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Fasting
It is not over, not the
way it should be
[I have not enjoyed
sleeping nor I never had any nap
Even the angels broke their fasting before me]
15/39
As we
just
had the blessed month of Ramadan, may Allah return it to us with
blessing, goodness, and fortune, may you have every year in
happiness, so lets get to know a little of another pearl of Imam
Fakhreddin [AAH].
From this gem we can understand that there is a special fasting that
is different from that of the public one. This difference means that
it is much more than that ordinary fasting and the difference far
too big to be understood by everyone. However Allah gives its
knowledge to whom He wants with Grace and Generosity.
We say
with
Allah's support:
The word enjoy in Arabic gives also the meaning of lawful or
permissible. We will use the verse before that one in the same poem,
which says:
[I have never slept in the world of sleeper, so
would you think
that I would enjoy my sleep in the world of living]
15/38
Referring to Qur'an, we find the verses 15 to 18 of az-Zariat (51)
say [Verily, the pious are in gardens and springs ¤ Taking the
things which their Lord has given them. Verily, they were before
this extremely good-doers ¤ They used to sleep but little by night ¤
And in the hours before dawn, they were asking for forgiveness].
 It was said that the pious are in the gardens of conception and
springs of secrets and knowledge. It was also said that in the near
future they are in the heaven of connection and in the far future
they are in the heaven of grace. So tomorrow they will be saved and
have ranks. And today they will have offering and intimate
discourse, gaining from the sorts of grace and secrets. Tomorrow
they get from the kinds of closeness and devotion, satisfied with
their fate whether it is much or few. As they were before this
giving, worshiping Allah sincerely, taking from Allah, and giving
with Him and by Him. They never rejected what Allah gave them, even
if it was like mountains, and they never ask for what He has not
given them, being satisfied with the knowledge of their Lord.
They before existing extremely good-doers. Their extreme good-doing
is that they loved Allah with the support of Allah [He loves
them and they love Him]
al-Ma'ida 5:54.
that was while they were in the nonexistence, but when they came to
the existence, they used to sleep but little by night, as if their
sleep was a worship. As the Prophet [PPBUH]
said (the sleep of the knowledgeable is worship).
al-Bayhaqy and ad-Daylamy.
And we know that whoever is worshiping is definitely not sleeping,
at least not our sleep. Their hearts are always in the Hadra
[presence of their Lord] whether they are asleep or awake, so their
absence is very little compared to their presence. Sahl [AAH]
said: It means that they were never heedless of Dhikr in any
condition, so it means that they deserted the sleep, because they
found intimacy in Dhikr. The sleep they deserted is the sleep of the
heart which is the heedlessness.
Having all that in mind, we find that these are the qualities of the
pious. When their eyes sleep in the exterior, their hearts never
does. That is why Allah, Almighty, says [And bear patient in
keeping yourself with those who call on their Lord, morning and
evening, seeking His Face; and let not your eyes pass beyond them,
seeking the adornment of the worldly life; and obey not him whose
heart We have made heedless of Our Dhikr and who follows his
subjectivity, and his case exceeded all bounds]
al-Kahf 14:28. As the heedless heart is not to be
obeyed, thus Allah has never sent a guider to His servants with a
heedless heart.
That is why Imam Fakhreddin [AAH] is telling us that his heart never slept and he was never heedless
in the worldly life. So how could he sleep in the hereafter?
Now we move to the second half of the verse to learn something about
the fasting of those superior Imams [AAT]:
 [Even the angels broke their fasting before me]
We ask: what is the kind of fasting that even angels are not capable
of?
Allah, Almighty, said in Qur'an [O ye who believe! fasting is
prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so
that you may become pious]
al-Baqarah 2:183.
Our masters of the people of Allah, the righteous, the
knowledgeable, and the authors of the intrinsic interpretation, like
Imam ibn Agiba, said about the signs of this verse: An know that the
fasting has three levels: the fasting of the public, the fasting of
the special people, and the fasting of the special of the special.
And here is a brief explanation of these levels in order to get to
know some of the virtue of those perfect knowledgeable of the nation
of the Beloved Chosen Prophet [PPBUH]:
- The fasting of the public: is the refraining from the
desires of the belly and the sex, from dawn to sundown. However the
organ may still be slipping and the heart may neglect and go into
heedlessness. The performer of this kind of fasting does not gain
except the hunger, because of what the Prophet [PPBUH]
said (There maybe a fasting one who gets nothing from his fasting
except the hunger and thirst, and there maybe a late night worshiper
who gets nothing out of that except staying up at night). Dawoud
and ibn Magah narrated that the Prophet [PPBUH]
said (Whoever does not leave the lying and working with it, then
Allah does not need his leaving of the food and drink).
- The fasting of the special people: is holding all organs
from nosiness and interference, which is all what keep the servant
busy from being connected. So it comes out to keeping all exterior
and interior organs from being busy with what is not his concern.
Imam Ahmed, ibn Magah, and at-Turmuzy narrated that the Messenger of
Allah [PPBUH] said (of the good Islam of anyone, is leaving what
is not of his concern). Al-Bayhaqy narrated from Anas ibn Malik
[AAH]
that the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] gave a speech in which he said (Toba [a place in paradise, or
good for him] for him, who is busy with his faults than the faults
of the people).
- The fasting of the special of the special: is keeping the
heart from diverting to anything other than the Lord, and keeping
one's secret from standing with the others. It comes out to
refraining from witnessing of the others and the devotion of the
heart in the Hadra [presence] of the Lord. The performers of this
kind of fasting are always fasting and for ever, as the people of
this Hadra are always fasting and praying. May Allah gives us their
benefits and gathers us with them in the hereafter, Amen. That is
why Imam Fakhreddin [AAH]
said in his divan:
[I am always fasting of the others]
 As for the angels and their inability to perform this kind of
fasting, we all know the angels [they disobey not Allah, for
what He commands them, but do that which they are commanded]
at-Tahrim 66:6,
so they are obliged by their nature to obedience. So they are quite
the contrary to humans, as a human is in continuous struggle with
the mightiest enemies until death. On one side there is the damned
Satan who does not want him to have any good, on the other side the
worldly life and its ornament, on a third side his own self and what
do you know about what the self does to humans? if they let it and
do not constrain it with the Dhikr of Allah, the continuous
attention to the truth, and the company of the saints of Allah, on
the last side there is the subjectivity about which we were always
warned by Allah, the All-Truth. So a human is always struggling with
all these enemies. However all these enemies has no control over the
saints, the knowledgeable, and the consummate from the Beloved
Prophet's nation [PPBUH], as they are on the side of the All-Truth, they do
not pay any attention to anything else. The verses 26-27 of Sura
al-Anbiya' (21) tells us about them, in the words of Allah [And
they say "The Most Beneficent has begotten a son" Glory be to Him!
They are but honored servants. They speak not until He has spoken,
and they act on His Command]. We find in the stories of the
Qur'an a famous story that informs us about those servants of the
angels. That story is the story of Harut and Marut. Whoever Wants to
get more of this story should check the
section of "Did you know?" in October 2010's issue. The
summary of this story is that those two angels when Allah equipped
them with what the humans have, they could not bear it and they fell
in many sins. This tells us about the high rank of those who know
Allah of the nation of the Beloved Prophet [PPBUH].
May Allah benefits us from them and their knowledge and may He
gathers us with them in the day of gathering, Amen.
May Allah gives His prayer and peace unto sayyduna Mohammad and his
family and his companions.
Written
by Mohamed Maqboul
Translated
by
Sayed
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