Fasting of Ramadan
While commanding fasting in Ramadan, the Quran states: So that you may guard yourselves against evil. (2:183)
The word used here is Taqwa, which literally means to protect oneself. For example, if a person walks carefully through a thorny path, that caution is taqwa. A believer must pass through life in the same way—protecting himself from harmful things. This careful and cautious way of life is called taqwa. And the month of Ramadan is a month of training for this taqwa.
In fasting, giving up food and water is symbolic. The real thing to give up is what God has made haram (unlawful). Temporarily leaving lawful things is just a small example of permanently staying away from forbidden ones. Because the one who is willing to give up what is halal (lawful) for the sake of God will be even more ready to leave what is haram.
The test of a person in this world is to recognize the difference between halal and haram. He should be someone who can distinguish between right and wrong, and who chooses a disciplined life over a free and careless one. Fasting has been made obligatory to train believers for such a responsible life.
Fasting is not just about its outward form; its real spirit is also essential. That is why it is mentioned in Hadith that: “Whoever fasts but does not give up lying and acting upon lies, then God has no need for him to give up his food and drink.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1903)
During the time of the Prophet, some people fasted by avoiding food and drink, but they still engaged in backbiting, which is forbidden in Islam. When the Prophet came to know about this, he said that they had given up something God made lawful and then broke their fast with something God has made unlawful.
A life of taqwa can also be described as a life of caution. One type of person lives without any care or caution—saying or doing whatever he wants. The other kind follows a life of principle, choosing actions carefully and avoiding anything that goes against his values. This is how a muttaqi lives. A muttaqi is someone completely cautious, who submits his speech and actions to the will of God.
Fasting develops this same habit of taqwa and caution. The month of Ramadan trains a person to live the rest of the year as a cautious user of permissible things and an abstainer (fasting) from forbidden things.
During fasting, a person does not only give up food and drink. He must also give up many of his habits. He controls his desires. In doing so, he learns how to stay away from certain things. He learns how to live by giving up some of his wants and needs. Fasting is a form of deep training in self-control. Through fasting, a person declares that—let alone haram—he is even ready to give up halal for God’s sake.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar calendar. In Islam, it is declared the month of fasting. Fasting in Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and has been given great importance.
Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim have narrated that the Prophet said: “Every good deed of a person is rewarded from ten times to seven hundred times. But regarding fasting, God says: ‘It is only for Me, and I will reward it Myself. My servant gives up his desire and his food for My sake.’ The fasting person has two joys—one at the time of iftar, and the other when he meets his Lord. And the smell of the fasting person’s mouth is more pleasant to God than the fragrance of musk. Fasting is a shield. So, when one of you is fasting, he should neither speak abusively nor raise his voice. And if someone insults him or tries to fight him, he should say, ‘I am fasting.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1904; Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 1151)
In a Hadith, the month of Ramadan is called “the month of patience” (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 7577). This shows why fasting holds such a high status and why it has been promised unlimited reward. The reason is that fasting is the worship of that teaches us patience. Fasting is an act of endurance. By giving up food and drink, a person symbolically announces that he will live in this world with patience. He will remain firm on God’s commands in every condition, even if it requires hardship and self-restraint.
The Quran says: Truly, those who persevere patiently will be requited without measure. (39:10)
This verse tells us that, in God’s sight, among all deeds, patience has the highest value. Any act of obedience that requires patience becomes so beloved to God that He promises a limitless reward in return for it.
This is the special status of fasting. Fasting is training in patience. Through the act of fasting, a person learns to control his desires and remain firm on God’s command. He controls his needs for God’s sake. He puts aside personal desires to fulfill the obligations of religion. Because fasting trains a person in this great quality of patience, its reward is also very great.
Because of this special aspect of fasting, it is said in a Hadith that if someone misbehaves with a fasting person, the fasting person should not respond badly. Instead, he should remind himself: “I am fasting.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1894) It is as if one is saying, “I am in a course of patience and self-control. If I lose my patience now and react, then I have destroyed the very purpose of fasting.”
Fasting certainly brings great reward. But this reward is only for the one whose fast becomes a fast of patience. The one who learns through fasting that while living among people, he must tolerate unpleasant situations. He must respond to harshness with gentleness.
Even if others create provocative situations, he must avoid getting provoked. Whatever wrong he faces from others, he should leave it to God—and continue to treat everyone with kindness.
There are two ways of obeying God. One is in normal situations. The other is in difficult and trying times. Deeds done in tough situations are always greater than those in ease. Patience is a great act—and fasting is a month-long training course for this act.
If seen deeply, the entire religion of God is a religion of patience. The whole Quran is a book of patience. Every teaching of Islam includes this element in one way or another.
To live an Islamic life in today’s world means that a person has decided to leave a non-Islamic lifestyle and bring his life under Islamic principles. This world is a place of test. That’s why, in every matter, a person is given two options. When someone chooses a religious life, he is leaving one path to follow another. This transition is not possible without patience. That’s why patience becomes essential in every Islamic action.
In this world, a person must turn away from the path of Satan and walk the path of God. He must abandon a life of desires and adopt a life of discipline. In dealing with others, he must avoid haram and interact only within halal boundaries.
To leave one path and firmly choose another, patience is necessary. The value of fasting lies in the fact that it develops this very patience in a person.
All India Radio, New Delhi, 7 February 1994.
