THE MERITS OF FASTING

There are many merits in observing the fasts.  �The breath of the observer of fast is sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk,� Muhammad tells us.  On the Day of Resurrection, there will be a gate called RayyAn in Paradise, through which only those who have fasted will be allowed to enter-and when the last of them has entered, �it would be closed and no one would enter it� (2569).

The recompense of one who combines fasting with jihad will be immense.  �Every servant of Allah who observes fast for a day in the way of Allah, Allah would remove, because of this day, his face from the Fire of Hell to the extent of seventy years� distance� (2570).

author : ram swarup

FASTING NOT OBLIGATORY UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES

Under certain circumstances fasting was optional.  For example, a fast during a journey could be broken.  �Fast if you like and break it if you like,� Muhammad told a questioner on the subject (2488).

There is even a reward for not observing the fast if you are engaged in the �Way of Allah,� i.e., in the act of jihAd.  �You are going to encounter the enemy in the morning and breaking of the fast would give you strength, so break the fast,� Muhammad tells the believers (2486).

Women sometimes abstained from fasts so that they could perform their duties to their husbands unhindered.  �Aisha reports: �I had to complete some of the fasts of RamzAn, but I could not do it . . . due to my duties to the Messenger of Allah� (2549).  �Aisha reports the same about Muhammad�s other wives.  �If one amongst us had to break fasts [of RamzAn due to natural reasons, i.e., menses] during the fife of the Messenger of Allah, she could not find it possible to complete them so long as she had been in the presence of Allah�s Messenger till Sha�bAn [the eighth month] commenced� (2552).  The translator explains that every wife of Muhammad was �so much devoted to him that she avoided fasting lest it should stand in her way in the performance of her duty as a wife to him� (note 1546).

It was not only from devotion but also because of Muhammad�s injunction that the wives did not fast.  �No woman should observe fast when her spouse is present [in the house] but with his permission.  And she should not admit any mahram in his house, while the husband is present, but with his permission� (2238).  A mahram is a near relative with whom it is unlawful to marry.  A woman can feel free in his presence and thus need not observe purdah.

The translator gives us the rationale for this injunction.  �Such is the regard which Islam gives to the natural instinct of man that it enjoins upon women not to observe (voluntary) fasts, and not to admit even those relatives of theirs in their apartments who are maharam to them so that they may not stand in the way of the husbands to satisfy their sexual urge� (note 1387).

author : ram swarup

SEXUAL INTERCOURSE ALLOWED DURING RAMZAN

The Prophet softens the rigor of the fast somewhat by proclaiming that �eating and drinking in forgetfulness does not break the fast� (2575).  Kissing and embracing too are permissible (2436-2450).  �Aisha, Hafsa, and Salama, Muhammad�s wives, all report that the Prophet used to kiss them and embrace them while fasting.  �Aisha narrates: �The Messenger of Allah kissed one of his wives while he was fasting, and then she [�Aisha] smiled� (2436).

The translator elucidates: �It is one of the great favours of Allah upon humanity that He has guided us in every sector of our life through his Prophet Muhammad.  Prior to Islam, the man observing fast separated himself completely from his wives.  Islam did not approve this practice� (note 1502).

Sexual intercourse is also permitted during the night of the fast.  It has a divine sanction.  �It is made lawful for you to go to your wives on the night of the fast,� says the QurAn (2:187).  In fact, even if one gets up in a state of seminal emission and the dawn overtakes him without giving him time for the ordained bath, he should still go on with his fast.  The state of janabah (in which one is �unclean� and cannot perform a religious act or join in religious assemblies) does not break the fast.  �Aisha and Salama, Muhammad�s wives, report: �The Messenger of Allah at times got up in the morning in a state of Junub on account of having a sexual intercourse . . . in the month of RamzAn, and would observe fast� (2454).  There are other ahAdIs on the same subject (2451-2456).

This hadIs was checked and rechecked by AbU Bakr himself.  At first AbU Huraira thought differently, but when the matter was clarified by �Aisha and Salama, he said, �They have better knowledge,� and retracted his previous position (2451).

Sexual intercourse during the daytime in the month of RamzAn could be atoned for either by freeing a slave or, failing that, by observing a two-month fast or, failing that, by feeding sixty poor men-but during the Prophet�s lifetime, a poor man who violated this prohibition got his expiation at no cost to himself.  Muhammad gave him a basket of dates and told him: �Go and give it to your family to eat� (2457).

Missed fasts could be completed later on at any time of the year.  Women do not fast during the days of menses but are required to complete the fast the following year before the commencement of the next RamzAn (in the month of Sha�bAn).

author : ram swarup

FASTS

There are many kinds of fasts in Islam, but the fast during the month of RamzAn (Ramadan) is considered the most important.  Enjoined in the QurAn, it is compulsory.  �When there comes the month of RamzAn, the gates of mercy are opened, and the gates of Hell are locked and the devils are chained� (2361).

Fasting in the Muslim tradition is rather different from fasting in many other religious traditions.  In Islam, there is no uninterrupted fasting (saum wisal), because Muhammad forbade this practice (2426-2435) �out of mercy� for his Companions (2435).  During fasts eating is prohibited in the daytime but permitted at night.  This has its disciplinary role, but nonetheless there is an attempt to make things easy.  One is advised to eat as late as possible before sunrise, and to break the fast as soon as possible after sunset.  �Take meal a little before dawn, for there is a blessing in taking meal at that time� (2412); and �the people will continue to prosper as long as they hasten the breaking of the fast� (2417).

This approach distinguished the Muslims from the Jews and the Christians, who ate early and broke their fasts late, waiting for the stars to appear.  �The difference between our fasting and that of the People of the Book is eating shortly before dawn,� says Muhammad (2413).  The translator explains the advantages that accrued to the ummah from maintaining this difference.  It �distinguishes the Ummah of the Islam from other Ummahs,� and �hammers� into its consciousness the sense of �its separate entity which is the first step towards prosperity of any nation.� In addition, �taking a meal late in the dawn and breaking fast early at the sunset indicate the fact that one feels the pangs of hunger. . . . This feeling inculcates in one a spirit of humility rather than of stoic pride� (note 1491).

author : ram swarup

The sixth and seventh books relate respectively to fasting (al-sawm) and pilgrimage (al-hajj).  Both of these practices are accounted among the �pillars� of Islam.

author : ram swarup