Fasting is a means to free and purify the soul, because it tightens the channels in which the devil circulates (in the body). It is known that the devil circulates and reaches everywhere the blood circulates and reaches. That is, he whispers to a person, induces him to be heedless and lazy when it comes to acts of obedience, withholding himself and his property greedily, makes sin alluring to him, entices him to fall into what is shameful, and leads him to be negligent in acts of obedience and in attaining the degrees of the believers. He never wearies, nor weakens nor gets tired of seducing him. However, fasting closes all those outlets in his face from which he enters and reaches everywhere in the body of man. When one breaks his fast and at the end of Ramadan, the channels of the devil expand once again.
Stop Satan from Circulating in your Blood
- Publish date:14/07/2011
- Section:Soul Purification
This is the reason why one's first and main concern, in Ramadan should be to tighten those channels, so that one would come out of Ramadan with those channels of the devil having become narrow in his body and heart. Consequently, a person will be slower to follow his whispers and take risks, and will experience renewed faith, worship and draw closer to Allah The Almighty. Indeed, this is the realization of one of the meanings of Taqwa (consciousness of Allah The Almighty).
Thus, Ramadan is a direct means to tighten the channels of the devil during the day you are fasting, until it comes to an end with the reduction of your food and drink in your Iftaar and Suhoor. The Messenger of Allah did not indulge even in that little quantity of food and drink, and instead, went beyond that. He continued fasting without eating or drinking for complete one or two days and when his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, expressed a desire to do the same, he forbade them, saying they were not like him. Therefore, whoever liked to continue fasting until a short time before dawn, let him do so. He did not forbid them this state of abstention from eating and drinking. Of course, they knew that leaving food and drink tightens the channels of the devil, and is a great means to devote oneself to worship and remembrance (of Allah The Almighty). If the stomach eats its fill, the faculty of meditation ceases to function, and the organs cease to do acts of worship properly. Look at yourself: when you eat your fill, the first thing you think of is to go to bed and be lazy, and leave off worship for (sexual intercourse with) your wife. Is this not so? This is because the stomach is full. When fasting comes in Ramadan, you try to do so (reduce your food and drink) every day until you come out of Ramadan, having dedicated this time to remembrance (of Allah The Almighty) and acts of worship, and abandoned the normal habits of eating and drink, in preparation for the day they would be raised, as stated by Allah The Almighty Who Says (what means): {[They will be told], "Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you put forth in the days past."} [Quran 69:24] When they did not take their fill in this world, nor were possessed by their appetites, heedlessness, satiety and laziness from worship, it would be said to them: {"Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you put forth in the days past."} [Quran 69:24] This is because you fasted, and grew hungry and thirsty for the Sake of Allah The Almighty.
Similarly, leaving food and drink makes the heart dedicated to the remembrance of Allah The Almighty and meditation, which many believers miss these days during and after Ramadan. This abstention from eating and drinking and curbing one's greed for the pleasures of life is one of the greatest religious matters regarding the approach to and love for Allah The Almighty. We should strive to persist in meditation and remembrance (of Allah The Almighty) and this is also one of the meanings of true Taqwa.