Refine both the body and the heart
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Jumuah Mubarak to our dear brothers and sisters.
As we continue through Shaban, we turn to the wisdom of Imam al-Ghazali, who teaches that fasting is more than abstaining from food and drinkit is a journey of purification, a means of refining both body and soul. [Read the work here]
He describes fasting in three levels:
1 The Fast of the Ordinary refraining from food, drink, and physical desires.
2 The Fast of the Righteous guarding the tongue, eyes, ears, and limbs from sin.
3 The Fast of the Elite emptying the heart of everything but Allah, where fasting becomes an act of completedevotion.
As Ramadan approaches, how can we elevate our fasting? Shaban is our training ground. It is in these days that we discipline our desires, increase our remembrance, and refine our character so that by the time Ramadan arrives, we are ready to experience its blessings at the highest level.
Thereal essence of fasting goes beyond hungerit is the effort to refine not just our bodies but our hearts.Â
What makes a fast meaningful? Speaking truth instead of gossip, choosing silence over harsh words, lowering our gaze from distractionsthese are the disciplines that transform fasting from a routine into a shieldfor the soul.
This Shaban, lets start training ourselves. Before our lips become parched from fasting, let them first be purified from idle speech. Before our hunger is tested, let our eyes be tested in what they choose to behold.
What habits will you begin now so that your Ramadan fasts are not just physical, butspiritual? Will you restrain the tongue from idle speech? Soften your heart with forgiveness? Fill your days with dhikr and salawat? Let's begin today.
May Allah make this Shaban a means of refining our fasts, purifying our intentions, and elevating our hearts.
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