Website: www.aaiil.uk
Some Aspects of
Fasting
Friday
Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz,
for Lahore
Ahmadiyya UK, 13 February 2026
|
“O you who believe, fasting is
prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may
guard against evil.” — The Quran, ch. 2, Al-Baqarah, v. 183 |
یٰۤاَیُّہَا
الَّذِیۡنَ
اٰمَنُوۡا
کُتِبَ عَلَیۡکُمُ
الصِّیَامُ
کَمَا
کُتِبَ عَلَی
الَّذِیۡنَ
مِنۡ قَبۡلِکُمۡ
لَعَلَّکُمۡ
تَتَّقُوۡنَ
﴿۱۸۳﴾ۙ |
This is the first verse in the
section of verses of the Holy Quran which ordain fasting in the month of
Ramadan. It is important to remember that fasting in Islam does not just
consist of not eating or drinking, but in fact abstaining from every kind of selfish
desire and wrong-doing. The fast is not merely of the body, but essentially
that of the spirit. The physical fast is really only a symbol and outward
expression of the real, inner fast. A person who is fasting is actually saying:
“I am refraining from all wrong actions that I desire to do, by
refraining from my deepest physical desires.” In this connection, the
Holy Prophet Muhammad has said:
“He who does not give up uttering falsehood (qaul
az-zūr) and acting according to it, God has no need of his giving up
his food and drink.” (Bukhari, hadith number 1903)
In another version of this hadith,
there is a small addition:
“He who does not give up uttering falsehood and acting
according to it, and ignorance” (Bukhari, hadith 6057).
The word for ignorance here is jahl.
So all talk and behaviour based on ignorance must be avoided as well.
Imam Bukhari has given this version
of this hadith the heading:
“The word of Allah: And shun false words (qaul az-zūr).”
He is referring to a verse of the
Quran in which it is stated:
“And shun (or refrain from saying) false words (qaul
az-zūr)” (22:30).
What he is pointing out is that the
Quran itself forbids Muslims to speak these things called qaul az-zūr,
or false words. So this command in hadith not to speak false words is supported
by the Quran itself.
There is something which people call
the niyyah or “intention” of fasting. The word niyyah means
intention, aim or purpose in doing something. But it is wrongly
thought that the niyyah of fasting is the repeating of certain words in
which you say that you intend to keep the fast. On Ramadan timetables and other information about
fasting, these words of niyyah, or intention to fast, are often quoted
in Arabic and these are supposed to be uttered when starting the fast. This saying
of the niyyah or intention by a set formula of words is not mentioned
anywhere in the Holy Quran and the Hadith.
Only
in the case of voluntary fasting outside Ramadan, there is mention in Hadith of
certain Companions declaring their intention during the day to keep a voluntary
fast that day, when they had not eaten anything up to that time of the day
(Bukhari, hadith 1924 and its chapter heading). It is understandable why in
that case the intention needs to be said in words. But there is no point in
expressing such an intention when starting a fast in the month of Ramadan, when
you know that you are starting the fast at your suḥūr meal.
But this niyyah has another meaning.
In
Sahih Bukhari, there is a chapter in the book on Fasting which is headed:
“He who fasts during Ramadan having faith (in Allah)
and seeking His plea sure and having an intention (niyyah).”
The words of the Holy Prophet are
then given, saying:
“People will be raised up (on the
Day of Judgment) according to their intentions (niyyah).” (Bukhari, heading above hadith
1901).
Similar words also occur in Hadith in
regard to other acts of worship. The meaning is that those who carry them out,
for example, prayer or fasting, merely as a ritual, cannot benefit from them.
Only those can benefit who understand their aim and purpose and try to achieve
it. For them, the fasts can bring such spiritual progress that it protects them
from committing sin. The aim or purpose of fasting is,
according to the Quran, to make the fast:
1.
a spiritual
discipline, meaning to attain nearness to God and to have Him uppermost and
closest in one s mind when performing any actions,
2.
a moral
discipline, meaning to refrain from all evil, selfishness and greed, and
3.
a means of
feeling the deprivation that other people have to endure and to use your
resources to alleviate their distress.
So
our niyyah of fasting are not any set words that we need to utter, but
it is to think about what we are intending to achieve through fasting.
There is a well-known hadith in
Bukhari as follows:
“Fasting is an armour (or shield) with which one
protects oneself; so let not him (who fasts) utter immodest (or foul) speech,
nor let him act in an ignorant manner; and if a person quarrels with him or
abuses him, he should say twice, I am fasting. And by Him in Whose hand is my
soul, the odour of the mouth of one fasting is sweeter in the estimation of
Allah than the odour of musk — he gives up his food and his drink and his
(sexual) desire for My sake; fasting is for Me and I will grant its reward; and
a virtue brings reward ten times like it.” (hadith
1894, see also hadith 1904)
It
is not
refraining from food that makes the breath of the fasting person so sweet; it
is refraining from foul speech and abuse and evil words and deeds of all kinds,
so much so that he does not utter an offensive word even in response. What
reaches God is the sweetness of behaviour of the fasting person, not the
sweetness of his breath. While a fasting person undergoes a physical discipline
by curbing his bodily desires, that is to say, the craving for food and drink,
and the sex appetite, he is actually required to undergo a direct moral discipline
by avoiding all kinds of evil words and evil deeds.
Note
also here God saying that the person fasting is doing it “for Me”. This means
fasting to attain nearness to God, fasting purely for the purposes for which
God has ordained fasting. If during fasting something happens which could
lead the fasting person away from the high objective he is seeking to attain,
he should control his urges and refrain from following them. In
the sight of God, the fast loses its value not only by taking food or drink
but also by telling a lie, using foul language, acting unfaithfully, or
doing an evil deed.
Another well-known
hadith in Bukhari runs as follows:
“When the month of Ramadan starts, the doors of heaven
are opened and the doors of hell are closed, and the Satans are shackled in
chains.” (hadith 1899)
The opening of the doors of Paradise and the closing of the doors of hell are
for those who benefit from the fasts of Ramadan and build in themselves the
true spirit of Ramadan in their lives. The devils are chained for the person who keeps the fast because he curbs and chains his lower passions — which are the desires
which the devil arouses to make a person fall into evil. The doors of Hell are closed
on him because he closes the door on doing all evil which
leads to hell. The doors of Heaven are opened for him because, by rising
above physical desires and by devoting himself to the serv ice of humani ty, he opens the door to lead a new kind of life in this world. So it is
by fasting in its true spirit that the fasting person himself or herself, by their own action, chains the devils, closes the doors of hell and
opens the doors of heaven.
All the commandments of the Quran
are meant for those who are full-grown and capable of understanding what they
are doing and why. This also applies to the commands relating to fasts. The
under-age youngsters should not fast, but the Caliph Umar is quoted as saying:
“Even our children are fasting” (Bukhari, heading above h. 1960). The idea behind
it may have been to habituate children to fasting. Otherwise, only such people
are under obligation to fast who are physically fit and capable of under
standing the purpose of fasting. There is no harm if children are
asked to keep a few fasts in order to get them accustomed to it, provided there
is no great hardship involved. However, the teachings of Islam do not require
non-adults to fast.
As to what breaks the fast, the
three things which a person should abstain from in fasting are eating, drinking
and having sexual intercourse. If any of these three acts is done out of free
will and intentionally during the fast, this would break the fast. But if done
by mistake, which may be by forgetfulness or under the wrong impression that
the fast has ended, the fast remains and must be completed. It is stated in a
hadith:
“If he (the fasting person) forgets and eats or drinks,
he should complete his fast, for Allah fed him and made him drink.” (Bukhari,
hadith 1933)
It
is stated in traditional Islamic literature that if a fast is broken on a
cloudy day, under the impression that the sun has set, and the sun then
appears, then also the fast should be completed till sunset. It is not
invalidated. In our modern times, this should not happen as we know from our
electronic devices and clocks around us what the present time is and we know
from published time tables when the fast ends. However, mistakes are still
possible through confusion and misunderstanding. Therefore this principle still
applies to such circumstances, that if you thought the fast had ended and ate
something but then realized that it had not ended, you simply continue the fast
till it actually ends. You don t need to repeat the fast or pay any kind of penalty
for it.
As
to someone who deliberately breaks the fast, the Quran does not mention any
punishment to be applied. In a Hadith report, the Holy Prophet suggested
various acts of expiation or penance to a person who himself admitted to
breaking a fast deliberately. However, that man expressed his inability to
perform any of those acts. That incident, which I will mention in a later khutba,
shows that it is sufficient that the violator should be sincerely repentant.
So, may Allah enable us to complete our fasts in the
true spirit of fasting, learn lessons from it, and become better human beings, Ameen.
Website:
www.aaiil.uk