Those who fast begin to “read” the creation as a “book”

The first verse “Recite” (Alaq, 1) is revealed to the one who fast… The scattered is united; forgotten tastes awaken on the tongue of the one who fast… Time freezes. Space crystalizes. Gardens cease to be mere coincidence. Fruits are no longer haphazardly there. For the one who fast, all that used to be seen as ordinary becomes unique, and one.

In fasting, she sees the seemingly disconnected as whole. Perhaps for the first time in her life, her surroundings become meaningful. Everything looks beautiful “as a book.” And so she begins to “read” … reading the pieces into a meaningful whole. She begins to see the universe as a “book.” Everything gains meaning. And bread and water is seen with a new soul…

And so the one who fast starts to live in a universe where everything is created anew every moment. She is bewildered at what she sees. Because she sees it for the first time… She is thankful to what she eats. Because it is the first time she tastes. She learns to touch in the name of her Creator. She remembers that she has not always been here, but came temporarily. She realizes that she is not going to be here always, just for now… She renews herself too… She becomes a new perspective to this world…

She begins to “read” in excitement. Her “bismillah” (in the name of God) is no longer merely words, but penetrates her heart. In this world where she owns nothing, she sees that she is living with the permission of the One. She notices that she has been welcomed to existence only and only by the grace of God. What her lips utter, her heart joins wholly: “Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.”

Senai Demirci
(translated by Nur team, nurspirituality.org)