24 Jul, 2013
The Herald
Since fasting involves exercising control of the physical body, many religions consider fasting a way to cultivate mental discipline, and use it in connection with prayer or meditation to make it a more powerful experience.
Fasting is a fundamental worship in Islam that provides a great platform to gain self-control, piety, humbleness, sympathy to poor, sincerity to God and success in Hereafter.
The month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is specifically mentioned in Holy Qur’an to be the Month of God in which fasting is obliged to all Muslims.
Eating and drinking are from primary needs of humanity and it is counted as something usual and natural. But what is fasting and what is its result? Why should we desist from edibles and drinks which are available for us? What is the effect of staying hungry and thirsty in the month of Ramadan?
The purpose of fasting is to illuminate the heart and mind of man aimed at bringing about comprehensive revolution in his individual and collective life. One month of fasting enables human beings to distinguish the lawful from the forbidden for the rest of 11 months in a year. In a way, the holy month of Ramadan is a refresher course that tightens controls on oneself.
There are various aspects associated with fasts and they also possess numerous physical, moral and spiritual benefits. These tend to have a great impact upon man. The philosophy of fasting in the Islamic culture is to teach tolerance and train-patience and to feel for the sufferings of the poor.
Fasting exterminates the desire of the self and the appetite of greed, and from it comes purity of the heart, purification of the limbs, cultivation of the inner and the outer being, thankfulness for blessings, charity to the poor, increase of humble supplication, humility and seeking refuge in God; and it is the cause for the breaking of worldly desires, the reducing of evil things, and the redoubling of good deeds. It contains benefits which cannot be counted.
Fasting makes man’s soul kind, strengthen his determination and moderate his instincts. When an individual fasts, despite his hunger and thirst, he must stay away from food, water and sexual pleasures and prove practically that he is not an animal within a stable, but an entity that can rein in his wild soul and overcome his lust and carnal desires.
Fasting is aimed at enabling man to achieve the pinnacle of gratitude, which is a higher station than patience.
It seeks to purify the soul, self, heart and mind of all impurities that tend to pollute them. Human body is composed of matter, which needs food and other material stuff for its survival, while the soul is a delicate entity whose growth and development is dependent on the renunciation of worldly and material things. The respective demands of body and soul are contradictory with each other.
Fasting reins in the material forces, thereby strengthening soul. The more one gets rid of lustful desires through fasting, the more energetic and powerful one’s soul becomes. Through this repeated act of fasting, the process of purification of self gets accelerated rubbing off all impurities from the soul.
Since it controls the unruly instincts, it makes man’s heart pure and luminous. In short, fasts heave man out of the world of animals and elevate him into the realm of angels, and the Qur’an expression: “O” you who have Faith! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those who have gone before you, so that you may guard yourselves (and remain firm against evils, sins and slips)”. (Qur’an, 2:183), while mentioning the philosophy behind the fasts, also bears an allusion to all of the above realities.
In his book NahjulBalagha, while explaining the philosophy of the various acts of worship, the first Imam, Ali ibnAbiTalib, says regarding fasting: “God ordered the observance of fasts for fostering (the attribute of) sincerity within the people).”
From the social aspect, fasting awakens emotions and sentiments. Wealthy and well to do people, who eat different varieties of food the whole year are unaware of people who are hungry. The person, who fasts, remembers the hunger of the poor and becomes aware of their sufferings and as a result emotions and sentiments are awakened in them, and this reduces the gap between various classes of people and reminds them to fulfil the needs of the poor. Fasting gives this great social subject a perceptible form to those who observe it. Verily, if the populations of rich countries throughout the world customarily fast a few days a year and feel the taste of hunger, will there still remain so many hungry people in the world?
On the moral aspect, Imam Jafar al-Sadiq the sixth Imam from the family of the Holy Prophet of Islam, once said: “A person who merely abstains from eating and drinking will not always be counted as one who is observing fast.” This means that when one observe fasting, the ears, eyes, tongue, etc. must also be observing fasting and must not perform any unlawful actions.
Your hands, feet, and all the parts of your body must also be observing fasting and must commit no sin. Only then will your fasting be accepted by the Almighty God.
Further, from the point of view of health and hygiene, its curative and preventive value cannot be denied. It cleans the body system internally and shakes off the unconsumed food which usually takes the form of surplus fat and overweight, and becomes the cause of many diseases and discomforts.
The best way of defending against these sicknesses is to annihilate them by means of abstinence and fasting. In a well-known tradition, the Noble Prophet of Islam says: “Fast, in order that you become healthy”.
Spiritually, the deepest longing of man’s heart is actually for peace, we can see how often we lose peace because we are egotistical, selfish, envious, jealous, avaricious and consumed by power and honour. Experience confirms that through fasting and prayer, evil, egoism, and selfishness are overcome; the heart is opened and love and humility, generosity and goodness grow. Thus, true conditions for peace are realised.
Whoever has peace because he loves and forgives also remains spiritually and physically healthy. He remains capable of shaping his own life in a manner worthy of man, who is the most exalted of God’s creatures. Through fasting and prayer, human needs are also diminished and brought to proportion. Also by this, conditions for peace along with a proper relationship with others and material things are being created.
This is also why it is not accidental that all of the divinely appointed prophets, together with Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and many others mentioned in the Bible and Qur’an, have called man to fasting and prayer, so that he may open himself to true peace.
The unification of the body and soul in prayer are particularly manifested in fasting and prayer.
The physical fast makes prayer more complete. A person who fasts prays better and a person, who prays, fasts more easily. In this way, prayer does not only remain an expression or words, but includes the entire human being. A person experiences his helplessness more easily when he fasts and that is why, by means of the physical fast, the soul is more open to God.
From the above, it is evident that fasting and prayer are inseparable just as man as a whole, comprised of the spirit, soul and body, is inseparable, without inner peace, outer peace is impossible.
In Zimbabwe this year the month of Ramadan has coincided with holding of harmonised elections, this is an opportunity for the Zimbabwean Muslim community to focus their prayers on the peaceful elections and peace after the elections. Let us fast and pray, to God whose essence is Peace to grant peace to Zimbabwe and the rest of the world.
Sheikh Abdullah Makwinja
