> Peace be upon you and everyone.
> =1=This month of fasting is the most excellent arrangement for
> spiritual development, righteousness, seeking Divine nearness,
> attaining acceptance to one's prayer, and developing in religious,
> moral and spiritual ways.[ Al Baqarah (2:184)]
> =2=Fasting was also made obligatory on the followers of the earlier
> prophets of God for the purification of soul..... And among them only
> those became the recipient of blessings who abided by the commandment
> without any protest, who put the teaching in practice and excelled in
> righteousness (taqwa)...... However, when they rejected the teachings,
> they lost their worldly glory as well as their standards of
> spirituality plummeted. ......Indeed when Allah enjoins the followers of
> prophets of God to adopt righteousness, He declares that it would lead
> them to the blessings of this world and the Hereafter [Al Rahman
> (55:47)]......It is vital to recognize the lofty station of God in order
> to develop in righteousness and to be the recipient of His blessings
> and this will come to pass when His commandments are followed with
> sincerity of purpose..... One of these commandments is to fast.
> =3=Fortunate are the adherents of the perfect Book, the everlasting
> Shariah, and the last law-bearing Prophet (peace and blessings of
> Allah be on him) who was granted excellence over all the other
> prophets by being given the title of Seal-of-all-the-
> prophets (Khatam un Nabiyyeen)..... He brought the message of
> Qur'an for establishing righteousness, a message that is still fresh
> today and shall always remain
so.....Commandments of this last law-
> bearing Book expects from believers to endeavour for the attainment of
> the blessing that this Book mentions and to assume the undertaking
> for which God and His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him)
> have shown us the way.
> =4= It is indeed God's promise that He guides those to Him who come
> towards Him with absolute sincerity. [Al Ankabut (29:70)].....He runs to
> those who at least walk towards Him.... A great source to attain
> nearness to God is fasting... A Hadith relates that the Holy Prophet
> (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said that Allah puts a
> distance of more than 70%% (Arabic idiom meaning a great deal) between
> the face of a person who fasts in the way of Allah seeking His
> blessings and fire.....Indeed it is vital to fast in the quest of
> Allah's grace and if the attainment of His pleasure is the sole
> objective, He not only saves one from the fire but also grants the
> paradise of His pleasure, in this world and the Hereafter.
> =5=The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said that one who makes a
> solemn endeavour to seek Allah never fails. He said that if we can
> feel compassion for a student who works hard for school exams how
> could God not have mercy and compassion to allow one who endeavours to
> seek him to come near Him? Certainly not.
> =6=According to a hadith: Allah declares that each act of man is for
> himself, apart for fasting. Fasting is for Allah and Allah alone is
> its reward. Another Hadith reiterates this point that fasting is done
> for Allah and only Allah knows the real reward of a person who fasts.
> =7=Just as Allah's attributes are countless so is the extent of His
> reward, however, He has set some limitations for the attainment of His
> reward..... For example during fasting one is not required to merely
> starve oneself, rather one has to make an endeavour to shun all sorts
> of worldly and carnal desires, only then it may be deemed that fasting
> is for Allah alone.... Similarly the avoidance from the ills is not to
> be temporary and brief, rather it has to be a permanent effort.
> =8=Indeed Allah knows what is in one's heart, is aware of the
> intention behind each deed, has knowledge of what is apparent and what
> is hidden, if a person fasts with Allah's attributes in mind, that
> fasting would be rewarded.
> =9=When a person who is fasting responds to an abuse by saying that as
> they are fasting they will not respond in kind, it does not mean that
> after breaking the fast they are at liberty to retaliate, not at all.
> ....Fasting is a training process during which one is trained to eschew
> bad habits for good, that is the reason why a Hadith relates that when
> a person who fast sincerely meets his Maker he will be happy...... It is
> not just thirty days' effort that will give him happiness, rather he
> will be happy because he would have had an opportunity to make an
> endeavour to avoid bad habits and that person would thus greet each
> Ramadan of his life until he attains the station where he will be the
> recipient of Allah's pleasure.
> =10= A Hadith terms fasting as a shield: the important thing is to be
> able to utilise this 'shield' to protect oneself from the attacks of
> the Satan, the most dangerous of all enemies.... A believer can be safe
> by means of this 'shield' through worship of God and by staying firm
> on His commandments.
> =11=The teaching of the earlier prophets was temporary, it was for a
> temporary period of time. With the teaching diminished, its freshness
> and righteousness/taqwa also fainted..... The teaching of the Holy
> Qur'an is eternal.....Worldly desires crept into the fasting of other
> religions.... One need to constantly make endeavours to keep the
> standards of our righteousness / taqwa high and should try to the best
> of his/her ability or capacity to attain the lofty standards..... Allah
> has shown the believers all the ways and can only justifiably called
> Khair e Ummah ( best of groups of people ) when they can attain these
> standards.... The acts that are done to seek the pleasure of Allah are
> indeed what righteousness / taqwa is all about.
> =12= The holy Caliph also prayed for Allah's help for making solemn
> endeavour to attain righteousness /taqwa... He referred to The Promised
> Messiah (on whom be peace) who said that fasting is about forsaking
> one kind of nourishment (food) to seek the other kind of nourishment
> which is for the soul. Allah opens up ways of guidance and spiritual
> discernment for those who seek Him with truthfulness of heart.....May
> Allah enable us that we fast while making the attainment of His
> pleasure our objective, may we attain spiritual discernment which
> becomes a lasting part of our lives and which enhances us in e
> righteousness each moment....
> Promised divine peace of latter days @
www.alislam.org www.mta.tv
> with
> LOVE FOR ALL HATRED FOR NONE.
Fasting is a good health practice, irrespective of religious
association.
Fasting rests the digestive organs and helps remove toxins.
I used to eat from sun up to midnight. I never gave my digestive
organs a rest. Now I eat from mid day to about 8 PM at the latest.
Even if you do not wish to fast for a day or two or three, you can
benefit from fasting by cutting back on your eating.
You can start by just skipping breakfast or even eating a light
lunch.
Once your mind clears up and your body and mind is less clouded with
toxins and you can spend better use of your contemplative time with
spiritual and secular studies.
And as an added benefit you may lose some weight if you are
overweight.
See:
http://www.arnoldehret.org/index.html
http://www.fasting.com/
People nowadays are attached to food and 'fat' is a real epidemic as
we have become a nation of sensation addicts and must fast a little
from these sensations to come back in a healthy life.
"The great object is sensation---to feel that we exist. It is the
craving void which drives us to travel to intemperate but keenly felt
pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the
agitation inseparable from their accomplishment." ~ George Gordon,
Lord Byron
I first learned about the topic of sensation addiction through my
Buddhist practice.
My Buddhist practice reminds me to be mindful of the present moment
and not escape from it by abusing the senses.
What is the hallmark of an addict?
One who refuses to accept what is by abusing the senses to escape from
the present moment.
All our addictions have pleasure aspects within them and we get
rewards for participating in them in the form of euphoric experiences.
Euphoric experience can be related to the spiritual as well.
The definition of a religious mystic is one that partakes in an
altered state of conciseness with God / god or the spiritual realm.
Our addictions also give us this altered state of consciousness and
feeling of euphoria.
So, we can say that our drugs are our gods and our addiction is our
religion.
There is a reason to our madness - it is not just pure madness as most
addicts think.
Some persons I run into feel guilty for having senses. They get super
sensitized to anything that affects them. They do not look at the
senses as a gift from a higher power, instead look at them as a
curse.
Coming to peace with our senses and learning to enjoy them - but not
abuse them is the answer. And for those looking for an excuse to
continue addiction, do not look upon this post as an excuse to keep
using your drug of choice. If you missed my previous post "The 7
Benefits Addictions Provide Us" and want a copy write me.
From: How to Want What You Have:
"People who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of sensual pleasure
find that the more pleasure they get, the more they want. Small,
ordinary pleasures soon lose their power to please and must be
replaced with more intense or exotic ones. Heedless sensualists
usually meet a bad end. They learn the hard way that their desires are
relentless and insatiable."
We are spiritual beings residing in a physical body and must balance
this fact. The Buddha recognized this as he gave up being an ascetic
himself in favor of the middle path, a path of moderation which
rejected both sensory indulgence as well as extreme mortification.
If we want peace with this subject it all revolves around whether or
not you are abusing your senses and does not revolve around the fact
that you have senses that nature provided you with.
Try asking if the activity placing unreasonable demands on my time and
energy, will it place me in legal jeopardy or endanger my mental,
physical or spiritual health? You see, there never will be a shortage
of ways that humans can find to abuse the mind or the body by living a
life of extremes.
The important question is how to find a balance between the mind and
the body to be at peace in the present. So, don't feel guilty about
having senses or desires, just work on not abusing them.
Once I started to practice mindfulness of the present moment, this
practice opened up a new area of sense enjoyment by just being
present. Drugs took me away from the present and I was anything but
aware of my real senses. In fact, my senses were dulled from being
drugged up. I liked the artificial sense of euphoria I received from
various drugs, but this euphoria was not sustainable, natural or
healthy. Sustainability and health aspects are both areas I now use to
judge things that affect my senses.
If you look into your own addictive areas, you can see how your drug
of choice affected your senses and how your were not necessarily
addicted to the drug - you were addicted to the sensation the drug
provided. This is where sensation addiction comes in. Without
receiving these sensations our drug loses it luster. Sensation of the
mouth, genitals, brain - addiction all revolves around sensations and
how we respond to them.
"I drink to keep body and soul apart" ~ Oscar Wilde in the US. Add the
computer addiction mentality to the equation and fat becomes more of a
problem.
Take care,
V (Male)
Agnostic Freethinker
Practical Philosopher
AA#2
