ÜÇÜNCÜ FEN · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL · Altıncı Madde
Sixth Point
It describes the afflictions of satiety, the benefits of hunger, and the advantages of fasting.
Beloved! It is known that the friends of Allah have said: Eat until it carries you. Do not eat so much that you carry it. Eat in such a way that *you* consume it. Do not eat in such a way that it consumes *you*. If you consume food, all of it illuminates your soul. But if it consumes you, all that you have eaten becomes smoke.
Rubai
When fasting, if for a moment you cleanse yourself from the darkness of nature,
You ascend to the heavens following the pure ones.
With the burning of the fast, you become like a candle and emit light.
And with the gloom of the morsel, you become earth, morsel by morsel.
(Translation of Rubai)
A seeker (talib) asked a perfect one to explain the path of gnosis to him. Because that perfect person knew that the questioner ate too much, he said, “First go, learn how to eat. Then talk to us about gnosis.”
The zakat of the body is fasting and nighttime worship. When it was told to a perfect guide (mürşid-i kâmil), "If you fasted every day and broke your fast with one batman [284] of food, then prayed until dawn," he said, “It would be better if you ate half a loaf of bread and slept.”
Qasida
Empty the stomach from food,
So that you may see the light of gnosis.
The reason wisdom is absent from it,
Is because you are full to the nose with food.
He who eats much has little health and great sorrow. He whose passion is for his belly and who values other carnal desires is as worthless as they are. The value of one who cares about what he eats is their output. Much eating is extravagance; little is purity and modesty. Hunger is the highest of all beauties. It is the most beneficial quality of body and soul. The comfort of the body is in little eating. The comfort of the soul is in little sleep. The comfort of the mind is in little speaking. The comfort of the heart is in the littleness of its desire and attention. Dervishes became dervishes only through hunger, sleeplessness, silence, and separation from people.
Bayt
Hunger, early morning watchfulness, silence, seclusion, remembrance, and continuous contemplation
Perfects the immature people of the world.
It happened that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would walk around bent over from hunger. Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) would lose himself to hunger and writhe in pain. Our Shaykh, the Most Noble Support (Gavs-i ulvî) Ismail Fakirullah Tillovî (May Allah have mercy on him), said to raise his children in this truth: “Mulla Ibrahim! I eat only a few morsels once in the night and once in the day. Whatever is available, I eat it. I eat two flatbreads with any food once a week. Meat broth is an obstacle to asceticism. This bread is originally the mazid [nourishment] that is eaten. Every six days, I drink only two cups of water. After the night prayer, I sleep and worship until dawn. I fast on Mondays and Thursdays.”
Nazm
1- Bind your tongue from food, let the jewel of the soul be filled.
Let that sorrow go from your heart, let the skill of the soul come.
2- Know this world as a prison, the path to the sublime is in the heart.
The gaze that sees the soul, may give the gaze of the fast to the heart.
3- Abandon the self's precautions, every trick and deceit.
Every arrow will be broken, if the fast is its shield.
4- What harm does the fast do? It performs a thousand skills.
It makes another journey, into the secrets of the soul.
5- The fast softens the body, it completes the morals.
It intoxicates eternally, and purifies the soul.
6- The body is the envelope of love, not the garden of unity.
The soul is the threshold of union, if the door of the fast is opened.
7- May the Truth be standing at night, and fasting by day,
So that the honey and sugar of the fast may always fill the heart.
Modern Turkish Translation (for reference)
1-Bind your tongue from food, let the jewel of the soul be filled.
Let that sorrow go from your heart, let the skill of the soul come.
2-Know this world as a prison, the path to the sublime is in the heart.
The gaze that sees the soul, may give the gaze of the fast to the heart.
3-Abandon the self's precautions, every trick and deceit.
Every arrow will be broken, if the fast is its shield.
4-What harm does the fast do? It performs a thousand skills.
It makes another journey, into the secrets of the soul.
5-The fast softens the body, it completes the morals.
It intoxicates eternally, and purifies the soul.
6-The body is the envelope of love, not the garden of unity.
The soul is the threshold of union, if the door of the fast is opened.
7-May the Truth be standing at night, and fasting by day,
So that the honey and sugar of the fast may always fill the heart.