Why Does Islam Require Fasting Beyond Just Hunger?

M tonight insha allah we are going to begin reading in the chapters of zed and with regards to fasting the month of ramadan and ertikaf how the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam used to fast why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam used to fast this is one of the most important chapters of this book and most pertinent to us during this time being that ramadan is swiftly approaching we are preparing ourselves to fast the month of ramadan and it's one of the pillars of islam by which a person becomes a full-fledged member of the muslim ummah of the muslim nation that is that islam is built upon five pillars as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in bukhari a muslim on the authority of abdullah islam has been built upon five pillars the testimony that none is rightfully worshipped but allah and that muhammad is his messenger and the establishment of prayer and giving zakah and fasting the month of ramadan and making pilgrimage to the house of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala making hajj for those who have the ability to do so this is verbatim the words of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam translated in this narration in bukhari a muslim so we see that fasting the month of ramadan is one of the pillars and a pillar is something that establishes and is a critical to the integrity of something and so when we say that this is a pillar of islam it means that it is integral for a person to meet allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala as a full-fledged muslim one of his fulfillments must be participation in the month of ramadan and i mention here participation and i didn't mention fasting necessarily even though fasting is the predominant and the default with regards to ramadan but there are some exceptions of those individuals who are unable to fast which we will discuss inshallah so fasting the month of ramadan is very important and ramadan is one of the names of the months of the ninth lunar calendar year lunar calendar month of the lunar calendar year which is the month of ramadan this month of ramadan is a name which was known to those who were muslim and those who were non-muslim and this was its name prior to islam so before islam the in jail this month was referred to as ramadan and why was it referred to as a ramadan it's a difference of opinion amongst the scholarship of islam but one of the strong opinions is that it is named ramadan taken from the word is when the sand is extremely extremely piping hot and so ramadan would usually fall during very hot season and people would often times fast during this month the month of ramadan the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he affirmed this name the name of the month of ramadan and when we look at the names of the mon in the islamic calendar we find that there are no names which are particular to disbelief there are no names which are particular to gods or goddesses other than allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala so we have things muharram and safar and rabbi al-awwal and rabi athani and etc none of these names have an element of shirk in them none of the names of the 12 months in islam have any element of disbelief or haram in them and this is what their names were before the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was appointed as a prophet in the time of jehelia their names did not change just the names of the weak did not change why because there is no references to anything which is haram or anything which is particular to disbelievers in these in these names so if we look at the names of the days of the week we have al ahad which means one the first day which is the second day at which is the third day of the week which is the fourth day of the week which is the fifth day of the week which is the day of congregating right we have a sabbath which is taken from al qatar and that is because that is the sabbath that is traditionally the day when the jews were to respect the sabbath and not hunt or work or earn during those hours during that day and so these days they have nothing that is particular to non-muslims is something that is comes from allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or some simply a number contrary to our days of the week for instance in in english or or the months in english most of them root back to mesopotamian gods and greek mythology so we look for example at monday which comes from mano which is the first day of the week and we see that monday is the first day of the week contrary to islam in islam the first day of the week is sunday then we have tuesday which is the second and wednesday wednesday which is a day that predominantly would be held for weddings because they viewed that weddings on this day is a day that is that is a a blessed day you get good luck when you marry on this day because it's the third day of the week likewise we have thursday which is from thor which one of the mythical gods of ancient mesopotamia and so forth and saturday which is dedicated to saturn who is the god of fertility and the god of the farmers if you will and then you have sunday which is the dedicated to the sun most of these days as we've just heard are either taken from a language that is particular to non-muslims or they are dedicated to gods that are other than allah subhanahu.

[Arabic recitation]

Had this been the case in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam some of these months or days would have been subject to change however the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam did not change any of them because none of the months and none of the days of the week were considered to be anything specific to non-muslims they were all linguistically linked rather than having some kind of creedal undertones he mentions here he mentions an entire chapter here which he dedicates to how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would fast and what fasting is really about and that's what this chapter that we're about to read is about he mentions that the purpose of fasting is not to merely deprive oneself of food and drink he mentions that the real purpose to fasting is that an individual learned to tame himself or herself from indulging in that which is haram that which is forbidden this is the real purpose of fasting this is to prepare a person to be more dutiful to allah that if an individual fasts that if an individual prohibits himself and restrains himself from things that his body physically needs then he can restrain himself from things that his his nephs his the evil part of himself needs so if he can restrain himself from that which he naturally needs he can restrain himself and teach himself restraint from that which he unnaturally needs or feels he needs he says that fasting prepares the individual for paradise and prepares the individual for complete and utter bliss in the hereafter he mentions that when an individual experiences hunger and when an individual experiences thirst that this is something that will remind the person of those who experience this unwillingly meaning the poor people people who do not have what we may have at at our fingertips there are people who do not have food every night there are people that do not have clean water to drink or cold water or pure water to drink and so in fasting when we experience these things for ourselves albeit we do it on purpose we do it to ourselves it's self-induced it's not something that is forced upon us we start to empathize with those who have less than us and this is very important there can be rich people in islam and there can be very poor people in islam but they will always be connected in their empathy towards one another islam one of the narratives of islam is not to make everybody the same to make everybody rich or everybody poor that's not correct it's not a communist religion however empathy and connectivity must be maintained between the rich and the poor always so when the rich make a mistake the poor are given as an expiation this happens often throughout the poor have a right to portion of the wealth of the wealthy amongst their community members etc he says another benefit of fasting is that it causes the veins and the vessels and the body to restrict and this restricts the movement physical movement of a shaitaan in the human body and that is that the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam once said in shaytan moves through the human being just like your blood moves through your blood vessels and so when a person fasts it has a physical effect on his body and it has a spiritual effect on his soul and his spirit and it will restrict the movement of a shaitaan now a person may say well why is it that it we are worried about restriction of the movement of a shaitaan when the prophet sallallahu alaihi was said that when the month of ramadan begins the devils are chained and yoked and held back and restrained and that the doors of paradise are open during the month of ramadan why would it be necessary for us then during the month of ramadan to fast and why would it be a point that we restrict the movement and the hold that a shaitan has on our physical and spiritual self and the answer to that is the correct opinion of the scholars of islam is that not all of the shayateen of the devils are yoked and chained and kept at bay during the month of ramadan it's only maradatus in another narration the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam added and he said that the worst of the devils are kept at bay and yoked and restrained during the month of ramadan but as for your common devil that you are born with that will stay with you until the rest of time that will always whisper to you evil thoughts and so forth these smaller devils which are easier to control easier to refuse they are the ones that are not yoked and chained during the month of ramadan it is only the most monstrous of them which are yoked and chained and kept at bay during the month of ramadan now not everything is from a shaitaan not all evil comes from a shaitaan if a shaitaan has a trained a human being well enough he might not have to interfere very much for evil to take place a person may look around and say well why is it that evil things happen during the month of ramadan war and famine and death and murder and people do all these terrible things well that's because devils come in all forms and there are devils from amongst humankind as well and if a person is trained himself and he has constantly made a habit of evil during the month of ramadan it will be no different it will just be that that that little edge is given to the people of piety that the worst of devils are kept at bay during the month of ramadan so a person can proverbial proverbially catch his breath if you will he says so ramadan is ramadan is the reigns of the people of of taqwa the rains the rains on a horse it helps to bring in that nes and build that discipline he says and it is jun and it is an armor for those who are in active battle with a shaitaan and with their nephs and with it dunya he says for those who are most close to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and most saintly fasting is something which is an exercise to maintain his or her saintliness and closeness to allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala then he goes on to mention that fasting is a very very special type of worship it's a special type of worship because it is only for allah and if a person does it right it can only be for allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala it is impossible for fasting to be done or utilized as a means to show off right he's referring to a narration which is in bukhari a muslim in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he said all of the actions of the human being they belong to the human being or they are for the human being except for fasting it is for me and me alone and therefore i personally will reward a person fasting what does this mean well there's a number of meanings for this that the scholars of islam have mentioned the one that ibn al-qaeda mentions here is that a person if he truly fasts then this is indicative that he is doing it only for the sake of allah subhanahu.

[Arabic recitation]

That he believes in allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala it's similar to wudu there is a narration in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam only the believer will maintain his wudu because it's a secret it's nobody knows if you have wudu or not nobody knows if you have broken your wudu or not nobody knows if you have truly made wudu or not people are unaware you can make wudu in front of people and you can break wudu and nobody would be the wiser but if you maintain your wudu in private and in public this articulates that you believe in a fear allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala right because only the believer will truly maintain his wudu the same thing goes with fasting it's a secret i mean i can eat all that i want to eat fill my belly up completely and entirely and then go out into society and none would be the wiser and i'd say i'm fasting and everybody would believe me and take me at my word as long as i don't eat in front of people i can in their eyes be fasting yet if in private i refrain from those things which break my fast just as i do in public this articulates that this is only for allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that this person is doing this that he believes that allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is watching him and so what happens this is personal between allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the servant it's a very very personal act of worship between allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and the servant and because it is so personal and because it is a secret between allah and the servant allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will maintain that personal element to it when he rewards the people of fasting so he says he says fasting is for me and me alone and i will personally reward the person who fasts so allah will not commission a third party to reward you on his behalf an angel or someone of paradise he personally will take it upon himself the king himself will bestow the gift upon you when you meet him for the act of fasting he says fasting has an incredible an incredible effect on a person's behavior if a person fasts properly and incredibly fasting has a very serious and strong effect on the human being's spirit and the human being's inner discipline and it also has a good physical effect on the person that it purges the body you know the the body sometimes we're constantly eating eating and drinking and eating and drinking and this process of digestion and and disposal and so forth is constant when a person gives the body a few hours of reprieve then this is something that will allow the body to regenerate and purge itself so it has a lot of physical benefits to it there is a narration that some scholars of islam view is an authentic narration one of them being ibn kathir rahimahullah.

[Silence]

He says fast your way to health meaning if you all fast you will become healthy and you know now now people fast they're just catching up recently we have this new thing this new thing of intermittent fasting and you know that's for the workout freaks and you know let's do intermittent fasting and let's fast during this time in that time and it's so good for the body and then we have other religions which fast but they fast in a very different way some of them fast by only leaving off some one thing that they so let's say they like cheez-its so they leave off cheez-its that's their fasting right we see this with casa with catholicism a lot that a person is too fast he is to leave off something that he loves or desires whether that's meat or cheese it or doritos or whatever it is that's their form of fasting there's other form of fasting where some religions refrain from everything that is chewed but anything that you can drink is fair game so you can drink water and juice and so forth none of this has to do with the fasting of the muslims the fasting of the muslims we know there are three things that will break a person's fast number one eating or drinking on purpose purposely remembering knowing that you are fasting and consciously breaking your fast by eating or drinking something right number two is sexual intercourse and many scholars in fact the four scholars of islam abu all view that ejaculation for a person to arouse himself and to physically ejaculate or masturbation that this as well will cause a person to break his fast they agree on that and the third thing that will break a person's fast is that an individual intend to break his fast that a person intend to break his fast because the pillars of fasting are two you refrain from anything that breaks your fast and number two you have the intention of fasting these are the two pillars of fasting the things that will break your fast are eating or drinking purposefully as we mentioned before number two that an individual have sexual intercourse or that or ejaculation that is a physical one number three that a woman have her menstruation or her postpartum bleeding that that that begin that will break a person's fast as well number four that a person have the intention to break his fast because that breaks the pillar of intention you have to have and maintain that intention from sunrise until sunset and as for other things that will break a person's fast such as an individual leading blood bloodletting or for example pulling a tooth bleeding things that come out of the body vomiting these things will not break a person's fast only if a person purposely makes himself vomit if a person purposely makes himself vomit this will break his fast if not then the person's fast is still sound as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam so there are a number of things that will break a person's fast and fasting has those two pillars which are number one a person must have the intention to fast number two they must refrain from anything that breaks his or her fast a lot of times we have questions that come about certain things that break a person's fast during the month of ramadan anything that nourishes the body by way of other than eating or drinking will break a person's fast so if i go to the hospital and get an iv which basically is food but it's injected directly into my veins this would break a person's fast but if i get the a vaccine or a shot that is not a shot that is to take the place or supplement diet then this will not break my fast likewise bleeding will not break a person's fast in the correct opinion of the scholars of islam likewise eye drops will not break a person's fast in the correct opinion of the scholars of islam suppositories suppositories which is basically a pill that you know it instead of taking it orally it goes up the other end rectally a person is given a suppository when they have a very high fever and they have an upset stomach this will not break a person's fast either so there are a number of things and we may get into the details of these things later but these are some of the things that often come up a lot another thing that he mentions is that fasting is very beneficial when it comes to taming sexual desire here he mentions that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam commanded that those who are unable to get married because they don't have the means to get married but they have the desire to get married and they have the physical desire that fasting is a widget a widget meaning it is an armor it is a defense and fasting doesn't just mean that i fast during the daytime and at night i completely fill my stomach up that's not what is meant by this narration of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam this is the narration of ibrahim in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam wording of the narration is the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam o young men o youth whoever is able amongst you to marry then he should do so for because getting married will help you to lower your gaze and it will help you to tame your private parts as well he said and to guard your private parts he said and whoever has the ability to marry then he should do so but whoever amongst you does not have that ability then fasting is the best medicine for that because it is a protection for him he says it is a protection against that unwanted untameable sexual desire a lot of people misunderstand this narration and so they fast and then they say the fasting is not working no it's working it's but you have to take the medicine as it was prescribed fasting in the arabic language is not just a person refraining from food and drink from some from sunrise to sunset or from the break of dawn until sunset what is meant here in the narration is fasting in a linguistic sense which means eating a lot less that a person not eat to his fill if a person wishes to tame his sexual desire one of the best ways to do this is that he eat extremely moderately never fill your stomach up always eat and continue to make yourself a little bit hungry even if you're not fasting in the sense of fasting from morning to evening that's fine do that but when you break your fast if your intention is to tame your unwanted sexual desires and unwanted and untamed unbridled sexual impulses then you need to do more than that and that is that you need to as well eat less eat less never fill your stomach up eat less even eat less than a third of your fill if you are able to do so continue to make yourself just a little bit hungry.