There are 3 kinds of fasting:
- Fast of the common people (Awām): Abstinence from eating, drinking and sexual relations.
- Fast of the elite people (Khawās): As well as abstaining from eating, drinking and sexual relations, refraining from sins of the ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet and the rest of the body parts.
- Fast of the super-elite people (Akhsul Khawās): staying away from everything and focusing only on Allah.
[al-Jawhirah al-Nayyirah]
The first category, ‘fast of the common people’ is lowest in status, as it is only abstinence from eating, drinking and sexual relations, whereas the third category, ‘fast of the super-elite people’ is of the highest status as it entails excluding everything from the heart besides the fear of Allah and placing full trust in Allah, up to the extent where to think of arrangements for Iftar during the day time would render the fast invalid, due to the lack of absolute trust in Allah, who has promised to provide substance to all. (Invalid is in terms of spirituality and not in terms of Shari’at).
The second category, ‘fast of the elite people’ consists of refraining from sins connected with the entire body; shielding the eyes from unlawful gazes, protecting the tongue from futile talk, guarding the ears from hearing undesirable things, as that which is bad to say is worse to hear. Thus, the ‘fast of the elite people’ is making each limb of the body fast.
What is understood is that the fast of the one who simply manages not to eat or drink in Ramadan is like a body without its soul. The true reality of fasting is that a person should become angel-like (pious), as angels are pure and immune to all desires. Animals are full of desires, which is the reason as to why they are far away from angels. Hence, the one who is submerged in desires is like an animal, and the one who overcomes his desires becomes similar to angels in terms of qualities and not station. Therefore, he becomes close to the angels (in terms of qualities) and as the angels are close to Allah, he will then become close to Allah.
[Summarised from Kīmiyā e Sa’ādat]
"Hunger sharpens the intelligence and improves the mind and health." [Kashf al-Mahjūb]
By Muhammad Kalim, Preston
www.thesunniway.com