Website: www.aaiil.uk
Purposes of
Fasting
Friday
Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz,
for Lahore
Ahmadiyya UK, 20 February 2026
|
“And seek assistance through patience
and prayer, and this is hard except for the humble ones, who know that they
will meet their Lord and that to Him they will return.” ch. 2, Al-Baqarah,
v. 45–46 |
وَ اسۡتَعِیۡنُوۡا
بِالصَّبۡرِ
وَ الصَّلٰوۃِ
ؕ وَ
اِنَّہَا
لَکَبِیۡرَۃٌ
اِلَّا عَلَی
الۡخٰشِعِیۡنَ
﴿ۙ۴۵﴾ الَّذِیۡنَ
یَظُنُّوۡنَ
اَنَّہُمۡ
مُّلٰقُوۡا
رَبِّہِمۡ
وَ اَنَّہُمۡ
اِلَیۡہِ رٰجِعُوۡنَ
﴿٪۴۶﴾ |
During the month of Ramadan
discussions take place among Muslims about the rules, regulations and
formalities of fasting in Ramadan. Although it is necessary to discuss these so
that our fasting is done properly, we must never forget the purposes for which
Islam established this institution. The verse I have recited appears to have no
connection with fasting, but according to some scholars of the
Quran it is referring to fasting when it says patience . Fasting is a means of developing
several good qualities, and patience is a quality
which is particularly exercised during fasting. Patience means to persevere in
a difficult condition voluntarily, even though you could adopt unlawful,
unethical and immoral means of getting out of it. During fasting, we choose not
to violate its rules to enable us to escape the difficulties of hunger and
thirst. The patience of fasting is that we must wait till a
certain set time to satisfy our most essential physical needs and desires.
Thankfulness is another quality developed through
fasting. It is only deprivation that can make us realize and value the
blessings which we usually take for granted. Thankfulness for what we have got,
for what someone has given us, is a quality which is not only commended and
stressed by Islam, and other religions, but all human beings recognize its
importance. Strangely, in non-Muslim societies, as in Western countries, it is
a more common practice to say thank you to ordinary workers who have served
you, for example, a shop assistant or a bus driver, than it is in Muslim
cultures where such workers are often looked down upon. Allah even says about
Himself that He is shākir or one who thanks others for doing good
(2:158 and 4:147). In these verses shākir is often translated as
the One Who appreciates or recognizes those who do good. In Hadith too, it is
related that when a man gave water to drink to a thirsty dog, Allah thanked him
for that deed فَشَكَرَ
اللَّهُ لَهُ (Bukhari, hadith 2363).
Charity and generosity: The thankfulness mentioned above
should not be merely confined to our feelings or our words. It must be
manifested practically. The deprivation of fasting should make us sympathise
with the suffering of others, and create the desire in us of alleviating it. It
is recorded at the beginning of Sahih Bukhari:
The Messenger of Allah was the most generous of all
people, and he was most generous in Ramadan, when Jibreel (Gabriel) met him,
and he met him in every night of Ramadan and read with him (i.e., with the
Prophet) the Quran; so the Messenger of Allah was more generous in the doing of
good than the wind which is sent forth (on everybody). (hadith 6)
This
hadith shows that
the quality of generosity was found in its utmost perfection in the Holy Prophet,
and his generosity extended to all, without distinction, just like the air. He
never turned away anyone who asked him for something. We note incidentally that
here the reading
of the Quran by the Holy Prophet with Jibreel during every night of the month
of Ramadan means the repeating of the whole of the Quran that had been revealed
up to that time. In other versions of this hadith it is said that the Holy
Prophet repeated the Quran in the presence of Gabriel (Bukhari, hadith 4997).
Of course,
the Holy Prophet did not have any written manuscript of the
Quran, to which he could compare what he had learnt by heart, and he could not
read in any case. This checking was done by him with the angel Jibreel. Other
Muslims possessed manuscripts on which parts of the oral revelation had been
written down, and there was never any difference between these writings and the
revelation learnt by the Holy Prophet by heart which was regularly compared by
him while reciting with the angel Jibreel. Hadith reports also say that during
the last Ramadan of the Holy Prophet s life Jibreel read the Quran with him
twice, not just once as he had done in previous Ramadans. The Holy Prophet took
this double recital as a sign that this would be his last Ramadan on earth (see
Bukhari, hadith 4998 and 3623 3624).
It is because being charitable is one
of the objects of fasting that those who are unable to fast during Ramadan, and
unable to make up for missed fasts after Ramadan, are required by the Quran to
feed needy people in place of fasting. The Quran says:
وَ
عَلَی الَّذِیۡنَ
یُطِیۡقُوۡنَہٗ
فِدۡیَۃٌ
طَعَامُ مِسۡکِیۡنٍ
And those who find it extremely hard may effect
redemption by feeding a poor one. ch. 2, v. 184
Another object of fasting stressed in
the Quran is to learn to refrain from usurping other s rights and belongings.
In fasting we voluntarily give up even what is rightfully ours; how can then we
think of taking what is not ours but belongs to someone else? The last verse in
the section on fasting in the Quran says:
وَ لَا
تَاۡکُلُوۡۤا
اَمۡوَالَکُمۡ
بَیۡنَکُمۡ
بِالۡبَاطِلِ
وَ تُدۡلُوۡا
بِہَاۤ اِلَی
الۡحُکَّامِ
لِتَاۡکُلُوۡا
فَرِیۡقًا
مِّنۡ اَمۡوَالِ
النَّاسِ
بِالۡاِثۡمِ
وَ اَنۡتُمۡ
تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ
﴿۱۸۸﴾
And do not swallow up your property among yourselves
by false means, nor seek to gain access thereby to the judges, so that you may
swallow up a part of the property of (other) people wrongfully while you know.
ch. 2, v. 188
Swallowing up your property may mean
the property placed in your charge, meant to be used for the benefit of others,
such as government or community funds. The words among yourselves indicate
people colluding with each other to usurp community or national property. That
property is not their personal property but it can still be called your
property because it belongs to their community. This verse also prohibits
people from bribing the authorities in order to take what actually belongs to
others.
It is a matter of deep regret and
profound sadness that in Muslim countries this particular command is violated
so blatantly and widely that the outside world, especially the Western world,
has come to think that bribery and corruption are a part of Muslim culture, and
that Islam has nothing to say about these malpractices. The above verse makes
the teachings of Islam on this point very clear. Honesty and trustworthiness
are also human values and whoever adheres to them will benefit and will be held
in high regard, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims.
In fasting we give up, for a period
of time, the use of things which belong to us and which we are fully entitled
to use; namely, our food and drink. This abstaining teaches us that sometimes
in this life, for a higher purpose, it is better to give up something that
we are entitled to, instead of insisting on having it. It can help to
establish peace between people and also between nations if everyone is not
always insisting on, and demanding, their own rights in full, regardless of how
it affects other people.
Often in life, we find that in order
to get exactly what we are entitled to, we have to claim more than what we
are entitled to. And to claim that extra amount, we have to use falsehood.
Fasting teaches us only to demand what is rightfully ours, and if it means we
have to settle for a little less, then that is just like giving up our own food
and drink during fasting.
Someone may say that we don t
actually lose anything by fasting because the food and drink we didn’t consume
during the fast is still with us to consume afterwards! In fact, many people,
while fasting, consume more food over a whole day than they do outside Ramadan.
But what we lost was its use at the required time and occasion, the normal meal
times. One of the most frustrating things in life is when we don t get
something at the proper and expected time, but it comes late, for example, a
delivery, or your bus or train. In such a situation we have no choice but to
show patience, the quality I mentioned in the beginning of this khutba.
In fasting we are volunteering to show patience.
The verse directly commanding Muslims
to fast is the following:
یٰۤاَیُّہَا
الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا
کُتِبَ عَلَیۡکُمُ
الصِّیَامُ
کَمَا کُتِبَ
عَلَی الَّذِیۡنَ
مِنۡ قَبۡلِکُمۡ
لَعَلَّکُمۡ
تَتَّقُوۡنَ
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, v. 183
The
first purpose
of fasting is to enable us to develop and strengthen our powers of self-control. This means that we
become more able to resist wrongful desires and bad habits, and therefore guard
against evil . In fasting, by refraining from the natural human urges to
satisfy one s appetite, we are exercising our ability of self-restraint. The
more you exercise any ability or skill, the more developed it becomes. Then the
power of self-restraint developed through fasting must be applied in normal
daily life to bring about self-improvement. Seeking food, drink and sex are
the basic, most deeply-ingrained instincts of an animal, including human
beings. Therefore, in fasting we are tested with having to show control in face
of the strongest possible inner urges. Fasting is a reminder that real
and true human life is something higher than satisfying physical desires. That
true life is attained by connecting the human soul with God and by having
sympathy for those who are in need and practically helping them.
May Allah enable
us to strive hard to acquire the qualities that are the purpose of fasting and
to keep our fasts in their true sense and spirit, and make this month of
Ramadan a means of us attaining nearness to Him, increasing our knowledge and
improving ourselves, ameen.
Website:
www.aaiil.uk