Fasting Invaluable Benefits [Archives:2000/49/Culture]
Abdullah Saleh Hussein Al-Hashidi
Sana’a University
In Ramadan (the 9th month of the Lunar Islamic year) Muslims fast in obedience to Allah’s command and in gratitude for Allah’s Grace for revealing His Glorious Book, Al-Quran, in this month.
Fasting in Islam is to abstain from eating drinking and from sexual activates from dawn to sunset. It is also to avoid all bad talks and deeds and to devote oneself to prayers, recitation of the Quran in Ramadan.
People who are bound to fast should be physically fit, sane and have reached puberty. People who may not fast are specially mentioned either in the Holy Quran or in the Hadith. The Holy Quran mentions the sick and those on journey in following words: “But whoever among you is sick or upon a journey, he shall fast like a number of other days, and those who find it hard to do so may effect a redemption by feeding a poor man” (2:184)
Other exceptions include women in their periods, pregnancy or breast feeding. However, these women are bound to make up for the fasts they have broken and complete a number of days after Ramadan.
Fasting in Islam has a lot of invaluable benefits for all Muslims both in life and after death. Fasting according to Islam is primarily a spiritual discipline and an act of worship for which man will be rewarded. What is it that makes us voluntarily undergo such rigors? It is nothing but faith in Allah (God) and the fear of Him. In other words, fasting stands as a framework of the spiritual life on which the structure of Islam rests. In the Holy Quran Allah Says “So they should answer My call (by fasting) and believe in Me, so that they may find the way (to Me) (2:186). In Hadith too, special stress is laid on the fact that the seeking of divine pleasure should be the ultimate object in fasting.
No temptation is greater than temptation of satisfying one’s thirst and hunger when drink and food are in one’s possession. However, this temptation is overcome, not once or twice, as if it were by chance, but day after day simply for the purpose of developing a sense of nearness to Allah. At home there is none to block the fasting man if he pours down his burning throat a glass of delicious drink, yet the Divine Presence, which may be a matter of faith to others, becomes a reality for him. Allah says in the Holy Quran “Verily, those who fear their Lord unseen (i.e. they do not see Him, nor His punishment in the Hereafter), theirs will be forgiveness and a great reward (i.e. Paradise). (67:12)
From another point of view, fasting has an immense impact on society. Fasting as prescribed in the Holy Quran has also a more effective social value than that realized through prayer. All Muslims irrespective of their status must fast during the same month. This emphasizes the essential equality of men and thus goes a long way towards creating in them sentiments of love and brotherhood. It’s only in Ramadan that the rich can feel the pangs of hunger like the poor by going without food for a day. This experience, in fact, undoubtedly awakens sympathy for the poor in the hearts of the rich. During Ramadan evil conceals itself while good comes to the fore and the whole social atmosphere is filled with piety and purity.
Fasting offers many important physical values. Ramadan is considered to be an annual rest given to digestive organs. This rest increases the organs’ capacity for work and make them more productive. It’s been scientifically proved that the better the capacity of the digestive organs, the healthier is the physical growth of man. Moreover, fasting is a very affective means for man to help him face the hardships of life, when he has to live without his usual comforts.
There is also a moral advantage underlying fasting by which man is taught the greatest moral lesson of his life that he should be prepared to suffer the greatest privation and undergo the hardest trial rather than indulge in that which is not permitted to him. Ramadan represents a training ground where man is trained to be the master of his desire and appetites instead of being their slave. The man who is able to make his desire work the way he likes is the man who has attained the true moral greatness.
In conclusion, we can say that fasting has been imposed on us mainly for our own advantage. Those who do not fulfill this primary duty can not be relied on to perform their other duties. They show by their conduct that they are not loyal members of the Muslim community. Only the worst can be expected of such hypocrites.
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