Abdullah Espanol
Junior Member
The benefits of fasting
(4) There is much wisdom and many benefits in fasting, which have to do with the taqwa
mentioned by Allaah in the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):
“… that you may become al-muttaqoon (the pious).” [al-Baqarah 2:183]
The interpretation of this is that if a person refrains from halaal things hoping to earn the
pleasure of Allaah and out of fear of His punishment, it will be easier for him to refrain from
doing haraam things.
If a person’s stomach is hungry, this will keep many of his other faculties from feeling
hunger or desires; but if his stomach is satisfied, his tongue, eye, hand and private parts will
start to feel hungry. Fasting leads to the defeat of Shaytaan; it controls desires and protects
one’s faculties.
When the fasting person feels the pangs of hunger, he experiences how the poor feel, so he
has compassion towards them and gives them something to ward off their hunger. Hearing
about them is not the same as sharing their suffering, just as a rider does not understand the
hardship of walking unless he gets down and walks.
Fasting trains the will to avoid desires and keep away from sin; it helps a person to
overcome his own nature and to wean himself away from his habits. It also trains a person to
get used to being organized and punctual, which will solve the problem that many people
have of being disorganized, if only they realized.
Fasting is also a demonstration of the unity of the Muslims, as the ummah fasts and breaks
its fast at the same time.
Fasting also provides a great opportunity for those who are calling others to Allaah. In this
month many people come to the mosque who are coming for the first time, or who have not
been to the mosque for a long time, and their hearts are open, so we must make the most of
this opportunity by preaching in a gentle manner, teaching appropriate lessons and speaking
beneficial words, whilst co-operating in righteousness and good deeds. The dai’yah should
not be so preoccupied with others that he forgets his own soul and becomes like a wick that
lights the way for others while it is itself consumed.
Etiquette and Sunnah of fasting
Some aspects are obligatory (waajib) and others are recommended (mustahabb).
We should make sure that we eat and drink something at suhoor, and that we delay it until
just before the adhaan of Fajr. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “Have suhoor, for in suhoor there is blessing (barakah).” (Reported by al -Bukhaari, Fath,
4/139). “Suhoor is blessed food, and it involves being different from the people of the Book.
What a good suhoor for the believer is dates.” (Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 2345; Saheeh al-
Targheeb, 1/448).
Not delaying iftaar, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The people will be fine so long as they do not delay iftaar.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, Fath,
4/198).
Breaking one's fast in the manner described in the hadeeth narrated by Anas (may Allaah be
pleased with him): “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to break
his fast with fresh dates before praying; if fresh dates were not available, he would eat
(dried) dates; if dried dates were not available, he would have a few sips of water.” (Reported
by al-Tirmidhi, 3/79 and others. He said it is a ghareeb hasan hadeeth. Classed as saheeh in al-Irwa’, no.
922).
After iftaar, reciting the words reported in the hadeeth narrated by Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah
be pleased with them both), according to which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him), when he broke his fast, would say: “Dhahaba al-zama’, wa’btallat al-‘urooq,
wa thabat al-ajru in sha Allaah (Thirst is gone, veins are flowing again, and the reward is ertain, in sha Allaah).” (Reported by Abu Dawood, 2/765; its isnaad was classed as hasan by al-
Daaraqutni, 2/185).
Keeping away from sin, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “When any of you is fasting, let him not commit sin…” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath,
no. 1904). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever does not
stop speaking falsehood and acting in accordance with it, Allaah has no need of him giving
up his food and drink.” (Al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, no. 1903). The person who is fasting should
avoid all kinds of haraam actions, such as backbiting, obscenity and lies, otherwise his
reward may all be lost. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It
may be that a fasting person gets nothing from his fast except hunger.” (Reported by Ibn
Maajah, 1/539; Saheeh al-Targheeb, 1/453).
Among the things that can destroy one’s hasanaat (good deeds) and bring sayi’aat (bad
deeds) is allowing oneself to be distracted by quiz-shows, soap operas, movies and sports
matches, idle gatherings, hanging about in the streets with evil people and time-wasters,
driving around for no purpose, and crowding the streets and sidewalks, so that the months of
tahajjud, dhikr and worship, for many people, becomes the month of sleeping in the day so
as to avoid feeling hungry, thus missing their prayers and the opportunity to pray them in
congregation, then spending their nights in entertainment and indulging their desires. Some
people even greet the month with feelings of annoyance, thinking only of the pleasures they
will miss out on. In Ramadaan, some people travel to kaafir lands to enjoy a holiday! Even
the mosques are not free from such evils as the appearance of women wearing makeup and
perfume, and even the Sacred House of Allaah is not free of these ills. Some people make
the month a season for begging, even though they are not in need. Some of them entertain
themselves with dangerous fireworks and the like, and some of them waste their time in the
markets, wandering around the shops, or sewing and following fashions. Some of them put
new products and new styles in their stores during the last ten days of the month, to keep
people away from earning rewards and hasanaat.
Not allowing oneself to be provoked, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “If someone fights him or insults him, he should say, ‘I am fasting, I am
fasting.’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari and others. Al-Fath, no. 1894) One reason for this is to remind
himself, and another reason is to remind his adversary. But anyone who looks at the conduct
of many of those who fast will see something quite different. It is essential to exercise selfcontrol
and be calm, but we see the opposite among crazy drivers who speed up when they
hear the adhaan for Maghrib.
(*) Not eating too much, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “The son of Adam fills no worse vessel than his stomach.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no.
2380; he said, this is a hasan saheeh hadeeth). The wise person wants to eat to live, not live to eat.
The best type of food is that which is there to be used, not that which is there to be served.
But people indulge in making all kinds of food (during Ramadaan) and treating food
preparation as a virtual art form, so that housewives and servants spend all their time on
making food, and this keeps them away from worship, and people spend far more on food
during Ramadaan than they do ordinarily. Thus the month becomes the month of indigestion, fatness and gastric illness, where people eat like gluttons and drink like thirsty
camels, and when they get up to pray Taraaweeh, they do so reluctantly, and some of them
leave after the first two rak’ahs.
(*) Being generous by sharing knowledge, giving money, using one’s position of authority
or physical strength to help others, and having a good attitude. Al-Bukhaari and Muslim
reported that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the most generous of people [in doing
good], and he was most generous of all in Ramadaan when Jibreel met with him, and he
used to meet him every night in Ramadaan and teach him the Qur’aan. The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was more generous in doing good than a
blowing wind.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, no. 6). How can people exchange generosity
for stinginess and action for laziness, to the extent that they do not do their work properly
and do not treat one another properly, and they use fasting as an excuse for all this.
Combining fasting with feeding the poor is one of the means of reaching Paradise, as the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “In Paradise there are rooms
whose outside can be seen from the inside and the inside can be seen from the outside.
Allaah has prepared them for those who feed the poor, who are gentle in speech, who fast
regularly and who pray at night when people are asleep.” (Reported by Ahmad 5/343; Ibn
Khuzaymah, no. 2137. Al-Albaani said in his footnote, its isnaad is hasan because of other corroborating
reports). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever gives food
to a fasting person with which to break his fast, will have a reward equal to his, without it
detracting in the slightest from the reward of the fasting person.” (Reported by al -Tirmidhi,
3/171; Saheeh al-Targheeb, 1/451). Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] (may Allaah have mercy
on him) said: “What is meant is that he should feed him until he is satisfied.” (Al-Ikhtiyaaraat
al-Fiqhiyyah, p. 109).
A number of the Salaf (may Allaah have mercy on them) preferred the poor over themselves
when feeding them at the time of iftaar. Among these were ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar, Maalik
ibn Deenaar, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others. ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar would not break his fast
unless there were orphans and poor people with him.