Thursday, September 29, 2005

Fasting continued

So now we have the moral aspect of fasting :

Here is a quote:

I once saw a dream in which Sultan al-Masha’ikh asked me if I was practicing saum. I answered that I would practice saum if he commanded it. He replied, “Practice the saum of the heart.” Several days later I asked Shaykh Nasir al-Din Mahmud, “What is the saum of the heart?” He replied, “Sultan al-Masha’ikh meant by this that you should practice muraqaba.”
—Siyar al-Awliya’

My teacher says that this muraqaba is the absitnence from the denial of the reality of God's omnipotence and omnipresence. Yes I know that is a mouthful! What it means is to be constantly connected via the heart ( qalb) with God.You want to know how that feels? First you have to keep knocking on the door of your heart, or rather the portal which the sufis call the latifah, plural lataif and then one fine day the door opens and you will know it when it opens.
When it remains open then you have that constant connection. I 'd have to warn you that it makes you very softhearted and is strictly not good for business.

Finally we have the spiritual aspect of the Fast:

Sufism means being at ease with God.
—Ibn ‘Ata

Saum is for me, and I am the reward that comes with it!
—Hadith Qudsi

You don't want to twist your brain over what my teacher said about this aspect.The gist of what he said is to realise God as the Prime mover, to be a puppet moved only by God.

2 comments:

dith said...

Is it the same Muroqoba as in self-reflecting and self-assessment of one's daily right and wrongs?

Suriya said...

That is muhasabah which is actually self observing and reflecting what we have been doing ...a good way of muhasabah is actually journalling like what you have been doing..and then asking yourself the why questions and getting deeper and deeper into the intentions.
Muroqobah is drawing close to God