lest they escape from under the shackles placed upon them and meet the knowledge of Allah with ignorance and denial."

He (may Allah sanctify him) also graced us with his explanation of the meaning of Fasting in his treatise, saying: "Know that the term Fasting [Sawm] is established in the Arabic language as abstaining from speech. It was transferred by the Outward Law from that to abstaining from food, drink, and intimacy with women. This was commanded from the white light of the sun at the end of the night until the setting of its disk. The obligation for that is the duration of the month of Ramadan, and whatever the Muslim wishes to offer outside of the days of Eid and specific counts. Its outward rulings are not inward for the People of the Outward, but its meaning in the Inward is the preservation of God's secret and fasting from negotiating with the ignorant."

In this, He supports His reports regarding the Lady, Mother of Light [Maryam], when she said: {Indeed, I have vowed a fast to the Most Merciful, so I will not speak today to any human} (Maryam 26).

This reinforces our claim that fasting is silence. Its worship was mandated during the day, and the day represents the Cycle of Disclosure [Dawr al-Kashf]. In this cycle, fasting is not permissible because of the appearance of the Truth, but because of the dominance of the power of ignorance over justice.