The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
Section Two:
Refraining from Eating Meat
Some of them did not eat meat. They used to say: "Eating one
dirham worth of meat hardens the heart for forty days!"
Others used to refrain from eating all good foods. They cited the
Prophetic tradition: "Deprive yourselves from good food, for the
devil circulates in veins more aggressively when eating good food."182
Others used to refrain from drinking clean or cold water, and others
used to bury their water-bottles in the ground so that the water
became hot. And others used to abstain from drinking water for a
long time.
Abu Yazid said: I complained to Allah about myself, so my ownself
did not agree with me. So I decided (threatened myself) not to eat
or drink for a year, so myself agreed with me.
Abu Talib al-Makki made a schedule for $ii.ft food. He said: "I
prefer for a murid not to eat more than two loafs of bread a day.
Hunger reduces the amount of food that flows to the heart, so it
becomes whiter and glows more. And it melts the fat off the heart,
so it becomes tenderer, which is the key for having visions."
Others used to reduce the frequency of their eating, so they would
eat once a day, then once in two days, and so on. And some used to
weigh how much food they ate by placing a fruit on one wide of the
scale and his food on the other. So each day the fruit became dryer
and lighter, so the amount of food he ate lessened as well.
182
The author included this in his book of fabricated }:iad:iths (al-Mawdii'al) 3/30.
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