) ‘O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest
and satisfaction! Come back thou to thy Lord—well pleased (thyself),
and well-pleasing unto Him! Enter thou, then, among My devotees! Yea,
enter thou My Heaven!’" (Qur’an, 89:27-30)
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