FAST! HUNGER WILL BREAK THE PRIDE OF YOUR EGO!
You are the Sultan, the Sultan of Sultans. You are the Great, no-one can be great, only You, our Lord. Every
greatness is nothing in front of your Divine Greatness. We are nothing. In this holy month Allah Almighty grants us
from his Endless Blessings and we need his Blessings. Although we are nothing, we claim to be something by
giving ourselves empty titles so that we can get a value. But even if you try to give this value to yourself, it is
nothing. It is useless. As long as a person wants to give himself a value, he will be cheap, cheaper, cheapest...
Because as long as someone is claiming to be something, he will be looking at his own power, his knowledge, his
position, his business, his rank, his family, his race, his richness... With all this he will want to give himself a value,
but in reality he is becoming cheaper and cheaper and he will fall down into the dustbin and become rubbish
himself. If you try to be something, I will come and look at you when you are dying, and after death I will look to see
how you are. You will probably be smelling badly! Is that your value? You, who are claiming to be such an
important one! If you really think you are so valuable, let me take you to the market of dead bodies after you have
died, and then let us see how valuable you are!
Yes, that is the value of all of those who are claiming to be something now. Some people put stars on their
shoulders or badges. Even children are proud when they wear lions, or wolves or foxen on their pocket.
People are not using their mind and that is why they are becoming like small children. They are happy and even
proud with such useless things. Pride only belongs to the Lord of Heavens. He has the right to be proud, no-one
else. No-one has the right to be proud. This century is the century of pride. Everyone are proud-ones. When they
are proud they will be jealous, envious, merciless and injust people. All those characteristics come from pride. Of
all creatures, the first proud-one was Satan. He claimed to be proud, and all the angels kicked him down. He was
kicked from the highest position to the lowest.
We are fasting. We must fast, because we have been ordered to. Since the first man until today, it is a heavenly
order: "Oh, mankind, you must fast!". Fasting makes you humble. When you are full, you will be proud and it is not
for you, to be proud. That is why it is the most important worshipping, to fast. The Seal of Prophets mentioned to
his nation and to all nations: "For everything there is an entrance, and the entrance of worshipping is fasting.
Without fasting, you cannot be a worshipper. Why? Because your ego will not let you. It will first reject, object and
refuse to be a servant. Your ego will tell Allah, "Come down and I will go up!" That is how dirty the characteristics of
the ego is. It is the worst creature that has ever been created, your ego. But it is so powerful. It even asks Allah
Almighty to come down! It will never accept to be a servant. Try it yourself. Everyone has an ego. Do you think that
your ego is an obedient servant? Isn't it always rejecting and refusing to fast and pray and to do this or that? Isn't
it always asking to do wrong things? It always wants to be against the rules of heavens. It wants to be free. What is
that foolishness of the people of the 20th century? They want to be free-ones! That is the claim of their egos.
They do not want to be under any control or command. They want to be absolutely free. That means they are
saying, "You are there Allah, I am here!" May they be forgiven...
Nothing can be more effective to put the ego down, than hunger. When Allah Almighty created the ego, He asked,
"Who are you and who am I?" The ego answered, "You are you and I am I." It did not say, "You are my Lord and I
am your servant!" Allah then ordered the ego to be put 1000 years into hell-fire. After that the ego was asked the
same question again and it gave the same answer. It was then ordered to be put into the cold hell for another
1000 years. Again it gave the same answer. It was then ordered to be put into the valley of hunger for 1000 years,
hungry. When it was brought out and asked, "Who am I and who are you?", the ego answered, "You are my Lord,
my powerful Lord and I am your weak servant." It was trembling.
Nothing except hunger can make the ego declare servanthood. That is why since the first man, we have been
ordered to fast. It is in the Old Testament, New Testament and all other Heavenly Books. The fastings in those
books are very difficult. The easiest fasting has been given to the nation of Sayyidina Muhammad, may peace be
upon him. Even for his nation, fasting was difficult in the beginning. During the first few years, the companions of
the prophet were only allowed to have a break of the fast between maghrib and isha. After isha they had to fast
again. So they has a fast of 22 hours. Then Allah Almighty made it easier for the nation. We can eat and drink and
enjoy all night until dawn. Even if it is the easiest fasting, many people are not observing it. But it is the best
treatment for our physical being and also the best treatment for our egos. It is also the best treatment for our
souls, to enable them to go up to the heavens. While you are fasting, your soul is asking to reach higher levels in
the heavens.
Try to keep this rule of fasting as much as possible. If you are new and you haven't been fasting before, try to fast,
make the intention. That is the most important factor of obediency and worshipping. Allah Almighty will not accept
any worship without the intention. You must intend to do a worshipping for the pleasure of Allah Almighty, intending
to follow his Holy Command. If not, it is not a worshipping. Use your intention! "I am praying for the pleasure of my
Lord! I am fasting to follow his Holy Command and to make him happy and pleased with me." Every action that a
believer wants to do, should be done in the rememberance of Allah, to make Him pleased with us. If you want to do
anything, and you know it is going to make Him pleased, then do it! If not, then don't do it, beware! Some
punishment can come to you sooner or later. Don't be cheated, if the Lord Almighty Allah gives you your
punishment later, it doesn't mean that He is not punishing. No! Don't be cheated if He is delaying his punishment. It
only means that He is waiting to see if you are repenting, or not. He wants all his servants to ask for pardon.
When you intend, you will find the capacity to fast, to complete your fast. If you are a beginner and you do not
reach that point, even though you have intended, and on the first day of fasting you realise at noon time that you
cannot continue, then break your fast. Try the second day. You can then improve and add another hour, and so
on you add one more every day. By the middle of Ramadan you will be able to complete your day. That is a way,
step by step to reach our target. Don't say that you can't, and don't be too strict. Even our children are not too
keen on worshipping. Teach them step by step. And with new Muslims be tolerant, oh Muslims! Don't say anyone
is impossible. It is only a question of training.