Essence of Abstinence

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Shihab ad-Din Ahmad ibn Isma’il Sam’ani (q.s.) wrote, in Rawh al-Arwah: 

“You who are kept in pawn to food,

You can be free if you suffer yourself to be weaned,

Truly in hunger there is abundant nourishment:

Search after it diligently and cherish the hope of finding it. 

Feed on the Light, be like the eye,

Be in harmony with the angels,

O best of humankind.

Like the Angel,

Make glorification of God your sustenance.

See how the Hand is invisible while the Pen is writing;

The horse careening, yet the rider is unseen;

The arrow flying, but the bow out of sight;

Individual souls existing,

While is Soul of the souls is hidden. 

Do not strive so much to complete your worldly affairs;

Do not strive in any affair that's not sacred.

Otherwise, at the end, you will leave incomplete,

Your spiritual affairs damaged and your bread unbaked.

The beautifying of your grave is not done

By means of wood and stone and plaster;

No, but by digging your grave in spiritual purity

And burying your own selfhood in His,

And by becoming His Dust, buried in love of Him,

So that from His Breath, yours may be replenished. 

The smell of pride and greed and lust

Will betray you when you speak

As much as the onions you have eaten.

Many prayers are rejected because of their smell;

The corrupt heart reveals itself in the tongue.

But if your meaning is pure,

God Accept even your clumsy expression.”