Section on the one who faints and the madman
The fuqaha' agree that it is obligatory for the one who faints. They disagree about the madman. Some say that it is obligatory for him to make it up. Some say that it is not obligatory for him to make it up, and that is my position. I have the same opinion about the one who faints. They disagree about whether faints and madness invalidate the fast. Some say that it invalidates it and some say that it does not invalidate it. Some people make a distinction between fainting before or after dawn. Some people say that if he faints after most of the day has passed, it is allowed. If he faints at the beginning of the day, then he has to make it up.
Fainting is a state of annihilation. Insanity is a state of mad love
Interpretation: Fainting is a state of annihilation. Insanity is a state of mad love. Both of the people who are like this are not responsible and so they do not have to make it up since in our opinion, making something up is basically inconceivable in the Path. Each time has a proceed (warid) particular to it. The time which he is in does not have the authority of the time which has already passed. Whatever moment has passed, its state has also passed. We are not in it so as to be under its authority. That which has not come has no authority in us.
The present moment has no news of what was or what will be
If they said that part of the judgement of the present moment which is now might be making up what he should have done at the first moment, we say to him that he is performing then since this is the time of performing what you call 'making up'. If you mean this by it, then it is uncontested in the Path. You have called one who is making something up while the present moment has no information about what has passed or what will come. It exists between two ends of non-existence. It has no knowledge of the past or what it brought or what the person missed in it.
The resemblance of the present to the past is in form, not reality
What the past moment brought might be like what the present moment brings in form, but not in reality. It is as the 'Asr prayer at the present moment resembles the Dhuhr prayer which was in the past. It resembles it in all its states so that it is as if it were that. It is known that the judgement of 'Asr is not that of Dhuhr. If we had seen someone who kept the prayers at their proper times and it so happened that he forgot Dhuhr or slept through it until the time of 'Asr came, and we saw him praying the four rak'ats of Dhuhr at that time, we would then suppose that he was praying 'Asr because of the great resemblance between them. Nonetheless, this one is not that one.
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Section: Description of making up missed fasting in Ramadan
Some scholars oblige succession in making up as it is in performing it. Some do not oblige that. Some of them say you can choose. Some recommend it. Most say that it is not obligatory.
Interpretation: When the moment of the obligation arrives which has a wide time, the first Name seeks performance from the obligated person. When the obligated person does not do it and delays the action until the end of the time, another Name meets him. Then when he performs that action, the obligated person is making it up in relation to the first Name. If he had performed it at the beginning of the time, he would have been termed "performing" it without any doubt or misgiving. He is performing it in relationship to the other Name.
When the travelling faster or the one who is ill breaks the fast, he is obliged to fast a number of other days outside of Ramadan. It is an obligation which has a wide moment from the second day of Shawwal until the end of his life or until Sha'ban of that year. The first name meets him on the second day of Shawwal. If he fasts it, he is "performing" without any doubt or misgiving. If he delays it until another time, he is performing by one aspect and making it up by one aspect. There is no doubt that he is performing when he does that in succession at the beginning of its time. If he does not do it in succession, he is making it up.
All phenomenal being is in the grasp of the Divine Names
Whoever considers the shortness of hope and is ignorant of the term, makes it obligatory. Whoever considers that the time is wide allows for choice. Whoever considers caution, recommends it. Each of these states has a Divine Name whose authority is not exceeded. Phenomenal being is in the control of the Divine Names. They dispose of it by two means - according to their realities and according to the predisposition of phenomenal beings for them. There must be the two matters for the one with two eyes. The attributes of the self which belong to the names and other than the names are not transformed, so understand that and realise it! You will be happy, Allah willing.
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Section: Someone who puts off making up Ramadan until the next Ramadan comes
Scholars disagree about the one like this. One group says that he must make it up and do reparation (kaffara). Another says that he only has to make it up and does not do kaffara. That is my view.
Stations have many different aspects
Interpretation: It concerns the stations which have many different aspects. The wayfarer may be heedless about their principle in a certain aspect of what they are connected to. For example, there is a scrupulousness. It has judgement in many directions - like food, drink, clothes, taking, listening, running, touching and smell. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab was brought some musk from the booty before it had been divided to inspect it. He held his nose so that he would not obtain any of its scent rather than the Muslims before it had been divided. He was asked about that and said, "There is benefit from this by its smell." It is like that with scrupulousness in the names and relationships.
Man is taken to task for heedlessness in the Sufi path
When a wayfarer misses a certain connection like this station and moves to another station while something of the authority of this station from which he moved remains with him, then he must use it in another moment by the state which demands that in food or whatever he remembers that he missed before that. Some of us say that he must do kaffara, and its kaffara consists of tawba from what occured of laxity and asking forgiveness. Some of us say that he does not have to do kaffara. He did not do it deliberately and he did not intend disrespect. That is an excuse by interpretation in the question of heedlessness. According to some of them, man is punished in this path for heedlessness, and this is why kaffara is obliged for him by the one who obliges it. Some think that he is not punished for heedlessness and he does not oblige kaffara from him.
The Sufi pardons the one who is bad to him. Indeed, he is good to him
All agree that he must make it up. Its form is that when someone obtains something forbidden for him to receive, he obtains it in reputation, property and bodily effect, like injury or something else. He can be excused for it in what he obtains of that. He is excused and acts well and is not punished for every wrong action from someone else towards him from when scrupulousness would make him not do that. This is the form of making it up. Then he investigates all the aspects connected to that station as much as possible so that he will not leave out any of it. Reflect on this question. It is among the most beneficial questions in the Path of Allah.
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Section on the one who dies and still owes some fasting
Some say that his relative fasts for him. Some say that no one fasts for anyone else. There is some dispute among the people who say this. Some say that he feeds people for him, and some people say that his relative neither feeds for him or fasts unless he leaves a will to that effect. Some people say that he fasts, and if he cannot do it, then he feeds people. Some people make a distinction between the vow and the obligatory fast and say that the relative fasts for the vow and does not fast for the obligatory fast.
The murid receives teaching from the shaykh
Interpretation: Allah Almighty says, "Allah is the guardian of the believers." (3:68) He says, "The Prophet is better for the believers than themselves." (33:6) The teacher of the murid is the shaykh. He is his family and he has specified a certain invocation for him so that he might obtain a particular state and a particular station, and then he dies before he obtains it. Some of us think that since the shaykh is his guardian and death has come between him and that station - and had he obtained it, he would have had the divine stage which the master of that station deserves - then the shaykh should perform the action which will lead to that station representing the murid who has died. When he has done it in full, then he calls that dead person by what is like him in his imagination in form which he had and he dresses that form in that business and asks Allah to make that endure with him. Then the self of that dead person obtains that station in its most complete aspects as a favour and grant from Allah. "Allah has overflowing favour."
Ibn 'Arabi and his shaykh, Abu Ya'qub al-Kumi
This is the school of our shaykh, Abu YaÕqub Yusuf ibn Yakhlaf al-Kumi. He was the only one of our shaykhs who disciplined me. I benefitted from him in discipline and he benefitted from me in his ecstasies. He was a master and a disciple, and I was the same for him. People wondered at that and none of them recognised the reason for that. That was in 586. My opening had come before my discipline, which is a very dangerous station. Allah let me obtain discipline at the hand of that Shaykh, may Allah repay him with good!
No one stands for anyone else in action
Some of the People of Allah say that no one stands for anyone else in action. Rather, he seeks it for him by his himma and supplication. There is general agreement on that. The first one very rarely occurs. This is the interpretation of the one who says that no one fasts for anyone else and the interpretation of the one who says that his guardian fasts for him. There is the one who says that there is no feeding or fasting unless he leaves a will to that effect. This is when the murid is dying and says to the shaykh, "Give me some of your himma and give me a portion of your action. Perhaps Allah will give me what I hope for." If the murid does this, it is bad adab with the Shaykh since he seeks to use him for himself and suspects that the Shaykh will forget the murid.
The basis in that is that is a man asked the Messenger of Allah to ask his Lord to ask for the Garden for him. The Messenger of Allah told him, "Help me against yourself with a lot of prostration." By this, he told him about acting for himself and about his bad adab with him. The Path demands that the Shaykh should not forget the people of this time, so then what is the situation with his murid who is devoted to his service? It is part of the chivalry (futuwwa) of the people of the people of this Path and their recognition of the selves that when the Day of Rising comes and their rank with Allah is manifested for them, the people who harmed them here in this world will fear them. On the Day of Rising, the first for whom they intercede will be those who harmed them before the punishment. This is what Abu Yazid al-Bistami said. It is our position.
Ibn 'Arabi and his intercesson on the Day of Rising
Those who were good to them (the awliya') will have enough in their good behaviour. They will intercede for themselves with their good behaviour by the good which they sent ahead in respect of this wali. "Is the reward of doing the best other than the best?" (55:60) "Whoever pardons and overlooks, his reward is up to Allah." That is for those who forgive people. The wali does not forget the one who recognises the Shaykh. If he does not recognise the Shaykh, he asks Allah to forgive and pardon the one who hears him mentioned and then curses him and blames him, or praises him well. I have tasted this from myself, and my Lord gave it to me, may Allah be praised! He promised me intercession on the Day of Rising for the one I saw, who I recognised and who did not recognise. He singled out this witnessing for me so that I saw it with my eyes in sound tasting and I had no doubts about it.
Ibn 'Arabi with his shaykh, Abu Ishaq ibn Tarif
This is also the position of our Shaykh, Abu Ishaq ibn Tarif. He was one of the greatest I met. One day I was with this Shaykh at his home in Jazira (Algiers) in 589. I was listening and he said to me, "My brother! By Allah, I only see people in respect to me as awliya' from the last of them who recognises me." I asked him, "What do you mean by that, Abu Ishaq?" He replied, "The people who hear me either say good about me or they say the opposite of that. Whoever says good about me and praises me, only describes me by his attribute. If it had not been that he was worthy and the place for that attribute, he would not have described me with it. In my opinion, this one is one of the awliya' of Allah. As for the one who speaks evil of me, he is a wali in my opinion. Allah has acquainted him with my state. He has insight and unveiling. He sees by the light of Allah, so I think that he is a wali. Therefore, my brother, I only see the Awliya' of Allah."
He told me this because of what we were discussing in regard to a man among the people of Ceuta who used to oppose this shaykh with the opposite of what he encountered from him. This is the extent of the excellence of his belief. There are shaykhs whose selves charge it against them and they are punished for their heedlessness. He died being pubished for an act of heedlessness which we mentioned in the Durra al-Fakhira. [He referred to someone as "the man with the goitre" and died of the same disease.]
Interpretation of the one who makes a distinction between the vow and the obligatory fast
As for the one who distinguishes between the vow and the obligatory fast, Allah makes the vow obligatory for him because he has made it obligatory. Allah simply made the prescribed fast which is Ramadan obligatory for him without any effort on the part of the slave. When the slave has effort in making the vow obligatory, his guardian fasts for him because it is part of the obligation of a slave. A slave like him represents him in that until the obligation is fulfilled. The slave has no action in making the prescribed fast obligatory. The One who made it obligatory for him is the One who made him die. If He had left him, he would have fasted. The killer must pay the blood money. Allah says about the one who emigrated for Allah and then death overtook him, "His wage has fallen on Allah." (4:100) The one who makes a distinction has understanding of the self and sharp vision. He knows the realities. His knowledge is like that in the interpretation
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Section on what is demanded of the pregnant and nursing woman when they break their fast
Some people say that they feed people and do not have to make it up, and that is my position. It is the text of the Qur'an, and in my opinion, the ayat is specific and is not abrogated in respect of the pregnant woman and the nursing woman, the old man and the very aged. Some say that they only make it up and do not have to feed people. Some say that they both make it up and feed people. Some say that the pregnant woman makes it up and does not feed, and the nursing woman makes it up and feeds. Feeding consists of a mudd every day, or scooping up a handful and feeding as man does it.
The right of Allah and the right of others
Interpretation: The pregnant one is the one who is owned by the state (hal). The nursing woman is the one who strives for the make of someone else. Each of them is charged with one of the rights of Allah. Whoever thinks that the debt comes before the bequest, puts the right of others before the right of Allah for the one in need. It is the rule of the moment. Whoever puts the right of Allah before the right of others and sees that the Prophet said that it is better to fulfil the right of Allah, and sees that Allah put the bequest before the debt in the Qur'an in the ayat of inheritance, puts the right of Allah first. This is my position. Allah Almighty says, "After a bequest he makes or a debt." (4:12)
I think that if the right of the creditors is not fulfilled, what remains owing to them in the property of the deceased is paid to them by the Sultan from zakat in the treasury. They are one of the eight categories. The one with a debt has a matter which returns to him in his debt. The bequest is not like that. That is what there is no doubt must be put first with the just person.
The one with the state is not acting for one of the rights of Allah
As for the nursing woman, even if it is for another, that right of the other is one of the rights of Allah since Allah laid down that it be fulfilled. The one with the state is not acting for one of the rights of Allah because he is not responsible in the moment of the state. The nursing woman is like the one who strives for the right of another. That is a right of Allah, so he is doing something that was laid down for him. After this clarification and expostion, we leave you to yourselve to look into the one who must make it up and feed people, or either of the two we mentioned.
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Section on the very old and aged
Scholars agree that if they cannot fast, they do not do it. They disagree about whether they do or do not feed people when they break the fast. Some people say that they feed and some people say that they do not feed. I say that they do not have to feed, although it is recommended for them to do so. I say that feeding is prescribed if one has the capacity to fast. If he does not have that capacity, then the obligation is removed from him in that. There is no feeding in the Shari'a for the one who is like this and lacks that capacity. Allah only obligates a self to its capacity and He did not obligate that it feed. If He had made it obligatory in spite of the lack of power, we would not turn from it and it would be our position.
The one who sees that he has no power
Interpretation: Whoever sees that he has no power, like those who are like us, or that the in-time power has no effect in bringing the object of power into existence and sees that the fast belongs to Allah, has the principle of the fast and feeding dropped from him. Allah says, "He feeds and is not fed." (6:14) He said to verify His close friend, Ibrahim, "who fed me." (26:79) He confirmed him and did not refute him. Feeding is a substitute for an obligation which he is capable of performing. It is not an obligation itself. There is no substitute, so there is no feeding.
The hajjir [Mode of invocation] of the master of this station is "There is no strength except by Allah." He has no way into "You only we ask for help" and he has no part in the nun of "we do" (naf'alu) and the alif of "I do" (af'alu). Among these four extra letters (pronouns). he has the ta' from the highest by the pronoun of the second person and the ya' from the lowest by the pronoun of he-ness (third person). Know that! Success is by Allah.