According to “The Book of Fasting”, the 6th volume of al-Ghazali’s 40 volume Magnum Opus, “The Revival of the Religious Sciences”, there are 3 levels of fasting.
Level 1: Basic
The basic level is the one most Muslims do during Ramadan by default. It involves avoiding food, drink and sensual pleasures during the daylight hours. It’s great… but it is basic.
Level 2: Intermediate
This is for the elite. It involves fasting with the tongue, ears, eyes, limbs, stomach and being conscientious at the time of opening the fast. We’ll come back to this one another day.
Level 3: Advanced
This is for the elite of the elite. Those closest to Allah, the Most Loving, including the Prophets (peace be upon them) and the saints and friends of God (awliah). It involves fasting from everything other than Allah. To keeps ones mind and thoughts purely meditating on Allah’s magnificent constant presence.
They may alternate between activities such as zikr (bringing Allah to mind and chanting his names and praises), Quran recitation and study or simply deep meditation on the Reality of Allah.
A fair question might be: how can I do that? I have a family, a job and responsibilities. How can I spend all day deeply reflecting on Allah’s presence?
My answer:
You can’t!
Sorting out the logistics of freeing yourself up for a month is the least difficult part of this process. And if Allah hasn’t willed that for you, no worries! Level 2 is formidable for someone with other daily commitments. And I imagine there are saints who had to pay the bills too – so my guess is they could only do this when Allah freed up their time… and in between their commitments.
But again, the logistics is the easiest part. Given that most people can’t concentrate on Allah’s presence for the 5 minutes of one of our 5 daily prayers… doing this for a whole fasting day is far beyond most people’s current level of consciousness.
However, simply intending and putting effort into nothing other than connecting with Allah for a whole day can be life-changing and a powerfully consciousness-increasing experience.
If you get the opportunity, maybe spend a day or 2 living in the mosque – or the last 10 nights of Ramadan if you’re a really lucky ducky.
There’s a beautiful Quran teaching that gently guides us about how to approach deep worship, even when we have a lot of commitments:
“With difficulty, there is ease.
When you’re free from your chores,
Then passionately seek your Loving Lord.”
[Quran 94: 6-8]
You want to know the key that brought a constant sense of ‘ease’ to the difficulties in my life? And the key that let me deeply connect with Allah in a way that I never imagined possible when I was younger?
For me, it was an insight that came from a surprisingly simple psychological truth, which I call, “The Psychological Switch”. You can read about it in my book, “Inside the Soul of Islam”.
Or you can experience it for yourself in a 1-to-1 coaching session with me.
Here’s where to apply:
