On the Secrets of Fasting from Futuhat al-Makiyyah
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is taken from “On the Secrets of Fasting”, from the Futuhat al-Makiyyah , by Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ), as translated by Shaykha ‘Aishah ‘Abd ar-Rahman Bewley. سُوۡرَةُ البَقَرَة يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ (١٨٣) O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint. ― (Surah al-Baqarah:183) Shaykh ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ) wrote: “O you who laugh in the form of the weeper! By us, you are the complaint and the complainer. Is the fast abstention without elevation, Or elevation without restraint? They are both together, For the one who affirms tawhid by association. Intellects are trapped and prevented, From their freedom of action without nets or snares. Intellects ar...