“The month of Ramadan is a guest that comes to wash the dust off our hearts,” goes an old Sufi saying. Sufi saints have regarded the fasting of Ramadan as a tool which sharpens the perception of the soul. Hunger polishes the mirror of the heart. Silence and contemplation are the ‘fast of the tongue’, enabling the seeker to refrain from any talk or any thought that emboldens the ego. The intent fasts on “everything other than God.” The seeker who is successful in fasting in this holy way refines his soul to attain the state of Fana (annihilation of the ego) and Baqa (abiding in God). In the stillness of the heart, the soul finds its gravity and stays anchored in God.

Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-73), the globally loved Sufi mystic, believed that when the stomach is empty, the “music of the heart” becomes audible. In his famous work, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, Mevlana Rumi writes, “There’s a hidden sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness. We are lutes, no more, no less. If the soundbox is stuffed full of anything, no music. If the brain and the belly are burning clean with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.”

Many musical instruments have a hollow chamber within them, allowing the notes of music to resonate melodiously. Similarly, the human body needs space within. If it is stuffed like a solid block of wood, it cannot produce the music of spiritual insight.

Persian Sufi master Rashīd al-Dīn Maybudī (1045-1126) wrote in his famous work, The Unveiling of the Mysteries and the Provision of the Pious (Kashf al-Asrār wa ʿUddat al-Abrār), “They say that it is called ‘Ramadan’ because in this month the Exalted Lord washes other than Himself from the hearts of the recognizers, then He burns them (all that his redundant) in His love.”

The word Ramadan is derived from the Arabic root ‘ramada’, which means “scorching heat” or “burning”. The purpose of the sacred fasting during Ramadan is ‘The Burning of Sins (Ar-Ramda)’. Just as the mid-day sun scorches the earth, fasting during the month of Ramadan “burns away” the sins of the believer. The fasting and the repetitive remembrance of God the Almighty (dhikr) consumes the dry wood of our past transgressions, leaving the soul lighter and more refined. By choosing to be physically thirsty, the seeker awakens a deeper, spiritual thirst for the Divine. The cracks in the ego’s surface are where the rain of Divine Mercy can finally penetrate.

Islamic mysticism has observed the “two burnings” during Ramadan. The physical heat is the warmth felt within the body due to hunger and due to the deep yearning of the seeker to be engaged in worship. The spiritual heat is the fire of longing for the Divine Beloved, and the intense desire of the seeker to draw closer to God. The merging of these two fires within the seeker creates the unique phenomenon of an inner combustion that transforms the seeker from a “raw” state to a “cooked” or matured spiritual state. The fasting of Ramadan burns away the weeds of the ego, so that the hidden garden of the soul may finally breathe.

Mevlana Rumi wrote of the “ripening of the raw soul” in these famous words which he regarded as his summary of his life: Pukhta shudam, sokhtam. (The result of my life is no more than three words: I was raw, I was cooked, I was burnt.)

In Divan-e Shams, Hazrat Rumi writes,

“There is a passion in this hunger,

A fire that turns the iron of the heart into gold.

When the belly is empty, the soul begins to burn,

And in that burning, the Beloved is found.”

The mystics knew that the heart is a mirror that gathers the rust (zang) of worldly attachment, and only the heat of devotion and fasting can scour it clean. Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya (1238–1325), one of the most loved Sufis of the Indian sub-continent and his disciple Hazrat Amir Khusrau (1253–1325), the legendary and iconic poet and mystic, often used the metaphor of the “rusted gates of sin”.

There is an old Persian saying. “Where there is no burning (Nar), there is no radiance (Nur).” The word ‘Nar’ refers to the elemental fire, the heat of purification. ‘Nur’ is the celestial light, the radiance of the Divine. Sufi masters have taught that the goal of fasting is to take the seekers from Nar to Nur. By enduring the Nar (the ‘fire’ of hunger and thirst), the seeker prepares the soul to receive the Nur (the ‘light’ of revelation).

Sufi mystics have always taught their followers to be accepting of whatever God gives them. The Sufi tradition encourages the seeker to find absolute peace and joy in God’s will. The holy days of Ramadan teach us to burn all the impurities within us so that God may fill our beings with his blessings.

There is an old Sufi story. Sufi saint Rabia al-Adawiyya (717–801) was ready to break a long fast with milk, but a cat spilled the milk. Rabia then reached for a water-jug, but her hands shook and she dropped the jug. “Is this my reward, O God?” she asked lovingly.

“If you want, you can have all the world’s gifts,” God replied, “or you can have what I give you.” “Give me your gifts, O God!” Rabia exclaimed.

A fruit-tree then sprang up inside the house. “This is the tree in Paradise with the fruit of your prayers. Eat!” said God. Rabia ate, and she knew God was always with her.

The hunger of Ramadan is the fire that consumes the “Nafs” (the lower self). Hazrat Fariduddin Attar (1145-1221), the author of famous Sufi classic ‘The Conference of the Birds’ wrote, “Fasting is not merely to abstain from food; it is to refrain from looking at anything that is not Him. If you fast and yet hold onto your pride, you have merely changed your mealtime, not your soul.” The spiritual fasting during Ramadan frees the soul from all distractions, so that one can focus on inner purification and self-discipline and seek eternal union with the Divine Beloved.

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