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After prayer the second obligatory duty which every Muslim
is required toper- form is that of fasting during the month of
Ramadan. The word sawm which has been used in the Holy Qur'an
and the Hadith for fasting means" to abstain" ; thus
a horse that abstains from moving about or from eating the
fodder is said to be sa'im. In the technical language sawm
signifies fasting or abstaining from food and drink and sexual
intercourse from the dim beginning of dawn till sunset.
Fasting as an institution for the purification of the soul
is common to all Divine religions. The writer of the article
on" Fasting" in the Encyclopadia Britannica states
that" it would be difficult to name any religious system
of any description in which it is wholly unrecognized."
This institution was well established among the Jews and the
Christians.
The records of the Hadith bear ample testimony to the fact
that fasting was a common religious practice among the
pre-Islamic Arabs too, and they used to observe fast on the
tenth of Muharram because it was on this very day that Allah
saved Moses and his companions from the clutches of the
Pharaoh who was drowned in the sea along with his army. The
Arabs and other people too were familiar with fasting as an
act of penitence or of propitiation or a preparatory rite
before some act of sacramental eating or an initiation or a
mourning ceremony.
In Islam fasting is primarily an institution for a
spiritual discipline and selfcontrol. It is in fact an
exercise in religious devotion in the form of cheerful and
willing renunciation, for a definite period, of all the
appetites of flesh lawful in themselves (the unlawful ones
being ruled out of course). The Qur'an says:
0 ye who believe! prescribed unto you is fasting even as it
was prescribed unto those before you. that haply you may
become God-conscious (ii. 183).
Of all the creation of God only man deviates from His path.
We will find that two things are mainly responsible for this:
the love for material possessions and the tempta- tions of the
flesh. Islam has, through the institutions of Zakat and
Sadaqat, purged the hearts of its followers from the love of
wealth, and has inculcated in him the habit to part with it
readily for the sake of God.
Fasting has been ordained as a religious duty for the
Muslims for subduing their lust and keeping their appetites
well within reasonable bounds so that man may not become their
slave and lose control over himself. The Qur'an clearly states
that a man cannot attain salvation unless he learns to
restrain his self from low desires." And as for him who
fears to stand before his Lord and restrains himself from low
desires, Paradise is surely the abode" (lxxix. 40-41).
The exercise of abstaining from things otherwise lawful in
the ordinary course of life, at the behest of Allah,
strengthens man's morality and self-control and deepens in him
the consciousness of the Lord. This is what distinguishes
fasting in Islam from fasting in other religions.
It should also be borne in mind that fasting does not aim
at inflicting punishment upon people or sadding upon them
unbearable burdens. The underlying idea behind it is to teach
moderation and spiritual discipline so that human temptations
may not become so wild and uncontrollable as to flout the
commands of the Great Master. To be a true servant of Allah,
it is essential that man should be able to conform his
behaviour to the moral and spiritual discipline embodied in
the Shari'ah of Islam. One cannot achieve this end if one
finds oneself helpless before untamed and turbulent desires.
Fasting is indispensable for this moral and spiritual
training.
Another distinguishing feature of Islamic fasting is that
it does not train a person for complete renunication but for
perfect and cheerful obedience to the Lord All those things
from which man is commanded to abstain during fast, e. g.
eating, drinking and sexual intercourse, become permissible
for him at the end of the fast. This shows that Islam does not
look down upon the appetite of flesh as something ignoble and
thus fit to be exterminated root and branch from the human
soul. According to Islam, there is nothing profane or ignoble
in human personality: both soul and body are sacred and worthy
of respect. No aspect is to be ignored and no urge is to be
completely curbed. What is required is to keep all these urges
well within their proper limits so that none of them
transgresses natural bounds and becomes the source of trouble.
That fasting is an institution for moral elevation can be
judged from the fact that Allah does not impose check only
upon eating, drinking and sexual intercourse from dawn to
sunset, but also exhorts His servants to refrain from other
foul acts, for ex- ample, backbiting, indulging in foul
speech, telling lies, etc. Abu Huraira reported Allah's
Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: If one does not
abandon falsehood and other actions like it, God has no need
that one should abandon one's food and drink (Sahih Bukhari).
The social aspect of fasting in Ramadan is that the whole
atmosphere is permeated with religious piety and devotion to
Allah. There is one extra congregational prayer, Tarawih,
during the night, in which the Qur'an is recited and the
Muslim is reminded of the fact that it was in the month of
Ramadan that the revelation of the Qur'an commenced. The
sadaqqt are also given with greater zeal and fervour in this
month. Thus the whole Muslim society is inspired by the love
of God. Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be
upon him) as saying: When Ramadan begins, the gates of Heaven
are opened, the gates of Hell are locked, and the devils are
chained (Bukhari and Muslim).
Muhammad Asad, while elucidating the spiritual and moral
significance of fast says:" Twofold I learned, is the
purpose of this month of fasting. One has to abstain from food
and drink in order to feel in one's body what the poor and
hungry feel: thus social responsibility is being hammered into
human consciousness as a religious postulate. The other
purpose of fasting during Ramadan is self-discipline, an
aspect of individual morality strongly accentuated in all
Islamic teachings (as, for instance, in the total prohibition
of all intoxicants, which Islam regards as too easy an avenue
of escape from consciousness and responsibility). In these two
elements-brotherhood of man and Individual self-discipline -I
began to discern the outline of Islam's ethical out look"
(Road to Mecca, London, 1954, p. 188).
Ramadan
What is Ramadan?Ramadan is the fasting month for
Muslims, where over one billion Muslims throughout the world
fast from dawn to sunset, and pray additional prayers at
night. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to Allah,
and self-control.It is the ninth month in the Islamic
calendar.Allah says in the Qur'an:"The month of Ramadan
is that in which the Qur'an was revealed as guidance for
people, in it are clear signs of guidance and Criterion,
therefore whoever of you who witnesses this month, it is
obligatory on him to fast it. But whoever is ill or traveling
let him fast the same number of other days, God desires ease
for you and not hardship, and He desires that you complete the
ordained period and glorify God for His guidance to you, that
you may be grateful".Qur'an (2:185)After the end of
Ramadan comes one of the two Muslim festivals, the
Feast.
On this day, Muslims thank Allah for His guidance
and grace in helping them controlling their desires and
fulfill their spiritual needs throughout the whole
month.Fasting Ramadan is third "pillar" of the Five
main Pillars of Islam, fasting has many special
benefits.
The most important of them all is that it is a
means of learning self-control. Due to the lack of
preoccupation with the satisfaction of physical needs during
the daylight hours of fasting, a measure of ascendancy is
given to one's spiritual nature, which becomes a means of
coming closer to Allah.Ramadan is also a time of intensive
worship, reading the Qur'an, giving charity, purifying one's
behavior, and doing good deeds.
For Muslims, Ramadan is not a holiday; it is
rather an opportunity to gain by giving up, to prosper by
going without and to grow stronger by enduring weakness.Also
fasting is a way to experience hunger and develop sympathy for
the needy people, and learn thankfulness and appreciation for
all of Allah's bounties.
Fasting is also beneficial to the health and
provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or
overindulgence.Allah prescribes in the Qur'an that all able
bodied Muslims must fast. This will develop in them a
consciousness that will guide them to the right behavior and
prevent them from wrongdoings.
To obtain this result, a Muslim must stick to
both physical and spiritual aspects of fasting. The physical
aspects include abstaining from food, drink and sexual
intercourse.The spiritual aspects of fasting are as important
as the physical ones. The fasting person must abstain from
lying, cheating, argumentation, fighting, foul language and
every sort of evil.In this month, one must establish close
relationship with Allah, a keen sense to observe His
commandments throughout the year. Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said
that if someone does not give up falsehood in speech and
actions, God has no need for such a one to give up his food
and drink. (Meaning that fasting doesn't mean just depriving
yourself from food and drink and sexual relation with you
wife, but it also means cleaning your soul from any source of
evil.Moreover, the Qur'an was first revealed in Ramadan.
The last ten days of Ramadan are a time of
special spiritual power as every Muslim tries to come closer
to Allah through praying, reading Qur'an, devotions and good
deeds. The night on which the Qur'an was revealed to the
Prophet, known as the Night of Power (Lailat Al-Qadr), is
taken to be one of the last 10 nights of Ramadan. The Qur'an
states that this night is better than a thousand
months.Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said that on each night of
Ramadan Allah frees many souls from from Hell.
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