Kaff
Definition
Kaff — literally 'holding back' — is the quality that al-Ghazali places at the centre of his analysis of fasting. He argues that fasting is essentially a training in kaff: the capacity to hold the self back from what it wants. This capacity, once developed through the disciplined practice of the Ramadan fast, generalises to every domain of life — the person who has genuinely learned kaff from their fast finds it easier to hold back their anger when provoked, their eyes from the unlawful, their tongue from backbiting. The fast is a school; kaff is the skill being taught.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Kaff.
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"time. So He tells us that He punished them for holding back from faith when it came to them and they recognized it and turned away, by overturning their hearts and their sights and standing between them and faith — as God Most High said: O you who believe, respond to God and to the Messenger when He calls you to what gives you life, and know that God comes between a man and his heart. So He commanded them to respond to Him and to His Messenger when he calls them to that which gives them life. Then He warned them against holding back and delaying that response, for this becomes a cause of His coming between them and their hearts."
— Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume Two
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"whenever it falls short of it, it is miserliness and stinginess. Courage has a limit: when you overstep it, it becomes recklessness; and when you fall short of it, it becomes cowardice and faintheartedness. Its limit is advancing in the places for advancing and holding back in the places for holding back — as Mu'awiya said to Amr ibn al-As: It has worn me out trying to tell whether you are brave or a coward. You press forward until I say, He is the bravest of men; and you shrink back until I say, He is the most cowardly of men. And he replied:"
— Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume Two
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"In the two Sahihs from Abu Hurairah, it is noted that he would pause between the opening takbir and the recitation. The hadith prohibiting praying while holding back urine is recorded by Ibn Majah and Al-Daraqutni from Abu Umamah. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, forbade praying while one is withholding. Abu Dawood also narrates from Abu Hurairah that it is not permissible for a man who believes in Allah and the Last Day to pray while holding back."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 4: The Book of Prayer
Appears in
1 book in the library
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