Fasting is a practice common
to many religious traditions. The Quran alludes to that fact in the
verse that prescribed fasting upon the Muslims:
“O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was
prescribed for those before you, that you might achieve piety.”1
Jews fast on Yom Kippur,
one day a year. They also have other scattered fasts of less importance.
Although Jesus fasted (And he fasted forty days and forty nights and
afterward he was hungry;2),
fasting is no longer a part of the religious practice of most
Christians. Restricting food intake is also a part of many
secular ways of life, but the goal of such practices is very different
from the goal of fasting in Islam. Some people, who are concerned with
"natural living" and holistic health, fast to purify the body of toxins.
In these fasts, solid foods are eliminated, but the person may drink
water or juice. The most widespread Western form of restricting food
intake is dieting. The only real goal of this practice to reduce weight.
Most dieters are women. Their motive is to look as much as possible like
models and actresses held up as the ideals of beauty in a steady barrage
of movies, TV shows and advertisements. The more extreme forms of this
state of mind are anorexia and bulemia. This obsession with outer
appearance is the very opposite of the Islamic goal in fasting.
The above-mentioned verse
has made clear the goal of Islamic fasting: “…that you might achieve
piety.” The word taqwaa, translated as piety, is
derived from a word meaning “protective shield.” The Qur’an repeatedly
promises that those who achieve taqwaa will gain the good of this
life and the Hereafter. When the Prophet’s companion 'Umar was asked to
explain the meaning of taqwaa, he illustrated it with a
metaphor: A man trying to walk through a field of thickly planted thorn
bushes holds his clothes close to his body and maneuvers carefully to
avoid tearing his clothes and skin. A person who achieves taqwaa
is in a state of constant awareness of God. He thinks about how to
please God by doing good and guarding against evil.
In Islamic fasting, no
food, drink or intercourse is allowed from the first light of dawn until
sunset during the entire lunar month of Ramadaan. These actions
are permitted during the night. People who are temporarily sick or
traveling may break their fasts, but they must make up the days they
missed. Menstruating women and women bleeding after childbirth are not
permitted to fast, and they must make up the days they missed. People
with chronic illnesses should feed a poor person for each day they miss,
and they do not have to make the missed days. Scholars agree that
pregnant women and breastfeeding women who fear for their own health or
the health of their children may forego fasting as long as their
conditions persist. Scholars differ whether they must make up the missed
days or feed a poor person; in other words: are they to be considered
like someone with a temporary or a chronic condition? Two of the major
scholars among the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
considered them to be like people with chronic conditions, who need only
feed the poor.
Fasting reduces one’s
desires. It trains a person in self-restraint. He becomes accustomed to
keeping a watch on himself. If one can forgo what is normally lawful for
a limited amount of time, one should be able to forgo what is always
unlawful. It shifts the focus of one’s attention from bodily needs to
spiritual needs. This focus is complemented in Ramadaan by the
exhortation to spend more time reading Quran and praying extra prayers.
For the fast to be rewarded, refraining from food and drink must also be
accompanied by refraining from unlawful acts. Prophet Muhammad
said, “Whoever does not abandon falsehood in word and deed, Allah has
no need for him to leave his food and drink.”3
Proper fasting causes the stomach to shrink. When one breaks the fast at
sunset, one cannot eat as much food as one normally would in a meal
during the rest of the year. A light meal should also be taken toward
the end of the night to prevent fasting from becoming very difficult.
When these guidelines are followed, fasting cleanses the body and the
soul. Some weight is lost. One frequently experiences a great feeling of
serenity while fasting. Feeling the pangs of hunger should also make a
person empathize with those who feel hungry not as a matter of choice
but because they can’t find enough to eat. Thus Ramadaan becomes
a month of giving charity as well as fasting.
Many Muslims fast in a way
that technically qualifies as fasting, but in reality achieves none of
the goals of fasting. They gorge themselves at sunset on delicacies that
no one bothers to prepare the rest of the year. Instead of praying extra
prayers they play cards or engage in less wholesome diversions and snack
and drink throughout the night before gorging themselves once again just
before the dawn. Then they crawl into their beds like a python that has
just swallowed a whole sheep. They may or may not pray the dawn prayer.
They may wake up at noon. Some of them only wake shortly before sunset,
just in time to prepare themselves for another night of festivities.
Fasting is obligatory on
healthy, adult Muslims only in Ramadaan. However, there are a
number of other days when it is recommended, such as three days at the
middle of each month and every Monday and Thursday. Regular fasting
helps to maintain the state of mind achieved in Ramadaan.
