[Music]
Oh,
what the
wonder
of
[Music]
what
Oh,
[Music]
fasting is an institution as old as
Adam.
It is nature's ancient universal remedy
for many problems. Animals instinctively
fast when they become ill.
We go on vacation from work to relax,
recharge and to regain new perspectives
in our life. Why do we not take
occasional breaks from food?
Though we generally think of fasting
when people hear about Muslims fasting,
they know Ramadan. Every year Muslims
fast for that one month, 30 days.
However, that is the obligatory
principle of fasting. But this period of
fasting doesn't represent the totality
of fasting in Islam. The principles of
fasting because they address so many
different aspects of human psychology,
physical needs, material needs, their
emotional needs. This is not restricted
only to one time in the year. And that's
why the principle of fasting in Islam
includes the whole year.
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
and all three fathers of western
medicine, hypocrites, Galen and
Pariselius
practiced and believed in fasting.
On behalf of the American people,
including Muslim communities in all 50
states, I want to extend best wishes to
Muslims in America and around the world.
Ramadan Karim. Ramadan is the month in
which Muslims believe the Quran was
revealed to the prophet Muhammad
beginning with a simple word.
It is therefore a time when Muslims
reflect upon the wisdom and guidance
that comes with faith and the
responsibility that human beings have to
one another and to God.
All right. So that's a good question.
People ask why is it that if Allah wants
me to worship more, why should I fast,
not eat and not drink? How does not
eating and not drinking help me focus
better, worship better and recite more
Quran during the day? And the scholars
have a very nice answer to this. They
say that when the stomach is full, the
rest of the body parts become hungry.
Your eyes become hungry, you know, your
ears, all other parts, your desires,
your lust increase. But when your
stomach is hungry, the rest of your body
parts become full. And if we were to
take the example, if there's someone
that's in the desert, let's say, or
someone who's starving and he's really,
really hungry and needs to eat first. Do
you think this person has time for
gossip? No. Because his ears become
full. Do you think he has time to listen
to anything that's haram? No. Because
his stomach is empty, his ears are ears
are full. Do you think he has time to
look at haram things? Is that the main
concern? Like he's really starving. He
needs to eat and his main concern is let
me find something haram to look at. No,
because now his eyes become full and his
private parts become full. So as the
stomach becomes empty, the rest of the
body parts are full. It kills. In other
words, it kills all your other desires
and now you can focus on other things.
You can focus on Quran. You can focus on
Allah. You can focus on your worship and
improving your acts of worship. And
that's the whole reason that Allah
subhana ta tells us to put our food and
drink aside so we can worship and focus
on some other things.
A lot of people they're fasting and a
lot of people if you ask them what is
the definition of fasting they tell you
fasting is when you don't eat and you
don't drink from sun up until sun down.
And this is the childhood definition but
people still use it. Fasting is when you
don't eat and don't drink from sun up to
sun down. You know, fasting and the word
s it means to abstain. So it's not just
abstaining from food and drink, but it's
abstaining from everything else that's
bad. From lying, you know, from
cheating, from using prof profanity,
from anything else that is bad, not just
eating and drinking. Unfortunately,
people now they focus on what goes into
their mouth and nobody cares what comes
out of their mouth. You'll find someone
who's so adamant to not get a drop of
water in his mouth. They make woo and
they spit a hundred times after woo to
make sure that not the slightest amount
of wetness goes into their throat. But
then they don't care what comes out of
their mouth. And so you find them during
the day in Ramadan and they are
backbiting. They are spreading rumors.
They are lying. They're using bad words.
They're cursing. But yet at the same
time they exaggerate about other things
that are permissible. Don't take a
shower in Ramadan because you know the
cold water will hit your ears. Who
drinks from his ears? They tell you
don't even smell good food. Don't use
cologne. All these things are not even
required in the religion. But their main
concern is nothing goes in. And yet they
don't care about what comes out. So one
of the things about acts of worship is
that they're to impact the way you
behave. And so fasting is supposed to
impact your manners and your behavior
and the language that you use and make
you more truthful and not lie and so on
and so forth. So it's not just about
what goes in, but more importantly, it's
about what comes out.
All right. The whole idea of the month
of Ramadan is that we're supposed to
acquire good deeds and habits during the
month that will continue for the rest of
the year. All right? Now, what happens
usually, unfortunately, is two people
have two different lifestyles. Lifestyle
A, which is how I live outside of
Ramadan, and lifestyle B, which is how I
change in Ramadan. So in Ramadan, they
read Quran, they pray, they fast, they
don't lie, they don't use profanity. The
guy who smokes stops smoking, the guy
who bites his fingernails stops biting
his fingernails. Every possible
improvement, they make it in Ramadan.
And then when Eid comes, they go back to
lifestyle. A Ramadan's over. The Quran
goes back in the shelf, collects dust,
stops fasting for the whole year, stops
all the other kinds of good deeds, stops
giving in charity, stops being generous
because they went back to lifestyle. A
you know, when you hear the scholars
talking about Ramadan, they always refer
to it as a school, as a madrasa, that
you're supposed to learn something in
this school that you continue for the
rest of the year. So, it's not just that
I'm good in Ramadan and I can move back
to being whatever I am outside of
Ramadan. is for me to acquire good
habits during the month and continue
them for the rest of the year. Now, I'm
going to tell you a quick true story.
This actually happened and in a Muslim
country, there was a man who only prayed
in Ramadan. Outside of Ramadan, he
stopped praying immediately. So, in that
country, they announce Eid on
television. When Eid is the next day,
Ramadan's over, they announce it in the
news. He was praying
and while he was praying, the news was
was on, the TV was on, and my uncle saw
this with his own eyes. The reporter
said that tomorrow is Eid and the guy
went out of his prayer. I know this is
an extreme example but all of us do this
in varying degrees. We have how we
behave in Ramadan and how we change and
the whole idea is to not change
inshallah.
Of course the prophet sallallah.aii
wasallam told us that the believer eats
for one stomach whereas the hypocrite
eats for seven. And there's very
different ways that uh we could
understand this hadith. But one is that
alhamdulillah the believer
whatever they participate in is full of
baraka. It's full of blessing that Allah
subhana t blesses it. From that we we
understand that
a lot of benefit comes out of a very
small amount. So the amount of food may
be small but the benefit that Allah
allows the believer to take from it is a
lot. Whereas the hypocrite of course is
someone who outwardly professes to be a
Muslim but in reality they conceal those
attributes of being a disbeliever.
And so that's the nature of
disbelief in a sense is that nothing
really satisfies that person because
their heart, their soul, their mind is
really connected to the world and the
things of the world. And this these
worldly things never give real
satisfaction. The real the real
satisfaction comes from knowing Allah,
remembering Allah and worshiping him.
And that's what gives rest to the soul.
That's what gives satisfaction to the
heart. And the soul and the heart of
course connected to the body. So if the
soul is at rest, the heart is at rest.
Then also the body of the believer see
feels satisfied. Whereas of course the
exact opposite is the case for the
hypocrite. And that's why they eat for
seven stomachs whereas the believer eats
for one.
So the fast in Islam is a concession
that Allah subhana wa ta'ala has made
for three types of people. Number one,
for the woman. When a woman is in her
menstrual cycle, she's not allowed to
fast the month of Ramadan. So those days
that she misses in the month of Ramadan,
she's expected to make up outside of
Ramadan before the next Ramadan actually
comes. The second category of people are
those who are traveling. So individuals
who travel on business or even people
who are traveling on pleasure uh those
fast that they miss uh while traveling
they're expected to make up after the
month of Ramadan before the next Ramadan
as well. And the last category are those
people who are sick. So an individual
who is sick and fasting may be harmful
towards his health then he is allowed to
skip fasting that day and then he can
make up that fast outside the month of
Ramadan.
The key thing being before the next
Ramadan,
all praise are due to Allah, Lord of the
worlds and peace and blessings be upon
our beloved prophet Muhammad forever.
Alhamdulillah, the month of Ramadan uh
is upon us and this is a time of
fasting, a time of struggling, a time of
joy, a time of uh reflection. The
creator of the heavens and the earth,
Allahh has told us
the regime
that the month of Ramadan is that time
in which the Quran was revealed as a
guidance to humanity and clear evidence
from the guidance and from thean that
which separates truth from falsehood. So
Ramadan in its essence is not just a
time of fasting that the basis of it is
a fast uh from dawn to sunset but it
really is a time of reflection. It is a
time of tawa because we know that our
creator has told us clearly and speaking
to believers.
Allah told us, "Oh you who believe, you
know, fear your Lord in the way he
should be feared and do not die except
in a state of Islam." And that it is
through this month we are able to
fulfill our Islam and the essence of the
month is not just physical it is tawa.
So in a sense that you know through the
the the the uh gaining of the
consciousness of Allah we are able to uh
fulfill our Islam. And so this month is
really um a a month of striving. It is a
month of spirituality.
Uh it is a month in which we're able to
improve our lives and to and to come
together with our brothers and sisters
throughout the world uh in this
beautiful fast and to really uh increase
our tawa to increase um our level of
Islam and inshallah we can gain success
in this life and the hereafter.
The relationship between fasting and
controlling one's desire is a very
direct and correlated one. If you were
to look at the advice of the prophet
wasallam and the advice he gave to the
young men who are unable to get married,
he advised them to control their desires
through fasting. And the wisdom behind
this is that an individual who is
thinking about food will not have time
to think about his other desires. So
therefore when one is hungry and feeling
thirsty, this is a natural instinct that
Allah subhana wa ta'ala gave us and it
overpowers the other desires. So by
keeping oneself hungry and by keeping
oneself thirsty, one won't have time to
be distracted by other desires. And this
was the advice of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. So fasting it helps
controls one's uh physical desires as
well as other desires as well. And this
is what we hope to attain through the
blessed month of Ramadan that one
controls their physical urges through
the day and is allowed to fulfill them
during the night with their spouses.
When you break your fast, there are some
very good reasons why you shouldn't
overeat.
Um, of course, on the top of those
reasons is that the prophet
sallallah.aii wasallam warned us in
general and not just in the Ramadan, but
this is generally true at any time. He
warned us about overeating. In fact, the
prophet sallallah.aii Wasallam said that
enough for the son of Adam is what keeps
his back straight. In terms of food,
it's enough just to eat what keeps you
alive. But if it happens that you have
to eat more than that, then the maximum
that you should eat is a third of your
stomach for food, a third for drink and
the rest should be as the prophet said
left for air. So that is what the
prophet sallallah.aii wasallam said is
that the normal habit for a Muslim
should be to only eat what is enough to
keep them going. Um there are some other
reasons why it's just not a good idea to
eat a lot in Ramadan. Of course it's
really not very healthy for you uh to
over eat when you break your fast. And
the other reason is it'll be very very
hard for you to concentrate on the night
prayers. If you're really bloated, all
you're going to be thinking about is the
pain that you're suffering in your
stomach and you won't be able to
concentrate on the salah.
Um
is the night of power and destiny. And
we know that um in the chapter of the
itself that Allahawel
has revealed to us
that verily we have revealed this Quran
in the night of power and destiny.
And what will explain to you what the
night of power and destiny is? The night
of power uh is better than 1,000 months.
In it, the angels descend dealing with
all types of affairs. And Gabrielisam
descends and there is peace until the
coming of the dawn. And so this is a
time when there is absolute peace in the
spiritual world when the angels descend
and and when the destiny of human beings
is being written you know and when um we
are able to gain uh the the pleasure of
Allahh
uh in a sense um in a way that you will
never see in any other time of the year
because you know as Allah told us it is
better than 1,000
months.
And this is an amazing hour. So this
will give us uh for our prayers and our
fasting, our sodak and all the different
aspects, you know, of our striving, you
know, in this night, great blessings.
And this would fall according to the
prophet peace be upon him, you know, in
the last 10 days, the odd nights of the
last 10 days. The strongest of course
the original is the 27th but we will
look for it in the 21st, the 23rd, the
25th, the 27th or the 29th. And so it is
a time of prayer. It is a time of
struggling. It is a time of worship. It
is a time of reaching out to the
creator. um you know it is a time that
we should not miss and and we should
strive you to get as close as possible
to Allah subhana tala in this blessed
occasion.
One of the reasons why many people
choose Ramadan as a time to give zaka is
because first of all
it's very easy to remember that that is
the time to give zaka. Zaka is one. It
is very very important that zaka is paid
on its time. It is one of those acts of
worship actually is many acts of worship
that should not be delayed. And uh when
one does delay paying one's zaka, it
deprivives your wealth of a lot of
blessing. So therefore, it's very
important to choose a date that you can
remember. And what better time than to
choose a specific date in Ramadan. Also,
many people choose Ramadan as a time to
give zaka because it is a month of
blessings where the benefit of deeds are
increased. So, a lot of people choose
Ramadan as a time to give zaka because
of the increased rewards and blessings
of giving charity at that time.
So the compulsory fast in Islam is
actually one of the pillars of Islam
that Islam lays its foundation upon. The
blessed month of Ramadan is a month that
Allah subhana wa tala revealed to the
Quran in. And this is the month that
Muslims they fast the whole month. So
starting from sunrise to sunset, they
will not eat or drink or fulfill any of
their physical desires. Likewise, they
will not uh incur any form of sin and
abstain from any form of sin. And any
sin that they do commit is actually
multiplied just like any good deed that
they perform during this time is
multiplied as well. So to summarize the
compulsory fast before sunrise, you're
allowed to eat and drink as much as you
like. And the second the adan for fud is
given. Then an individual abstains from
eating and drinking and from physical
relations. During this time from sunrise
to sunset, it is encouraged that one
performs extra good deeds, recitation of
the Quran, um you know, goodness towards
one's parents, righteousness towards
one's neighbor, what any other form of
good deeds that you can perform during
this time is highly encouraged as well.
Um the Eid fa really is the culmination
of the month of the fasting and and this
is the festival you know of the breaking
of the fast and uh it is a time when
Muslims come together and uh they
celebrate you know the their struggle of
the month they're able to reunite with
their family members they they reach out
to the poor um they are able to uh bring
together the community Um it is
important on this time that all the
members of the family come out to the
occasion of the Eid and the prophet
wasallam would pray in the Musah and he
would ask his companions even young uh
girls you know um on their monthly
courses come out you know to the Musah
it's not a masid you know witness you
know this gathering of the believers so
you know in a sense you know it it is a
time that you connect uh with the whole
community and the imam at that point
should be delivering a message you know
which would inspire the people remind
them of tawa you know you know making
prayers for them and you know
celebrating with them you know the great
triumphs uh of the month of Ramadan so
so it is so important you know that
people look upon this occasion you know
as a sacred time you know and and
something that the children will always
look forward to in many countries people
do not give emphasis to the Eids they
will give more emphasis to secular
holidays and secular vacations. But
these are the times that the prophet
peace be upon him and his companions
would make their takers loudly in the
streets. You know, the whole city is is
filled with joy and sharing and giving
and all the people are eating food. So,
it is a time that we need to come
together and and we need to fulfill the
needs uh of the poor and the needy uh
during this time. Edelfeitter
um you know has become for some people
in distant parts of the world it is a
means of survival because it is really a
time you know when the community puts
together its food it puts their hand
their hands together you know and and
the community is able to maintain uh its
culture uh in distant lands and so the
eel fitter has so many meanings uh uh to
people and it is so important for
Muslims and especially those in the
younger generation uh to be part of this
international celebration where people
all over the planet you know are
literally breaking their fast and they
are coming together on this occasion. So
I pray that this would be a successful
one for the Muslims throughout the world
and in it we will gain the the blessings
of allahel
and freedom uh from the fire.
On the outside everything looks good.
You see the $100,000 cars. You see a lot
of diamonds. You see a lot of females.
And they think that this is, you know,
this is the life. This is this is like,
you know, paradise right here on Earth.
It's not anyone's job to go into
someone's heart and change their heart.
Your job is to tell people what the
truth is. And the reality of it is while
we're sitting here, while I'm sitting
here constantly paying for the disease,
the cure was free.
[Music]
Islam, which means to acquire peace by
submitting your entire self to the owner
of peace, the one God, the same God of
Noah, Abraham. And the last and final
messenger sent to mankind, peace be upon
him. Islam is based on these five
pillars and fasting is one of them. But
before we can get to even fasting, you
got prayer. And you also have the main
pillar, which is to worship none but the
one God. To worship the same way all the
messengers of God worshiped. They didn't
worship men, monkeys, saints, and
elephants. They worshiped the creator of
man, monkeys, saints, and elephants.
That God who created the sun and the
moon, who created this whole universe
and everything in it, that God is to be
singled out from his creation and he is
the only one to be worshiped, the one
God. And then you need to obey the
messenger. And the last final messenger
is Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
And then we come to the fasting. Fasting
was prescribed was prescribed to those
before us so we may attain God
consciousness. So we can become more
pious, righteous and to develop
ourselves to be the best human beings
that we can possibly be.
A great emphasis has been placed in
Islam on how we eat.
How much do we eat? That moderation as a
general principle
is the framework in which all of our
practices should be.
and in particular in the area of eating
because eating represents one of the
most basic desires of human beings. It's
driven by the need for survival and
above that the desire for the pleasure
of food. This is a a great uh pressure
that all human beings face which is fed
of course by the media uh the lovely
foods and things that are prepared as
huge businesses and everything behind it
all of which which drives people to
overeat. Whereas from an Islamic
perspective,
keeping
our
uh principles
applied in our daily lives require that
we eat in moderation. And Prophet
Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings
be upon him, did address this 1,400
years ago. He spoke about this concept.
And he said that the believer eats as if
he has or she has one stomach. The
disbeliever as if they have seven. This
is a because there are no rules, no
guidelines which controls how much they
should eat. So they can eat till they
are sick. But for the believer, no, he
eats as if he has only one stomach. And
in that one's stomach. The prophet may
God's peace and blessings be upon him
added further clarification by saying
that the believer should eat a third,
drink a third and leave a third for
breathing that we should never actually
fill the stomach. In fact, the prophet
sallall wasallam added to that that the
worst thing worst vessel that a human
being can fill is his stomach or her
stomach. So even the concept of filling
the stomach is not uh within the bounds
of Islamic law and Islamic life and
culture. So moderation in all things and
especially in eating
maintainer.
He
even after the month of Ramadan, the
prophet, may God's peace and blessings
be upon him, had recommended for Muslims
that they fast an additional six days
from the month after it known as Shawal
any six days. This fasting the prophet
recommended may God's peace and
blessings be upon him saying that one
who fasts for the six days along with
Ramadan gets the reward of fasting the
whole year because in general general
principle in Islam is that one day of
fasting or one good deed is equal to 10.
So 30 days is 300 days. Six more days
makes 60 days. 360 days we've covered
the year. Also besides that, Prophet
Muhammad wasallam recommended that we
fast every Monday and Thursday.
Every Monday and Thursday of every week.
He also recommended that we fast the
13th, 14th and 15th of every lunar
month. These are the days of the full
moon. and also the 10th of Muharam, the
first uh month of the lunar calendar. On
the 10th, we're recommended to fast. So
the principle of fasting is something
which continues throughout the whole
year because the benefits that one
stands to gain from it are not limited
to only a particular time of the year.
So in Islam, fasting is a way of life.
The month of Ramadan
is the month which we are fasting. But
why Ramadan? Why this ninth month? Why?
Because Allah God Almighty stated in the
Quran Ramadan
the month of Ramadan in which the Quran
was revealed. So Allah has linked the
revelation of the Quran with Ramadan.
This was a blessed month. This is where
the final revelation of God to humankind
began.
As such that month was given the special
status to be the month of fasting. So
Ramadan is a month of Quran. This is how
Muslims generally look at it. And that's
why you find that Muslims will try to
read the whole Quran during this month.
Although reading of the Quran should be
throughout the year, but especially in
this month, it was the practice of the
prophet, may God peace and blessings be
upon him to recite the whole of the
Quran from beginning to end.
During this month, people learned the
Quran from him in this way. They
memorized it. They wrote it down in this
period. So this month has the special
significance, the special importance in
that the Quran, the final revelation of
God to man took place in this month.
[Music]
The main purpose of fasting in Islam has
actually been defined by God in the
Quran. It's not left up to human beings
to philosophize as to why do we fast.
Allah very clearly said in the second
chapter of the Quran.
Fasting has been prescribed for you as
it was prescribed for those before you
in order that you be conscious of God
that you gain what is called tawa. Taqua
meaning an awareness and a consciousness
of God. So this is the main goal of
fasting.
How is that achieved? When one becomes
hungry, what is the relationship between
that and God? One could say, well, you
become hungry, you're concerned about
food. That would bring you closer to
food or being more concerned about food.
But no, because of the fact that people
are choosing not to eat food. Of course,
if you're if you're hungry because food
is not available, then your main concern
is going to be food. When you decide
yourself not to eat
now you're not eating because this is a
commandment of God and who knows whether
you eat or you don't eat only God
because you can always slip away when
people are not watching you and eat
something. You can have things in your
pocket, things in your office. People
don't know apparently you're fasting but
in fact you're not. So therefore this is
something what stops you from fast from
not eating is your consciousness of God.
So this heightens your consciousness as
you have the desire to want to eat. You
remember you've made this commitment to
God. So this helps to bring you closer
to God and be to be aware of God
throughout your life. I mean this is the
goal. This is the main goal to be
conscious of God.
Because the goals of fasting, the main
goal of fasting is consciousness of God.
It makes sense then that this principle
must have existed
with the religion of God from the very
beginning. When God prescribed the
religion for the first human beings,
Adam and Eve, part of that prescription
would have been fasting. Because the
need to be conscious of God is not
something which only came along, you
know, 1,400 years ago, how many
thousands of years after the time of
Adam and Eve. No, that is a need which
existed right from the very beginning.
And that is why past fasting has been
prescribed all along. And this is what
Allah has stated in the Quran
as it was prescribed for those before
you. And that is why we find in Judaism,
in Christianity,
fasting existing, even in Hinduism,
Buddhism, and the various other
religions, it's there. Our belief of
course is that the origin was one
religion, Islam, what we now know as
Buddhism or Christianity or Judaism.
These were uh deviations and we could
say a corruption of the original
message. What was retained in that
corruption is fasting. But the original
message was one the religion of Adam was
Islam. So was the religion of Moses, of
David, of Jesus, of Muhammad. May God's
peace and blessings be on all of them.
Fasting benefits on a variety of
different levels.
on the ritual level
uh where a person just fulfills the
basic requirements of not eating from
dawn until sunset.
There is an element of discipline there
that one disciplines one's life. When
one takes a hold of one's life and sets
a period of time when they're not going
to eat, it gives them a sense of
control. This ritual practice gives them
a sense of control over life. And this
is something important because for a lot
of people when they fall into
depression,
it is a result of them feeling that life
has slipped out of their hands. The
control over their lives lost. So this
can help even in people who are in
states of depression. That's why fasting
has a benefit even to those who are
depressed that it helps to give them a
sense of control which they're losing.
But that's on the ritual level. And of
course this is really only beneficial if
we take that ritual level to the spirit
to to the physical level. And this is
really only beneficial if the person
follows the principles that the prophet
may God's peace and blessings be upon
him set because
though the rule says you don't eat after
dawn
and you eat at sunset. Now people may
eat huge meals for the dawn meal.
They may eat full meals so that they
fill themselves up and then they spend
the rest of the day their bodies are
just digesting this food till finally
the digestion process ends just before
just before the time to break the fast
and then they go and they break the fast
again with the full meal all the way
until the morning. So they don't
experience hunger at all. They've
fulfilled the letter, the ritual letter
of the law, but they haven't really
fulfilled the spirit. So the spirit is
and requires a light meal
for should be a light meal, very light
meal. So that during the day of fasting,
one experiences hunger because most of
us never experience hunger really. The
hunger pangs where we feel pain in our
stomachs, you know, because we want, you
know, it's empty, we want some food. To
experience that hunger pang is an
important part of fasting because what
it does is it gives us a sense of
empathy and sympathy for those who are
feeling those same pangs of hunger, not
because they chose not to eat, but
because there's no food to eat. So when
one experiences that they have a sense
of of emotional and uh psychological
connection with those who are suffering
that not by choice and hopefully that
would then motivate them to want to
share with those who don't have anything
to eat. So even on on that physical
level where the fast is done according
to the principles of the prophet may
God's peace and blessings be upon him
then one benefits from that uh
experience of hunger maybe for the first
time in their lives or first occasion in
the year or whatever they experience it
and can relate to those who are
experiencing it starving around the
world because otherwise normally people
talk about the starving millions and
it's just an idea. It's just a thought.
Yes, people are starving but what does
it mean to starve? If we haven't
experienced that hunger, real hunger,
then it's difficult really to sympathize
and be motivated to want to sacrifice
for them. So here is a benefit, a real
practical benefit from fasting in the
correct way. Another
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of the benefits that come actually from
the physical level of fasting as medical
experts have pointed out that when a
person fasts it affects the endomorphine
system in the body that it causes the
brain to produce more endomorphins which
are the basic elements which cause us to
feel good you know where we uh feel a
sense of well-being. This is from the
production of endomorphins in the
system. Fasting causes the body to
produce more. So it is good in terms of
giving a person a sense of feeling good
and again for those people who are
depressed this is very very important.
Also medical experts have pointed out
that fasting causes the body to start to
consume the cholesterols. So it reduces
the level of cholesterols in our systems
and as those people who are involved in
weight loss and weight gain and all
these type of things dieting and that
they know it's a lot of it is related to
cholesterol. So uh fasting has been
employed by many of the various dietary
systems in order to to uh decrease
weight in Islam. I mean our main goal is
not to decrease weight. I mean because
you shouldn't have gained weight in the
first place where people have have
warped the practice of Ramadan
uh where it becomes a month of feasting
instead of fasting. You find people
ending the month kilos more than they
started the month. Of course, that's
because they've they've misunderstood.
They're not following the principles.
They're following the ritual, but not
the true spiritual uh guiding principles
in fasting. So, what weight loss takes
place and there should be weight loss,
what weight loss takes place is healthy
weight loss. It's not fasting to an
extreme where it starts to become
damaging to the system but fasting in a
controlled way where it is beneficial to
the system.
Fasting also affects human beings on the
libidinal level where our desires for
sexual relations are one of the basic
drives that all human beings have
put in us for reproduction and
procreation. It has a place but where
the media and uh the world pumps this up
to the point where we break laws and we
are involved in all kinds of corruption.
Fasting helps to gain control of this.
Give people a sense of control over
their physical desires. And that's why
the prophet may God peace and blessings
be upon him had said, "Oh young people,
those among you able to get married
should get married.
Those who are not able should fast
because it breaks the desire. It is a
means of decreasing
the sexual desire. Fasting has that
effect. So a person who fasts on a
regular basis then he or she has a good
handle on their life. They have control
over the natural desires. So they're not
driven by the natural desires into a
state of
animal existence.
Unfortunately this is what has happened
to much of the world where people are
just driven by desires. So fasting helps
to put desires back under human control
especially sexual desires because of
course we know fasting is not permitted
uh sexual sexual relations is not
permitted during the daylight hours of
fasting. So one may have the desire but
one puts a cap on it because of the fast
and the fast helps to reduce the desire
especially the last 10 days when the
prophet may go peace and bless be upon
him had recommended that we seclude
ourselves in the mosque where we don't
even involve even in the nights in
sexual relations. So onethird of the
month we're encouraged also to leave it
all together just for that period to
gain a greater sense of control over
one's desires.
Coming to the truth requires two things.
It requires deep thinking that you've
already done. But it requires another
step and that's courage. If you have the
truth but you don't have courage, you
won't stand up for the truth. And that's
as good as standing up for falsehood.
I I would say this thing that you just
told me, it's not in the scripture. And
they would say a marginal note added by
a scribe. Yeah. Okay. We know that. And
I'd be thinking, if you know this is not
the Bible, why are you preaching it as
if it's gospel truth?
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Fasting also has an emotional dimension.
among the biggest or greatest
uh drives that we have in an emotional
level is anger. Um and we express our
anger by speaking ill of people, by
shouting, by you know a variety of
different ways. Fasting helps us to gain
control over it because the prophet may
God's peace and blessings be upon him
but said that one who doesn't control
his tongue or her tongue so that they
are backbiting telling lies screaming
shouting etc then he said god has no
need for their fast
there's no reward in that fast
so if one is not able to control one's
emotions during the fast then In fact,
one has nullified the value of the fast.
So the fast challenges us on a variety
of different levels. And this emotional
level is a very critical level because
isn't it where emotions go crazy run
arai that we end up killing hurting
screaming
the a lot of the the crime or the the
the uh abuse or these kind of things
that happen in society. It's coming from
on an emotional level. people who lack
control over their emotions. So fasting
addresses this topic, this issue
directly.
If one is serious about fasting, then
they must put a handle on this.
And fasting during this blessed month of
Ramadan, the same way that all the
messengers of God, they all fasted, but
they also worshiped one God. They didn't
worship multiple gods. They didn't
worship a triune god. They didn't
worship a man god. They didn't worship a
monkey god. They didn't worship dead
people in graves. They didn't call upon
saints and idols. And you know, it was
the same way of life. That way of life
that called a person to acquire peace by
submitting yourself entirely to the
owner of peace. Who the owner of peace
is the one who created this whole
planet. You me who created Jesus Moses
and the last and final messenger sent
the mankind the prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him they all worship the creator
and not what he created and they all
prayed the same way we're praying
falling on their face we fall on our
face we prostrate
to the one God not to his creation and
we fast and we fast because that helps
us in so many ways so many ways ways.
There's so much wisdom behind it. You
feel what it is to be hungry.
You develop yourself to have better
character, better manners, and so many
other wonderful things.
On a psychological level, fasting plays
a major role in training the human being
in principles of patience. We're living
in a society where immediate
gratification
is a premium. Everybody puts a premium
on it. You want to be to find whatever
you want immediately. Whatever you
desire, it should happen now. This sense
of immediacy that we have which is
urgency. So fasting helps to settle
things back down. Put it in its proper
place. Be patient. Be able. This is this
these are good life we could say life
skills you know emotional psychological
life skills which everybody needs to
develop. Fasting promotes it because
there is no immediate gratification. You
fast you have to wait till the end of
the day before you can eat you know. So
it teaches you to delay. You can wait.
you get a sense of of control over your
life again in the sense of not having a
burning desire for immediate
gratification. So this is very very
important because of the nature of the
society in which we live today which has
promoted this concept of immediate
gratification
to the highest possible level. So people
have no patience.
Fasting teaches patience.
Among the things which people are often
plagued with is the desire for the
things of this world that we become so
attached to life in the sense of the
material life that we can't find a sense
of contentment. We're always after this
and after that and after the other. When
we've gotten this, then we want that.
When we've gotten that, we want the
other. That's life. We're just driven
running from pillar to post after the
material things of the life. Fasting
helps us to detach to detach us from the
material life.
Why? Because food is one of the most
basic elements of material life.
We can do without a house, but we can't
do without food. So, it is a basic
drive. So where we're able to put it
aside, this helps us to detach ourselves
from the worldly life. So it doesn't
become the be all and the end all for
everything that there are some things
which are higher and greater spiritual
issues which go beyond who we are. Who
is our creator? What is our relationship
with that creator? What is our purpose
here in life? These are bigger questions
that we need to address and we don't
need to be blinded by our needs and our
desires for the worldly life where we
lose track of the more important aspects
of our life. So fasting then helps us to
detach not to detach ourselves totally
because of course this is
suicide. We're not trying to kill
ourselves when fasting. No, we are only
trying to reduce our attachment.
And that is very very important for us
to really find contentment in this life.
Fasting also addresses
a spiritual need that we have which is
salvation from sin.
One of the ways and the means by which
we can remove sin from ourselves is
through fasting.
The prophet may God's peace and
blessings be upon him had said that
whoever fasts Ramadan sincerely.
Allah will forgive their previous sins.
So it is a means of erasing sin.
It doesn't mean, of course, that people
say, "Well, okay, I'm going to be a
sinner for the next uh 11 months and uh
when Ramadan comes along, I'm going to
be a good Muslim and fast and so my sins
are all forgiven and I can be a sinner
for the next 11." No, no, it doesn't
work like that. Because if we are
deliberate sinners for those 11 months
with the plan to remove the sin during
Ramadan, what's going to happen is we're
going to be sinners in Ramadan, it's not
going to do the job. This is about
sincerity. Whoever fasts Ramadan
sincerely. You can't fast Ramadan
sincerely and then plan to sin for the
next 11 months. This just doesn't go
together. I mean on paper you can put it
down or you can say it but reality is
not the case. So a person who as human
beings we commit sins we have errors we
try to turn back to God seek his
forgiveness etc throughout the year in
this month where we sincerely fast it
helps to erase whatever we were unable
to erase.
If we're sincere sincere with the fast
so it has this purifying quality to it.
Fasting in Ramadan erases the sins of
the previous.
So on this level, on the spiritual
level, fasting plays an important role
in giving a person a sense of
becoming pure,
removing from oneself,
sin, corruption and evil, moving towards
goodness. This is a spiritual need which
we all have. And the prophet, may God's
peace and blessings be upon him, had
said that one who fasts through Ramadan
and didn't get his sins erased,
he has
played with the fast. The fast is not a
real fast.
This is an opportunity which a person
has which no one can afford to let go.
So it's very important for us when we go
into the fast of Ramadan as Muslims, we
should be very sincere and very careful
about this month. As non-Muslims, of
course, a person is not obliged to fast
this month, but to experience what it is
like, I would encourage you
find out,
experience and see the benefits that can
come from it.
Fasting
is prescribed by God for all of
humankind.
Only Muslims are really doing it now,
but it was prescribed for all of
humankind.
Islam is a religion which puts
great emphasis on communal worship that
we worship God together.
We see it in our daily prayers. We
gather together in the mosques and we
pray. The Hajj where people gather
together and make pilgrimage to Mecca.
Fasting also is a collective
act of worship. We fast together though
individually it's between the individual
and God. In the end, it's all man and
God, woman and God, you know, and as an
individual, we have to reconcile
ourselves with God. But
that individual act is strengthened and
supported by the collective
participation of the society as a whole.
And that's what fasting in the month of
Ramadan is. The rest of the recommended
days are up to individuals. You fast
maybe collectively with your family or
maybe only you yourself or whatever. But
at least once in the year for that full
month of Ramadan, the whole of the
Muslim world fasts together.
It is a collective act of worshiping
God. reminds us of the collective that
we are a part and parcel of one human
race who have a responsibility to
worship God alone to worship God
collectively and to worship him
individually.
So the collective act of worship
fasting is emphasized in Islam by the
sighting of the moon
when everybody begins the fast. the
sighting of the moon when everybody ends
the fast and then after the fast itself
the very first day the collective prayer
known as the Eid prayer
and the giving of zakat which is charity
given at the end of the fast all of this
is done collectively so it is a part of
the sharing
the
feeling of
fasting and coming close to God together
which heightens that overall feeling in
the individual. Fasting is a collective
duty as well as an individual duty in
Islam.
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