fasting to flourishing with spirituality
Zishaan E Fatema Karim is a writer and a poet, passionate about making a difference and believes in beginning at the roots. She has a Montessori Diploma in Early Childhood Education and 4 decades’ experience in teaching as a Madrasah teacher She also writes children’s stories and creates comic strips and video stories for little children. She facilitates Teaching Skills Practice programs under the MCE of WF and Leadership and Mentorship Development Programs under CBG of AFed. “Small changes by many people equals a Big Change,” is her motto. With that, she anticipates the reappearance of Al Hujjah (atfs) and wishes to be a part of his system of governance.
H
aving fasted for an entire month, I invite our readers to dwell upon the topic of “Fasting to flourishing…” and reflect on what it actually means. What is fasting? Will I be doing justice if I give the term “fast” a definition of staying away from food and drink, or should I go further and define it as holding fast, being determined, persevering, persisting, restraining, abstaining, declining, rejecting, halting, and holding on to the target? The target goal of the Holy month, and of fasting, as described by the Holy Qur’an is:
Surah Al-Baqara, Verse 183: O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard (against evil).
The state of fasting is temporary, beginning from dawn and ending at dusk, where an individual exercises his willpower and nurtures his soul to be able to guard (against evil) by the end of the month.
Every fasting individual nourishes his or her soul in order for it to flourish- hence, the title, Fasting to Flourish.
Fasting has a much deeper meaning to it than a mere abstention from food and drink. To get a comprehensive picture of fasting-its methodology, purpose and goal- we need to take guidance from an Immaculate Imam (as) and I will refer to Dua 44 from Sahifatus Sajjadiyyah to do this. Imam Ali bin Husayn (as) begins with highlighting the excellence of the month, followed by an introduction to the true meaning of the act of fasting and what is it that can aid a fasting person to acquire it. He says,
“Inspire us with knowledge of its excellence, veneration of its inviolability, and caution against what You hast forbidden within it, and help us to fast in it by our restraining our limbs from acts of disobedience toward You and our employing them in that which pleases You.”
With these profound lines he shows us that one needs to recognize the worth of this Holy month and then to value it by observing it with the correct etiquette.
Then the Imam (as) gives a detailed program of how to ‘fast’ by identifying each area that needs to be restrained, employed or persevere in order for the soul to flourish! He says,
- so that we lend not our ears to idle talk
- and hurry not with our eyes to diversion,
- we stretch not our hands toward the forbidden
- and stride not with our feet toward the prohibited,
- our bellies hold only what You have made lawful
- and our tongues speak only what You have exemplified,
- we undertake nothing but what brings close to Your reward
- and pursue nothing but what protects from Your punishment!
One’s body parts are the windows to one’s soul. Where the windows are safeguarded to check what is permitted entry and what is not, the soul stays clean and safe. Imam thus gives a detailed list of fasting with the entire body, being mindful of each part, at each moment, to venerate the month and not near any of the areas that form the boundaries of legislated laws.
The question is, if a fasting person observes all the above, is he guaranteed the flourishing of his soul or are there any other requirements?
Being Muslims, we are aware of the primary requirement for any deed to reach the level of acceptance and of becoming means to attaining closeness to Allah (swt) and His Divine pleasure, and that is ‘The Intention.’
Imam Sajjad (as) also highlights the same in the following part of the Dua whereby he says,
“Then rid all of that from the false show of the false showers and the fame seeking of the fame seekers, lest we associate therein anything with You or seek therein any object of desire but You!”
There is a possibility for one to perform the best of deeds but the intention is for other than Allah (swt). One might wonder how this is possible where all the deeds are religious and spiritual. It is important to understand that all actions that seem religious of spiritual are not God-centric by default. If this was the case, then we would not have atheists who are good human beings.
Since goodness is innate in the nature of Man, there is a great possibility of performing good deeds to feel good from within or to keep away from guilt by not doing the right thing! These actions are then self-centered, even if they are good actions.
Or maybe one performs good actions in order to acquire name and fame along the way. Then these are also not God centric, and although we will not term them value less as they are good actions and the ripple effect is seen in the world, but they will only give the doer what he intends to acquire from them; name & fame.
Certainly, the intention holds a pivotal role in attaining enduring benefits from any action, particularly when it pertains to fasting. It must be sincerely directed towards Allah (swt) for every prescribed act of fasting to hold genuine significance. Since our topic of discussion is Fasting to flourish, and there is no end to the degree at which the soul can flourish, it entirely depends upon the fasting person to maximize his efforts in nourishing his soul to the highest degree. Fasts are of different levels.
- Fasting by merely abstaining from food and drink
- Fasting by employing the limbs as discussed above
- Fasting by performing additional actions in order to free the soul from egotism and allow it to soar towards Divine Pleasure and Proximity with Allah (swt)
Observing this Du’a, Imam Sajjad (as) gears us towards the third type of fasting, and he says,
- Give us success in this month to tighten our bonds of kin with devotion and gifts,
- attend to our neighbours with bestowal and giving,
- rid our possessions from claims,
- purify them through paying the alms,
- go back to him who has gone far from us,
- treat justly him who has wronged us,
- make peace with him who shows enmity toward us
Through the above laid out plan, the Imam (as) teaches us to take the fast to a higher level, where one’s personal feelings and desires do not matter anymore. Through fasting, one manages to control his powers of anger, imagination, and desire by exercising balanced control over his faculty of intellect. It is the intellect that governs his state and he recognizes his goal well to use the fasting period to break through the shackles and set his soul free. A soul that experiences the joy of flourishing will, at no cost, desire to go back to its ugly state! This is why Imam (as) then states:
‘O God, make us like this in the other months and days as long as You give us life, and place us among Your righteous servants, “Those who shall inherit Paradise, therein dwelling forever” (23:11), “Those who give what they give, while their hearts quake, that they are returning to their Lord” (23:60), those who “vie in good works, outracing to them” (23:61)!’
With this we pray to Allah (swt) that our souls should have flourished enough during this Holy month, to continue with good actions that we performed in this month, and make them all a permanent part of our character.
More from this writer
Writers Panel | A Simple Thought | Obituaries | Ziarat Ashura | Islamic Calendar | Facebook
