The Way Forward - Ramadan

Yes, fasting is not merely a commandment from Allah but a godly gift, a grace and a blessing. God the creator of our body and soul knows of our need to fast for its benefit for our spiritual life, development and our eternity. He granted us the knowledge and manner of fasting. As a kind and a wise Master, He has recommended fasting for us. Fasting precedes every grace and service


Through fasting, we prepare ourselves to receive every blessing that God offers us. Feasts bear for us certain blessings. This is why fasting precedes every feast. It is a time when people come close to God. A time when God comes close, listens to their yearning and lamentations and acts.


As long as people are preoccupied with their desires, lusts of the body and materialistic things, they feel that God stands far away from them. However, it is not He who detaches Himself from us but we, who push Him away rejecting Him and refusing to approach Him. On the other hand, during a fast intermingled with prayer, man draws near to God. He, who realizes the benefits of fasting and its effectiveness in his life as well as in his relationship with God, rejoices over it.


Joy of Fasting

True fasting is to train oneself in self-control, to follow for the rest of your life. Self-control becomes a blessing for his life, not only during the time of fasting when we change the time and the food we eat, but also during the normal days. In this context, fasting is not a punishment but a blessing.


Fasting and Martyrdom

It is natural that he, who cannot abstain from food, would find it difficult to offer his life. Through continuous training and negligence for the bodily needs, a courageous soul is trained to endure hunger and thirst, bring the body into subjection to conquer the desires and lusts of the body. It is able to endure the hardships of imprisonment and the pain of torture. These people were able through God’s grace, to offer their bodies up to death at the time of martyrdom.


Thus fasting became the training of the spiritual school of martyrs, not only in the physical sense, but also from the spirituality gained in fasting. Days of fasting are not only for our spiritual deeds, repentance, and coming closer to God, but they also help evoke our love for eternity with Him. Man therefore harbors no fear when faced with death since he is prepared for it. Rather, man is happy that he is to rid himself of his body to meet with God.


What is important is the spiritual aspect of the period of abstinence. It is far more important to discuss the method by which man may benefit spiritually from his abstinence than on the formalities and laws that govern the period of abstinence. A person may not benefit spiritually if they follow a non-spiritual method, even if he abstains from food until the ninth hour or even sunset.


What is, therefore, the spiritual way?

1. The period of abstinence must be one of renunciation and asceticism caring not for the body. You should therefore not think about when and what you will eat while abstaining from food, nor find pleasure in preparing what you will eat. On the contrary, the period of abstinence should be a time when you elevate yourself totally above the levels of eating, materialism, and food.

2. After the period of abstinence, do not eat greedily, for he who abstains from food, then eats what he covets, or chooses certain foods that he enjoys, has not subdued his body, humiliated it, nor rid it of its lusts. This indicates that he has not benefited spiritually from the period of abstinence, a time of renunciation and asceticism if he greedily eats what he lusts for. It is like he who demolishes what he has built... all in vain! Fasting is not to build then demolish, and build again only to demolish, without the desire for growth!

3. Do not wait in anticipation for the end of the abstinence period as to what you will eat. Do not hasten to eat when the time comes. When it is time to eat, pray for a while, then eat. Do not pounce on food.


Let the spirit not the hour guide you

Elevate yourself above food, material things and the body in-order to move forward to the depth of abstinence. As for the period and time of abstinence, it would be beneficial if it led you to the feeling of hunger. Many abstain from food, then eat without feeling or enduring hunger. They are without patience to profit from fasting spiritually. He who hungers becomes aware of his weakness. Thus he defeats his sense of self-delusion, from self reliance and excessive self-confidence. Bodily humility and weakness leads him to spiritual submission. When the body is humbled, the soul is humbled, feeling the need for support and pleads to God for strength. God desires that through hunger that man may identify his weakness. Prostration is therefore more effective when hungry than with a stomach filled with food.


Do not escape from the feeling of hunger through idle talk, wasting of time or sleep which you may resort to in order to overcome the period of hunger without feeling it. By escaping from hunger, you forfeit its blessings, spiritual benefits and the virtue of endurance and control over the body. Our aim is to benefit from hunger and not escape from it. You become inwardly humble when you are physically fatigued which allows you to pray in humility and help you to relinquish pride, vanity and self-complacency. As for he who stands to pray in might, health and the strength of iron, where will submissiveness come from? Two minutes prayer whiles hungry are better than hours when full. In fact, a hungry person longs for prayer, while he who is full often forgets. That is why most faithful people pray before eating.


Self Control

Therefore, if you fast but still give your body what it craves for, then in truth you had not fasted. Thus, distance yourself from things that you crave so that you may overcome your body and subject it to your will. Do not seek special food or ask for it to be prepared in the manner that you like.


Is not marriage lawful? Yet, those who fast stay away from sexual intercourse while fasting in order to have self control.


Fasting is not merely a virtue for the body apart from the soul, because any virtue requires the participation of the soul. True fasting is a spiritual act primarily taking place inside the heart. The soul rises above the level of materialism and food, and above the level of the body. It leads the body along in victorious procession and spiritual desires. The body expresses this through fasting. If we confine our definition of fasting to the humiliation of the body through hunger and deprivation of what it covets, we will be adhering to the negative aspect of fasting, ignoring the positive and spiritual ones. Fasting is a time when the soul flourishes and lifts the body up with it. Fasting is the bodily expression of abstinence from materialism and the longing the love of God. Fasting helps one keep vigilant, practice prostration and set the mood for prayer. Fasting is control over the will and a triumph over desires. We fast because it helps us shun worldly and materialistic things and to make us ready for eternity and oneness with God.


You must devote three things: your heart, thoughts, and will

You should not be overly occupied with food and drink. Rather, your abstention trains you to have a strong will over what your at and drink. When you succeed in controlling what you eat, your will submits itself to God in all things and your desires will be nothing but what God wants. This is the wisdom behind fasting. Controlling our desire for food extends itself to controlling our conduct, which displeases God. It is not sufficient to abstain from while at the same time unable to control certain sins! You should strive to submit your will to God in all that you do, saying to Him, “Let it not be my will but yours.”


Therefore, find out where your will departs from God’s and concentrate on those areas in particular in order to present to God a virtuous willpower that will please Him. Your training while fasting will stay with you after it, and it will be unlikely that you commit those sins again which you were able to control and shun while fasting. If you are unable, then what have you gained from your fast?

Many of us have learned that the Prophet used to say a particular prayer when he was about to initiate a travel. We hear this prayer every time we travel on some airlines of Muslim countries. Yet hardly ever is this prayer translated so that passengers who do not speak Arabic should understand it. Like every special supplication the Prophet said, this one is particularly relevant to the situation at hand. Since it is at the beginning of travel, then it touches on every aspect of the travel.


Abdullah Ibn Omar reports: “When the Prophet mounted his camel to start a journey, he would say Allah-u Akbar three times. He then would say two Qur’anic verses that may be translated as: “Limitless in His glory is He who has made all this subservient to our use. We could not have done it by ourselves. To our Lord we shall most certainly return.” (43: 13-14) He will then say this supplication: “Our Lord! We appeal to you to keep us in this travel of ours on the path of goodly action and righteousness, and to help us do what will win Your acceptance. Our Lord! Facilitate this travel of ours, and make its far destination near. Our Lord! You are the Companion in travel and the One to take care of our families. Our Lord! I seek refuge with you against hardship during travel, ugly sights and unpleasant return to family and property.” On his return journey, he would say the same supplication and add to it: “Returning we are, having repented; we worship God; and We give all praise to Him alone.” (Related by Muslim, Abu Dawood and Al-Tirmidhi)


When we look at this supplication by the Prophet we find that it addresses all aspects involved. It begins at the point when travel is initiated. At the time, it was when the traveler mounted his camel or horse and is about to leave. Today, this may be said as we board a plane, get on a train or start the car. The first thing the Prophet said was to glorify God. Then he added a glorification from the Qur’an, thanking God for making his mount subservient to him. This verse will apply in any case of travel, whatever means of transport is used. “He who has made all this subservient to our use” applies to train, plane, motor car, or ship as much as it applied to horse and camel. All these are made available to our use by God’s grace. We could not have made them so without God’s help.


Having thus acknowledged God’s favor in making our mode of travel available, we appeal to Him to make our journey one of good action. When a person travels, he feels that he enjoys freedom that might not be available to him at home. Considerations of social values, family ties and various commitments may make such freedom difficult to enjoy at home. When abroad, one may have freedom and time to do as one pleases. Remembering the values of righteousness, however, will help him steer away from temptation and do what is likely to please God.


The supplication appeals to God to make the travel easier to complete, and trust one’s family to His care. It concludes with an appeal to make the return a pleasant one.