Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 43
26 December 1906 43 the Holy Quran, and continue to supplicate, and try to keep your conduct in line with its teaching. Fasting Next, the third matter which is a pillar of Islam, is fasting. People are unacquainted with its true essence as well. The main point is how can someone describe the condition of a country that he does not go to or a world that he is unfamiliar with? Fasting is not so trivial as man staying hungry and thirsty; rather, it has an essence and effect that can be understood only through experience. It is in the nature of man that the less he eats the more purified his soul becomes and his powers of experiencing visions increase. The intent of God Almighty through this is to decrease one form of nourishment, and increase another. One who is fasting should always keep in view that the purpose is not to just remain hungry, but that he should remain engaged in the remembrance of God Almighty, so that he may attain a state of detachment and separation [from the world]. Thus, fasting means that man give up one bread that nourishes the body alone, and gain another that is the source of satisfaction and satiation of the soul. Those who fast only for the sake of God and not just as a ritual, they should remain engaged in H amd, tasb ih, 1 and tahl i l 2 of Allah the Almighty so that they may attain the other nourishment. 1. Recitation of Sub ha n-All a h (‘Holy is Allah’) or other phrases expressing the Holiness of Allah. [Publisher] 2. Reciting the Kalimah: هّٰللُّٰ ا اَلَّ ِ ا هّٰللُّٰ ا اَلَّ ِ َ ا َاَلَاِلٰہ اَلَاِلٰہ ( L a il a ha illall a hu —‘There is no one worthy of worship except Allah’). [Publisher]