Seekersguidance Podcast - Islam, Islamic Knowledge, Quran, And The Guidance Of The Prophet Muhammad

In this lesson, Shaykh Faraz continues his review of Imam Ghazali’s Ihya with an overview of the chapter on fasting. Imam Al-Ghazali covers both the religious guidance related to fasting as well as the spiritual meanings of fastings. This is so that we can act with intent and understanding of why we engage in the worship that we do. Shaykh Faraz previews Imam Ibn ‘Ajiba’s tafsir of the Fatiha. In the verse “It is You alone we worship and it is You alone we depend upon” (إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ). This verse outlines that we should only focus our intent on Allah alone when we engage in fasting. Furthermore, we should only rely on Allah to complete our fasts as well. Shaykh Faraz details in his talk the benefits of fasting: [1] One of the benefits of fasting weakens our mere humanness and the material world. Excessive eating and drinking makes heavy our attachment to the material world and the more the material world is real to us the more the subtle reality of spiritual meanings are veiled to