THREE (3) TYPES OF FASTING

I just learnt something most profound that fasting is of three types

1.The common fast

2.The special fast; and

3.The Ultra special fast

The common fast is to stay away from food, drink and intimacy*… this is observed by the majority of people..

The special fast is to stop your whole being from doing sins…or other useless activities*… this is accomplished by few people…

And the Ultra special  fast is to stop the mind from thinking negative or useless thoughts…like envy or hatred … or making false assumptions about others etc*… this is the most rare form of fasting in which a person avoids thinking of anything that distracts him from remembering Allah…

It was such an eye opener for me to realize how important it is for us to keep this third type of fast*…because the purpose of fasting, as defined by Allah Himself, is to attain taqwa…and since taqwa resides in the heart, therefore how important it is for us to clean and purify our hearts…

No wonder we go through the entire Ramadan, year after year… we fast and we pray and read Quran but our characters remain untouched*…as soon as the blessed month is over we are back to our worldly life… as if the whole exercise that we went through was nothing but a dream…

It happens like this, because our fasting is only restricted to staying hungry and thirsty… and we never clean up our hearts*…

Whereas the reality is that the hearts have to be cleansed because this is where we will sow the seeds of good thoughts and ideas that we daily learn from the Quran… and then these seeds of ideas will come out as the plants of good actions…

Imagine if every individual is going through this process of self-purification and self-development then what a revolution it will create in the whole society*…we will then become the people of Quran… the representatives of Allah’s deen to the whole world… through our character and behavior…

Therefore this Ramadan we should sincerely make an intention to achieve a heart that is free from distractions and harmful thoughts*… so that we can get full benefit from the guidance of Quran.
Learn to appreciate others and always think that maybe Allah loves them more because of something that only He knows about them*… So be humble and ask Allah for His guidance

May Allah accept our struggles in His path… ameen

Jazaakalahu khair