Jū’: Hunger
Kashful Mahjub (Unveiling the Veiled)
Uncovering of the Veil 7: Fasting
Al-Hujwiri (5th Century HQ)
Manuscript: Zhaukvskii, Alekseevich Valentine
ISBN: 964-5870-89-5
Discussion Join
See Also
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/makki_fasting.html
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/qoshairi_9_zohd.html
Apercu
Hu’s (ITs,
His) Lofty Saying: "And for sure we shall afflict you with
something of fear, hunger and loss of belongings, selves and crops. But
do
give glad tidings to those who are steadfast with patience" [Surat
al- Baqara 2: 155-].
And His saying peace be upon him(The Prophet): "One famished stomach
is
more beloved by Allah
than seventy worshipers who are negligent"! [1]
قوله عليه السَّلام بطن
جايع اُحبّ الى الله من سبعين عابداً غافلاً
Know that there is great nobility in hunger; that it is admired by many
societies
and nations and that the hungry has a more alert mind, a more purified
Qariha (innate intellectual disposition )
and a healthier body. ( Know also)That the hunger causes Khudhu'
(submission) of the Nafs
(Self)
and Khushu’(Restraint in humility) of the heart and that the
mighty powers of the Nafs (Self) are
diminished by hunger.
Jesus peace be upon him said: 'Starve your bellies, parch your livers
and
disrobe your bodies that your heart might Ru’ya (Behold) Allah
patently'[2]. If the body is plagued by hunger, the
heart conversely is
illuminated by it, the soul made pure and the Sirr (Divine
Observatory)
readied for
trysting. If the Sirr is readied for the tryst, the soul purified
and the heart effulgent then what harm is there in some starvation of
the body?
قوت القلوب أبو طالب المكي
وفي خبر عن عيسى عليه السلام: يامعشر الحواريين جوّعوا بطونكم
وعطشوا
أكبادكم وأعروا أجسادكم لعل قلوبكم ترى اللّه عزّ وجلّ يعني بحقيقة الزهد
وصفاء القلب،
Hunger is a healing for men!
Hunger prolongs the life of the Batin (The Spirituality Within) as
feeding prolongs the life of the body. Starving prolongs the
spiritual life in order (for the person) to become a Fard (Spiritual
Individual) denudated from the
entanglements (of desires and wants) and how can one prolonging the
spirituality within be equated with one busied with the servitude of
his bodily desires?
Two are suited for eating:
1. ‘Ālim:
The scholar (i.e. who eats to study,
do research
and gain knowledge for himself and others)
2. ‘Ābid: The worshiper (i.e. who eats to be able to
stand
in prayers and to endure long arduous efforts in order to do good deeds
and serve
people charitably)
Since ‘the people who passed before ate to continue living and you live
to continue eating’.
Hunger is the food for the Siddiqin (Truthful People) and Maslak (Place
of roaming, way of behavior) for the Muridin (The Seekers of the
Divine). The exile of Adam from Paradise- and his distancing from the
closeness of Allah-
was due solely to a bite of food!
The Hungry is not the person who does not have provision and naturally
suffers from hunger, the Hungry is the one who has food and plenty of
it but refuses to eat much. (Dara: The Hungry is within the Hala
(Momentary
state of heart) of Hunger meaning that there is food all
around
him but he does not allow his Nafs (Self) to
indulge; he eats small
portions, shuns exotic gourmet delicacies and enjoys what the lowest of
the
people in his community eat from. The lazy who does not go to work and
deprives his family from food with the excuse of his spiritual progress
is not the Hungry.)
The Hungry has only one link with the Shaitan
(Whatever causes distance
between the Allah
and the slave) and that is food! The feral desires of
the Nafs
(Self)
are focused solely on eating and the cessation of hunger and
nothing
else! (Dara: The Hungry does not desire or have energy to backbite for
hours
on the telephone or have fits of anger every time someone or something
does not meet his demands. He focuses his Nafs (Self)
on the food and eating and thus sway his Nafs (Self)
from almost all
other evil proclivities)
Kattani said: The Murid (The Seeker of the Divine) has three
attributes:
1. Does not sleep until s/he passes out uncontrollably
2. Does not speak unless it is absolutely necessary
3. Does not eat until s/he almost reaches Faqa
(succumbed to hunger)
كتّاني من حكم المريد ان يكون فيه ثلثة
اشياى نومه غلبة و كلامه ضرورة و اكله فاقة
Some said Faqa is in two days and nights, others said it is closer to
three
days and nights, others again said it is in seven days and nights and
some others said in forty
days and nights. Some who have reached the level of beholding the
realities of life say that true hunger appears every forty days; this
is
the absolute smallest requirement for the sustenance of human life i.e.
whatever hunger appears before forty days is due to the Nafs’
(Self’s)
rapacity (sharah), and deceptiver nature—May Allah
bestow upon
you spiritual and bodily health and Al-Hamdu-Lil-Lahi (All Perpetual
Praise) for the Lord of the multiverse. Indeed through the ‘Uruq
(Veins) of the people of Ma’refa (Divine Gnosis) runs the Burhan
(Divine Demonstration of proof) of Allah and their Hearts are the
stages for Allah to
glance upon and open many doors within their bosoms.
The Aql (Intellect) and the
desires are sitting at the doors of the Hearts; the soul aids
the Aql, and the Nafs (Self)
aids the desires; the more people’s
nature is fed, the more they incline towards the Nafs (Self)
which
spreads into all the body parts and leaves her impact of desires more
patent in every limb.
The less feeding
takes place, the weaker the Nafs's (Self)
impact over
the body, and the stronger the Aql (Intellect); thus the Sirr(s)
(Divine
Observations) and the Burhan (Divine Demonstration of proof) are
made
more patent. When the desires evanesce and the passion for the Batil
(Falsehood,
other than Allah)
fades away within the emergence of Haqq (Absolute
Truth and Reality), in that precise moment, every Murid (Seeker of the
Divine) becomes a Murad (Sought after by Allah)!
Abul-Abbas Qassab (The Butcher) said: "My deviance and obedience are
tied to
my feeding, when I eat it is the core of all my deviance and when I
abstain from food it is the core of my entire obedience".
Hunger is the fruit of the Mushahada (Divine
Observation).
Therefore being satiated within the sate of Mushahada (Divine
Observation) is far superior to being hungry within the
state of Mujahada (Struggle and striving). Since the Mushahada (Divine
Observation) is the battleground of the pious while the Mujahada
(Struggle and striving) the playground of the children! (Dara: The
observer satiates with the observation of Nur (Divine Light)
while his belly is empty, and he is better off than the person who only
sees the creation and nothing Divine and stays hungry in his belly. The
latter is like a child in a playground exerting effort playing and
getting tired.)
مجاهدتُ ملاعبت صبيان فالشبع بشاهد الحق
خير من الجوع بشاهد الخلق
About this statement much has been said ....so it is best
to end
the words here and Allah knows
best.
End.
Apercu
I used to stand on my balcony and wonder how one can have one hundred
percent reliance on Allah: Which
books should I read, which
practices should I do and which Dhikr (Remembrance) should I recite to
attain
such a high Maqam (Stationary state
of the heart)? I did collect many
many books in different languages and geographies and understandings
but I still was not able to see the answer to this question.
Until one day I saw a man cautiously approaching the trash bin behind
the opulent supermarket under my balcony. He was timid and looked to
the right and to the left and then slowly but surely approached the
opening of the trash bin and started to search for food items! In that
moment I knew that I was thrown within a Waqt (Present moment free of
past or future) and I continued staring at the man foraging for food
within the garbage. He finally found a few items which he cleaned and
removed with great care and attention and placed in a basket. Again
timidly, he walked away from the trash bin and disappeared within the
cement and steel jungle.
I realized that within my Waqt (Present moment free of past or future)
I was SHOWN the answer, for the answer to the above question is
not found in books or in the practices of the sages, but is a Nur
(Divine
Light) free of causalities flashing within anything or anyone
in the universe. A Nur (Divine Light)
to be viewed and if you can view
this light then you are given the knowledge of how to place your
reliance upon Allah
one hundred percent in light-form, free of
cognition.
My Waqt (Present moment, free of past or future) was found through a
hungry
Canadian man foraging for food in a trash bin behind a dazzling
supermarket in a bustling metropolis; through his and his family’s
hunger the Nur (Divine Light)
shone upon ‘I’ to see that which
cannot
be taught.
[1] I could not find this in any Hadith (Prophetic Narration), but
similar was found as below:
Not Found
قوله عليه السَّلام بطن
جايع اُحبّ الى الله من سبعين عابداً غافلاً
فيض القدير، شرح الجامع الصغير، الإصدار
2.15 - للإمامِ المناوي
الجزء الثالث >> [ص 430] حرف الخاء
3922 - (خففوا بطونكم وظهوركم لقيام
الصلاة) أي قللوا الأكل ليسهل عليكم القيام إلى التهجد في الليل فإن من
كثر أكله كثر نومه فقلة الأكل ممدوحة شرعاً وطباً وكثرته مذمومة شرعاً
وطبعاً وقلة الأكل أصل لكل خير ولو لم يكن إلا تنوير الباطن وإفاضة النور
على الجوارح لكفى، ونقل عن المعلم الأول أرسطو أنه قال يا أبناء الحكمة لا
تتخذوا بطونكم قبوراً للحيوانات ومعادن للجيف فإن ذلك يفضي بكم إلى التلف.
(حل عن ابن عمر) بن الخطاب ورواه عنه
أيضاً الديلمي.
[2] I could not find this Hadith either,
but found Jesus narrations in Ihya' and Qutul Qulub as follows.
قال رسول الله اُجيعوا بطونكم و اظمأوا اكبادكم و اعروا اجسادكم
لعلَّ قلوبكم يرون الله عياناً
قوت القلوب أبو طالب المكي
وفي خبر عن عيسى عليه السلام: يامعشر الحواريين جوّعوا بطونكم
وعطشوا أكبادكم وأعروا أجسادكم لعل قلوبكم ترى اللّه عزّ وجلّ يعني بحقيقة
الزهد وصفاء القلب،
إحياء علوم الدين أبو حامد الغزالي
وقال عيسى عليه السلام: يا معشر الحواريين جوعوا بطونكم لعل قلوبكم
ترى ربكم
©
2007-2002, Dara O. Shayda, Dr. Hind Rifai