OBJECTIVES OF FASTING

1. As already stated, fasting brings passion under control. Passion is the root of all evils, and this can be regulated by the method of fasting. In case of excessive food or drink, it raises its head and plays tremendous havoc in the spiritual world. It is a natural law that the more is the physical weakness of the body, the more is the weakness of passion. For example, a man having a strong urge of sexual passion is ordered to fast. (27:3) Daily practice of such a fast with a little quantity of food taken at regular intervals will completely annihilate the sexual urge. Similar, is the case with other evil tendencies. Allah created man and his passions. He knows the best medicines for passions and therefore He has prescribed fasting. Our fasting does not benefit Almighty Allah, nor does our eating; but when in His Wisdom, He decreed fast, He did it that we may be given health of body and soul.

2. Fasting enlivens the soul from its lethargic state, while excessive eating makes it blind and dark just as excessive water destroy crops. Excessive eating makes a man dull and stupid and deprives him of the power of thinking.

3. Fasting gives taste in prayer. By the practice of fasting, prayer is enjoyed. A full belly can never taste in the sweetness of prayers and invocations. His prayer ends only in tongue and does not enter a heart that is full with food.

4. Fasting removes a false sense of prestige. It removes pride because a hungry man finds himself weak and naturally turns towards One Who is strong. Hunger, thus, makes a man modest and turns the mind towards the Almighty Allah for help.

5. It saves time and trouble. Fasting reduces the period of sleep, and thus, a great deal of time is saved for work. Excessive eating keeps a man engaged very often in taking and responding to frequent calls of nature while this time can be saved by fasting.

6. Fasting saves money. Fasting saves expenditure, and thus, helps the economy. This is no less useful to a worldly man having small means.

7. It greatly contributes to the preservation of health. The great American Physician, Dr. Dewey, said: Take the food away from a sick man’s stomach, and then you have begun to starve not the sick man but the disease. The digestive organs are given rest to work with redoubled energy and vigour just as a land which was left without cultivation for one year brings abundant crops in the year following or just a man can work with redoubled vigour after some rest. Spiritual progress depends on healthy mind, which again depends on a healthy body. Therefore, the value of fasting for preservation of health is very great.

8. Fasting teaches democracy. A King may pray with a beggar in the Mosque but at home he may lead quite a different life by taking foods at his pleasure and by having sexual relations with women. Fasting, however, places all men, rich or poor, on the same pitiful plight of hunger and does not allow anybody to take food or drink or to have sexual relations in the daytime.

9. Fasting teaches sympathy for the hungry. Fasting is the only thing that gives sense of pangs of a hungry man in the mind of the rich. Thus, his sense creates a spirit of kindness to the poor and the distressed. It also gives rise to the thought how the people will fare on the Resurrection Day when they will feel the greatest urge of hunger and thirst.

10. Fasting teaches moral discipline. Fasting is a training ground for the lesson that man, whatever his rank and position, is prepared to suffer the greatest privation and the hardest trial. This lesson is learnt from day-to-day. This practice really contributes to the moral development of man. Fasting accustoms a man to face the hardships of life and increases his power of resistance.

11. Fasting keeps faith in Almighty Allah as a living force. A fasting man can easily satisfy himself by taking food or drink in the inner recesses of his house. There is none to see him if he pours down some drops of water in his thirsty throat but he feels that Allah is near him and so he restrains himself. Thus, the existence of Almighty Allah is felt closer. This is not for once or twice but regularly for the whole month. In this way, faith in Allah is kept alive and a new consciousness of a higher life is awakened. For this, the Quraan says: Only the patient will be paid back their rewards in full without measure. (39:10)