nor the affectation of wearing rags, nor unbroken fasting (wiṣāl), indeed not even fasting every day of one’s life. The religion of Islam is ease itself—an upright and gracious way—so let the Muslim eat of what is wholesome whenever it is available, as the Exalted has said: “Let the affluent spend according to their means” (Al-Ṭalāq 65:7). Women were the most beloved of all things to our Prophet (1)—peace and blessings be upon him—and likewise meat, confections, honey, cool sweet drinks, and musk, while he remains the noblest of creation and the dearest of them to Allah, Exalted is He.

Now, when a worshipper devoid of knowledge embarks upon asceticism—renouncing the world, going hungry, withdrawing into seclusion, abandoning meat and fruit, and subsisting on nothing but a pinch of flour and a dry crust—his senses grow sharp and delicate. The stirrings of the self then beset him, and he begins to hear a “voice” generated by hunger and sleeplessness—by Allah, that voice has no reality outside his own mind. Satan slips into his inner being and slips out again, so the man imagines he has “arrived,” that he has been addressed and elevated. The devil thus gains mastery over him and whispers to him; he comes to look upon the believers with disdain, to recall their sins, and to regard himself with the eye of perfection. Matters may reach the point where he fancies himself a saint, endowed with miracles and firm footing, or else he may fall prey to doubt and see his faith shaken.

Seclusion and starvation are the very ABCs of monasticism, and none of that belongs to our Sacred Law. Rather, the complete path is: scrupulousness in one’s provision, scrupulousness in speech, guarding the tongue, constant remembrance, avoiding much mingling with the masses, weeping over one’s sin, reciting the Quran with measured tones and reflection, despising and censuring the ego for Allah’s sake, abundant prescribed fasting, continual night prayer, humility toward the Muslims, maintaining family ties, generosity and a cheerful face, spending even in straitened circumstances, speaking the bitter truth with gentleness and composure, enjoining what is acknowledged as good, embracing pardon, turning away from the ignorant, standing guard on the frontiers, striving against the enemy, making pilgrimage to the Sacred House, and partaking of the wholesome things Allah has provided.