Green Pill

In this Ramadan talk, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad recollects the heavenly origin and universality of fasting. Adam and Eve were ordered to steer clear from the Tree of Eternity, and God prescribed fasting to the Abrahamic faiths. The religion of nature (dīn al-fiṭrah) reorients us to our primordial, natural selves through fasting, and a proper fast may serve to inculcate God-consciousness (taqwá) within us. Man craves knowledge of the Divine and cannot be satisfied with the distractions of dunya. We yearn for Him, and a nostalgia for Truth and the Garden whirls within us – the question, “What am I doing here?” besets us all. Numerous allegories have long served to demonstrate how abstinence draws a person nearer to God, an action done solely for Him, and rewarded as such.