Reflection is Remedy

Fasting is an expression of freedom.

Freedom from the routine patterns and habits of everyday life.
Freedom from the enslaving urge for food, drink, and sex.
Freedom from instantaneous gratification.
Freedom from the opinions of others regarding the status of our stomach, tongue, and limbs.
Freedom from our lower selves and ego.
Freedom from worldly attachments.
Freedom from indifference to Divine bounties.
Freedom from mindless and profitless chatter.
Freedom from empty hearts into hearts brimming with awareness and love.

I choose freedom, do you?

Here is a relevant hadith (it’s authenticity is debated on) on fasting and the removal of veils at the time of iftar (meal of breaking fast):

“Prophet Moses said to God:
‘O God! You have granted me the honor and privilege of talking to you directly, Have you given this privilege to any other person?

God replied, ‘O Moses! During the last period I am going to send an Ummah (community), who will be the Ummah of Muhammad (pbuh), with dry lips, parched tongues, emaciated body with eyes sunken deep into their sockets, with livers dry and stomachs suffering from the pangs of hunger. They will call out to me (in du’a). They will be much closer to me than you. O Moses! While you speak to me there are 70,000 veils between you and me but at the time of iftar, there will not be a single veil between me and the fasting Ummah of Muhammad (pbuh). Oh Moses! I have taken it upon myself the responsibility that at the time of iftar I will never refuse the du’a of a fasting person!’”

Every pain of separation we feel from those we love on this earth, is just a tiny speck of the type of loss and pain we should feel in our separation from God. The loss of a loved one is a microcosm of the macrocosmic loss of union with God. The joy of Paradise is really a joy of reunion with the Ultimate Beloved.

Powerful and beautiful reminder:

“Sacred Knowledge is usually accompanied with danger to the soul. The majority of people, except the few chosen ones, who begin their pursuit of Sacred Knowledge will find the feelings of self-righteousness and intellectual arrogance taking over their hearts. Indeed, that was Imam al-Ghazzali’s problem as noted by his own brother. Before he went on his 10-year journey that made him into the magnificent scholar we look up to today, Imam al-Ghazzali was known for his remarkable level of knowledge and erudition. But that was combined with a level of intellectual pride not to be missed by people of the hearts. Imam al-Ghazzali described it as being on a cliff about to fall into an abyss. His knowledge was in his brain and on his tongue, but it had not yet taken over his heart.”

-Mohamed Ghilan

“When the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) went to ta’if, he had just faced the worst two weeks of his prophethood.  He had lost his wife Khadijah, his first wife, and his grandfather, his uncle… and when he went to spread Islam in Ta’if, the people there absolutely humiliated him.  They spat at him, chased him down narrow alleyways, threw stones at him.  For two weeks.

He was at one of the worst lows he experienced as a prophet.

Later, the event that is known to be Israa’ wal mi’raj happened, the holy ascension where Jibreel, the chief of angels, took the prophet (pbuh) to Masjid al-Aqsa where he lead all of the other prophets in prayer, and then ascended to the heavens to see paradise.

It was a kind of healing, a reward, a way that God comforted the prophet after his traumatic experiences. Very touching, very detailed, but that’s not the point of this post.

One of the things that happened when Jibreel was showing Muhammad (pbuh) around, was that he showed him his Ummah, the Muslims who follow him, his people.

Keep in mind that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the final prophet. There is none after him.  And at the time of Israa’ wal mi’raj he had about a hundred followers at most.  A hundred was huge to him.

So he saw a crowd, a huge crowd, and tearing up, he asked Jibreel, ‘Are those my followers?’ And Jibreel said, ‘no,’ and he turned the prophet around…. and the prophet saw millions…billions of people standing in front of him. Jibreel said, ‘that is your ummah,’  and the prophet, peace and blessings be upon his soul, cried.”

-Reem Zohny

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

–Albert Einstein

“Without doubt, whenever you sit with someone and are with him, you will take on his disposition. On whom have you been gazing that tightness should have come into you? If you look at green herbs and flowers, freshness will come. The sitting companion pulls you into his own world. That is why reciting the Koran purifies the heart, for you remember the prophets and their states. The form of the prophets comes together in your spirit and becomes its sitting companion.” – Shams-i-Tabrizi

Divine Love is unexplainable
A mystery so incredible.
The foolish describe it aimlessly
While the wise feel it inherently.