Original content

English translation

His saying, exalted is He: 'And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient (2:155/al-Baqara).'

And his saying, peace be upon him: 'A hungry stomach is more beloved to God than seventy heedless worshippers.'

Know that hunger has a great nobility and is praised among the nations and peoples; for outwardly the hungry person's mind is sharper, his nature more refined, and his body healthier — that is, for one who has no excessive greed and who has readied himself for spiritual discipline: 'For hunger is submission for the soul and humility for the heart.' The hungry one's body is submissive and his heart humble, because through it the carnal strength is brought to naught.

And the Messenger of God, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, said: 'Make your bellies hungry and your livers thirsty and your bodies bare, that perchance your hearts may see God with their own eyes in this world.'

Keep the stomach hungry, the liver thirsty, and the body bare, so that perhaps you may behold God Almighty with the heart.

If the body suffers affliction from hunger, the heart gains radiance from it, the soul gains purity, and the innermost self (sirr) gains the divine vision (liqa). And when the sirr attains the vision, the soul attains purity, and the heart attains radiance, what loss is it if the body suffers affliction? For satiety has no great worth; if it had worth, they would not fatten beasts of burden; for satiety is the business of beasts, and hunger is the remedy of men. Hunger cultivates the inner self (batin), while satiety cultivates the belly. One person spends his life cultivating the inner self so that he may become singular for the Truth and detached from attachments; how can he be equal to one who spends his life cultivating the body and serving the body's desire? For one, the world is needed in order to eat; for another, eating is for the sake of worship. 'The forebears used to eat in order to live, and you live in order to eat.' The forebears ate in order that they might live; you live in order that you may eat. So there is a great difference between this and that. 'Hunger is the food of the veracious (siddiqin) and the path of the aspirants (muridin).' After God's decree and destiny, the expulsion of Adam, peace be upon him, from Paradise and his estrangement from the proximity of the Truth was for the sake of a single morsel.

And in truth, one who is compelled by necessity in hunger is not truly 'hungry' (jayi'); for he is a seeker of eating through his very eating. So one who stands at the degree of hunger is an abandoner of eating, not one prevented from eating; and one who, while food is present, forsakes it and bears its burden and hardship — he is truly hungry, and the fetter of Satan upon him is nothing but hunger, and the imprisonment of the soul's desire is achieved only through hunger.

Kattani says, may God's mercy be upon him: 'It is part of the rule of the aspirant (murid) that three things be found in him: his sleep only from being overcome, his speech only from necessity, and his eating only from want (faqa).'

The condition of the aspirant is that three things be present in him: his sleep only from being overcome, his speech only from necessity, and his eating only from want.

And according to some, 'want' is two days and nights, according to some three days and nights, according to some a week, and according to some forty days; for the verifiers hold that true hunger comes once every forty days, and this is life-sustaining. And whatever appears in between that is the greed and delusion of the soul (nafs) and nature. Know — may God grant you well-being, and praise be to God, Lord of the worlds — that the veins of the people of gnosis are wholly proof of the divine mysteries, and their hearts are the place of the exalted gaze. From the hearts into their breasts doors are opened, and intellect ('aql) and desire (hawa) sit at the threshold of that. The spirit (ruh) aids the intellect, and the soul (nafs) aids desire. And the more the natures receive nourishment through foods, the stronger the soul grows and the more desire is cultivated; its excesses become more scattered through the limbs, and in every vein a differently-formed veil appears from its spreading. And when the seeker withholds foods from it, desire grows weaker and intellect stronger, the strength of the soul becomes more severed from the veins, and the mysteries and proofs become more manifest. When the soul is halted from its own movements and desire is annihilated from its own existence, the false will is effaced in the manifestation of the Truth. Then the entire desire of the aspirant is attained.

And from Abu'l-Abbas al-Qassab, may God's mercy be upon him, it is related that he said: 'My obedience and my disobedience are bound up in two rounds of bread: when I eat, I find in myself the substance of all disobediences, and when I withhold my hand from it, I find in myself the root of all obedience.'

But hunger bears the fruit of contemplation (mushahada), of which spiritual striving (mujahada) is the leader. So satiety with contemplation is better than hunger with striving; for contemplation is the battlefield of men, whereas striving is the play of children. 'So satiety while witnessing the Truth is better than hunger while witnessing one's own effort.'

And concerning the meaning of this expression much may be said, but for the sake of brevity I have abridged it, and God knows best.