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ISLAM
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T
AN IMPORTANT
POINT TO
REMEMBER
Fasting in
Ramadan
creates a mental barrier
between the believer and the world, resulting in
a form of detachment which is of the highest value in
devotional life. The Qur’an declares the primary pur-
pose of fasting is that, “
...you may learn taqwa...
”. The
word
taqwa
, for which there is no precise equivalent in
English, refers to the immediate consciousness that
Allah is watching one’s acts. Those who have carried
out the Ramadan fast know how much one’s other acts
of worship improve as one’s awareness of Allah pro-
gressively grows through fasting.
Fasting awakens in man the feeling of gratefulness.
The temporary deprivation of food and water empha-
sizes the importance of these mundane things as divine
blessings. Then when he partakes of food and water
after having experienced hunger and thirst, he can feel
how truly precious the food and water provided to him
abundantly by Allah is. This experience increases man-
ifold his feelings of gratitude to Allah.
Fasting produces moral discipline within man. By
restricting the basic things he desires, the devotee is
trained to lead a life of self-restraint and not of permis-
siveness. What the speed-breaker does for the speed-
ing motorist, fasting does for the devotee.
By having a curb put on his various desires for one
month at a time man is trained to lead a life of self-
restraint for the whole year, making no attempt to
exceed the limits set by Allah
What man does by fasting is engage himself more and
more in the remembrance and worship of Allah, and in
the recitation of the
Qur'an
. Thus fasting serves as a
strategy to increase the efficacy of worship. In this way
Allah accepts our worship in its heightened form.
Fasting is, in short, a training course. Its purpose is to
place man on a special spiritual plane for one month so
that he may be better able to lead the life of a true
devotee of Allah and a true lover of humanity.
PT
The Holy Prophet Muhammad [s] has said
that, “
There are some people who fast who get noth-
ing from it except hunger.
” Which of the two men in
the picture has learnt valuable lessons from his fast
and which has not? List some of the lessons you think
he may have learnt. Colour-in the picture too.
PC
