Chapter 2

The Meaning of the Fast

O God! Through Your benevolence You have given us Your sustenance and grace (rahmat). 1 Please grant us the intention and yearning to accept these gifts and live our lives. Please give us the intention to offer prayers and service with a melting heart. O Grace of all universes!

Please give us the resolute faith (ïmän), certainty, and conviction to accept what You have given and live our lives.
Even for those who do not do this, for all those who do not live their lives trusting You, O Father, You have amplified Your sustenance, making it equal and common to all.

You have created the world, Your grace, and everything to belong to all. And You have made man to be the most exalted. You created him and gave him Your wisdom, Your qualities, and Your grace, so that he may live in equanimity, peace, and serenity, show compassion and love to all lives, and regard all lives as his own. But for those who have forgotten Your words, You have sent down this fast to help them understand.

You have instituted the five duties and shown these to be important through the Rasül, 2 may the peace and blessings of God be upon him. This fast will bring realization to each heart. This is why You made it thrive.

The fast has been here for two hundred million years, from the time of Adam (A.S.) until the present.

Your words taught the children of Adam (A.S.), who are true human beings. You taught them gradually, one thing at a time. But because they forgot, lost their equanimity, did not consider other lives as their own, and focused on their own bodies and their own hunger without realizing the hunger of others, You instituted the five tasks of Ïmän-Isläm. 3 You handed them to the Rasül (Sal.) as divinely ordained duties (fards), so that man would do what was instituted, so that he would grow, realize, attain clarity, and make Allah’s common wealth common to all.

You have said that everything, the earth, fire, water, air, and ether, the sun, moon, stars, grass, and shrubs, should belong to all. You have decreed that each should be given the sustenance that is his. But the wealth that You spread out for everyone was not disbursed in this way.

Man appropriated this wealth and made it his own. He fell subject to selfishness, took what belonged to all lives, and created scarcity today. For man to realize what he had done, You, O God, said, “O Muhammad, make man realize, make these into ordained duties, make them understand these five tasks.”

Allah taught this with His divine grace. Allah declared, “These will be the tasks which are the ordained duties. This common wealth will be made common to all lives. These are the duties that will show all lives how to share the common wealth.”

The first duty is to believe in Allähu ta‘älä, the Singular God who rules and sustains. Believe in Him and live. Have faith in Him. Have certainty and worship Him. Realize that He has no form or shape and cannot be contained by anything. He has no hunger or illness, no old age or death, no wife or child, no house or property, no wealth or possessions, no titles, no passion, no sex or sexual games, no birth or death. He existed before the primal beginning.

Know that He is the Supreme Being, and have faith and certitude in Him. Know that His wealth is given equally
to all. “I have created the nourishment for each life. Offer prayers and worship to Me alone.” This is what He decreed.

“I worship him who worships Me. I think of him who thinks of Me. I seek him who seeks Me. I believe in him who believes in Me. I speak to him who speaks to Me. If he calls Me once, I call him ten times. If he cries once, I cry for him ten times.”

Thus declared Allah with His words of grace. He said this to the prophet Muhammad Mustafa Rasül, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him.

He declared this and instituted the five duties. The first duty is believing in God. The second is praying to God
and believing that all things belong to Him.

God decreed this so that everyone may live in equality, peace, and equanimity. Because man did not realize this, God introduced another duty, the third duty of charity. “Realize this, and share the wealth you have gathered with everyone.

Live in equality, everyone! Live in peace, everyone! Live as one life, everyone! Realize the hunger of all lives and serve.” Thus declared Allah. But once again man forgot. He claimed things for himself and created difficulties for everyone. He caused sorrow and poverty. He seized land, took away homes and property, and made others destitute.

Thereupon, God spoke His divine words of grace: “Ya Muhammad, tell the people to fast, and through this, make them realize the difficulties of others. Through the fast, they will understand their own difficulties, and realize how they lose strength and courage.

Within a month and ten days, within these forty days, they will experience how their bodies change, lose strength, and become fatigued. Upon perceiving this, may they realize the immense suffering of those who face this all year round. Make them realize this. Make them realize the sorrow and hardship of those who face hunger and starvation, year after year, with no place to live, no house, no land.

Make them perceive this suffering through the fast, and tell them to give others a place to live. Make them understand the hunger of others and distribute food. Make them give unto others house, land, and clothing
similar to their own.

May each life be given what is rightfully its own. O Muhammad, tell them this,” God declared. But for those whose hearts had stayed as stone, God further stated, “Make them fulfill the fifth duty of pilgrimage, Hajj. Hajj is to die before death, to distribute property to wife and children, to give their extra wealth to others, to distribute wealth to the poor, to mendicants, and to travellers. And after distributing all wealth, they should come to the holy places of Mecca and Medina as corpses, while still alive.

“To fulfill the Hajj, tell man to wear death garb. Let him put the world to death while he is still alive. May he do this and attain the state of eternal life with Me. Make him fulfill this fifth duty.”

This is what Allah declared with His words of grace. These are the five ordained duties. The fasting we do is one among them. As long as the benefits of fasting are not understood, it will be of no use to fast.

Therefore, understand what the fast means, and give in charity. Understand what others need, and give accordingly.

Give peace and tranquillity to others.

Comprehend the hunger of others and help them.

Donate clothing to others.

Comfort other lives as your own.

Bring others peace.

Have patience and tolerance, and shower others with compassion and love. This is the significance and benefit of the fast.

However, being hungry for a month is not a fast if we take away others’ property and freedom, intending to accumulate more for ourselves. Because such acts cause others pain, the fast will not benefit anyone.

All lives must think about this and give unto others food, sustenance, house, and land. We must alleviate the hunger of others, comfort them, give them clothing, and make them peaceful. This will be the reward of the fast. Allähu ta‘älä, the Singular One who rules and sustains, declared fasting to be the fourth duty.

It was instituted as such on the path of purity (dïnul-Isläm). “These are the five outer duties of Islam— important duties,” God instructed.

My precious jeweled lights of my eyes, may we understand the benefits of this fast. May we understand the qualities, actions, and wealth of God, the Supreme One.

May we understand the qualities and hunger of our brethren—those born with us, and our neighbors. May we consider our neighbors as those born with us, and may we comprehend their garb and their countenance.

May we bestow peace and show them the way to equanimity. These are the benefits of the fast.

Each of you should act in keeping with these benefits. To attain the rewards of this practice, the fast was decreed. The significance of this fast is its worth. Its worth is your paradise.

To live in this manner is exalted. To fast in any other way will not be beneficial. To understand this is to fast. To realize this and act accordingly is to fast. May we establish this state, and live.

May we understand the hearts of each of our brethren, understand their hunger, illness, old age, and death, and realize their need for food, clothing, and shelter. And because they live with us, bringing them peace will be the benefit and the fast.

Reflect on this, my precious jeweled lights of my eyes. Each child, understand and fast. Understand the reasons for fasting. Know its truth, obligations, and benefits, and strive to do it in this way.

Understand how to care for your brethren, and do your duty. God said,“O Muhammad! When I create a tree,
from each of its seeds I will create a thousand fruits. To create the fruits, I will give the tree My grace. And even if the tree takes the grace for itself, it gives fruits to all, without benefit to itself. In the same way, I give man the ability to give to a thousand men, each giving according to his own heart. If one intends to help others, I will place the wealth of My grace (barakat) 4 in his hands, just as I give barakat to the tree. One who is man can distribute it.

Giving to others as the tree gives and making others peaceful, will be the benefit. This is the wealth of grace, the barakat, that I give to each life. I created man, I endowed him, so he could give to all other lives.

O mankind! You must understand what I give you. Through one tree, I give fruits to so many. In the same way, through one man, through the barakat that I give him, I can help so many. Sharing this barakat with others will be the ordained duty.

In all three worlds, this will be his happiness and wealth. Man must realize this. One by one, each man must understand.

I create a thousand seeds from one seed. A thousand seeds change into millions of seeds and help mankind. They do not claim any portion for themselves but continue to benefit others, do they not? Similarly, I have made one among every hundred men to be in that state. I have given him wealth to share with others, so that he may look upon others with peace and bring them peace and tranquillity.

For every ten million men, I sent down a prophet to the world. Through these prophets, the darkness of man’s mind can be cleared. I sent them to bring peace, did I not? In the same way, I have created and placed in the world, a man, one in every hundred, one in every thousand, or one in every ten million.

And through him I spread My limitless wealth of grace, My rahmat. If he understands My rahmat and does not claim it as his own, if he gives it to others, that will be his earnings. If he does that, I will exalt him.

I will unite with him in paradise. I will give him a place in My kingdom. However, if he uses My wealth for himself alone, that very wealth will result in his attaining hell. The desires and attachments he fosters will devour him.
That will be the fire of hell.”

Thus spoke God.

Therefore, the sustenance and barakat given to us by the Merciful One should be shared with others.

Understanding the hunger of others and helping them, comprehending their countenance and sharing with them, making them peaceful and comforting them— this will be our wealth in the three worlds.

It will be the earnings of our prayers. It will be the exaltedness of our state. We must trust God, trust that He will reward our faith by granting us His grace, and bestowing on us the Supreme Treasure of the three worlds.

Each child must think of this. Understand the duties you need to accomplish in the days of your life.

Realize the ordained duties, the principle and the explanation, and accomplish them. Before death and birth come along, we should realize this and live accordingly. We have been born, and one day death will arrive.

May we understand this before death approaches, and end earthly attachments. May we extinguish them before we die and attain the eternal life of God. May we attain His qualities and actions and live eternally.

To keep hell far away from us in this world and the next, to make this world into heaven and the hereafter into heaven, we should try to dwell in His qualities.

We should strive courageously to do this. This is resolute faith, ïmän. This ïmän knows that all mankind are children of Adam (A.S.), one tribe, one God. We are one family.

There is but one paradise. There is but one society of mankind. Judgment is the same for all. The Doer is One, The Questioner is One, The Creator is One, The Summoner is One, The Giver of life is also that very same One.

But it is we who have created the differences by using colors, hues, languages, and races. We have also created religions.

But in truth, there is only one family, only one God, and only one abode that is paradise. Each of us must reflect on this, understand, and seek to live in unity as one family.

To live in this world as messengers of God, to live as God’s sons in His kingdom, to attain the qualities and actions that govern His kingdom, to be children who have ïmän, to become God’s children, we must do His duties, make the effort to reach the shore, and search with wisdom. That will bear good results.

We should search for the house that God, our Lord, bestows, the paradise (firdaus) He bestows, and the heaven He bestows.

We should search for these and attain them here.

This is the victory of our birth— to receive in this world the Supreme Treasure of the three worlds. You must realize and achieve this.

This will be the value of the fast, the value of the five duties, and the value of birth.

This is the wealth of great worth, the wealth that is beneficial. Each of my children, live in this way.

Try hard, realize with faith, and act accordingly.

My precious jeweled lights of my eyes, this will be the imperishable treasure of the three worlds. This will be the exaltedness of life.

You will be a helper to all lives and bring peace to all lives. All lives will bow down and worship you. This is the state of true man, the exaltedness of man. You will receive the wealth of grace. You will have good virtues and modesty. It will be good to strive hard and search for this.

This is an exalted state. This is the exalted wealth of the three worlds. These are sublime qualities. This is exalted wisdom. You will be known as the eminent son who received the power of Allah’s grace. Each child, strive hard to achieve this.

Act with faith, perform your duties with faith, and before you die, seek the imperishable wealth of the three worlds.

Ämïn, Ämïn, Yä Rabbal-‘älamïn.

So be it, so be it, O Lord of the universes. All praise is to You, O Lord of the universes.

Please bestow on My children that grace, that wealth, that explanation, that peace, that tranquillity, and a subtle inner heart.

Ämïn.

Forgive their sins, bestow grace and wisdom on them, transform their hearts into paradise, and so grace them.

Transform their hearts into light, and so grace them.

Make their hearts have faith only in Your imperishable wealth, the Treasure of the three worlds, and so grace them.

Ämïn.

Reside within their inner hearts, resonate, provide explanations from within, lead them on the good way, and so grace them.

Lead them on the straight way, support them, embrace them to Your breast and feed them with the milk of grace and honey. Nourish them with immeasurable sweet tasting fruits: fruits of love, fruits of grace, and fruits of wisdom.

Give them undiminishing sweet tastes by bestowing on them Your sweet tasting treasure, divine grace-wisdom (arul gnänam), making them peaceful and tranquil.

Please give them the grace to understand and serve all lives as You do.

Ämïn, Ämïn, Yä Rabbal-‘älamïn.

So be it, O Lord of the universes. May the peace, the beneficence, and the blessings of God be upon you.

Ämïn.

M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.)

Footnotes

1. Rahmat: God’s grace, mercy, compassion, benevolence—His wealth. Everything in God is rahmat. This grace that He bestows is an undiminishing, limitless wealth.

2. Rasül: The prophet Muhammad (Sal.).

3. Ïmän-Isläm: A state wherein the pure heart, cutting away all evil, takes on the courageous determination called faith and shines in God’s resplendence. When the resplendence of God is seen as the completeness within the heart of man, that is Imän-Isläm.

4. Barakat: The primary meaning of barakat is grace—a blessing or spiritual influence which God sends down. Barakat may be found in persons, places, and things. Certain actions may also be a vehicle for blessings and God’s grace. Trans.