10 Very Important Points forFasting !

There are important points to
understand while fasting the
month of Ramadan in order to
take the maximum benefit from
the wisdom and teachings we
gain in this blessed month, in
which Allah sent down His last
revelation, the Quran.
Consider first an important
statement of our prophet
Muhammad, (peace be upon
him), when he said,
“Don’t let the day of fasting be
the same as the day you don’t
fast.” He was talking about our
behavior and attitude being the
same whether we are fasting or
not fasting and not having an
effect on us. Let us keep this in
mind while we consider the
following ten points of fasting
Ramadan, Insha’Allah.
One of our beloved teachers of
Islam, Dr. Tamimi, a student of
knowledge of Madinah and Dr.
Jafar Idris, produced interesting
and beneficial lectures about the
importance and rewards of
fasting Ramadan. The following
is based on some of this
excellent knowledge:
POINT 1: Gaining Taqwa
Allah legislated fasting for
gaining taqwa,
“O you who believe, fasting has
been prescribed for you as it has
been prescribed for those before
you, so that you may attain
taqwa. ”
[Noble Quran 2:183]
Taqwa in this case means to
make a shield between oneself
and Allah ’s anger and Hellfire. So
we should ask ourselves, when
we break our fasts, ‘Has this
fasting day made us fear Allah
more? Has it resulted that we
want to protect ourselves from
the hellfire or not?
POINT 2: Drawing closer to Allah
This is achieved by reciting and
reflecting on Al-Quran during
night and day, attending the
taraweeh prayers, remembering
Allah, sitting in circles of
knowledge and, for those who
can, making ‘umrah. Also for
those who can, making I’tikaf
(seclusion) in the last ten nights
of Ramadan, so as to leave all
worldly pursuits and seclude
oneself in a masjid just thinking
of Allah, so as to bring oneself
closer to Allah. When one sins,
one feels distant from Allah. That
is why one might find it heard to
read the Quran and come to the
masjid. However, the obedient
worshipper feels closer to Allah
and wants to worship Allah
more, because he is not shy from
his sins.
POINT 3: Acquiring patience and
strong will
Allah has mentioned patience
more than seventy times in the
Quran and has commanded
patience in more than sixteen
ways in His Book. So when one
fasts, and gives up one ’s food
and drink, and one’s marital
sexual relations for those hours,
one learns restraint and patience.
This Ummah needs men and
women that are strong willed,
who can stand upon the Sunnah
and the Book of Allah and not
waver in front of the enemies of
Allah. We do not need emotional
people, who just raise slogans
and shout, but when the time
comes to stand upon something
firm, they cannot do so, they
waver.
POINT 4: Striving for Ihsan
(righteousness and sincerity) and
staying away from riya (showing
off)
Ihsan means to worship Allah as
if one seeks Him, and even
though one does not see Him, He
sees all. Hasan al-Basri said, “By
Allah, in the last twenty years, I
have not said a word or taken
something with my hand or
refrained to take something with
my hand or stepped forth or
stepped back, except that I have
thought before I have done any
action, ‘Does Allah love this
action? Is Allah pleased with this
action ?’ So when one is fasting,
one should gain this quality of
watching oneself and also
staying away from riya (showing
off). That is why Allah said in a
hadith qudsi, “Fasting is for Me
and I reward it.” (al-Bukhari)
Allah singles out fasting from all
other types of worship saying,
“ Fasting is for Me”, because no
one knows whether you are
fasting or not, except Allah. For
example, when one is praying or
giving charity or making tawaf,
one can be seen by the people, so
one might do the action seeking
the praise of the people. Sufyan
ath-Thawri used to spend the
nights and the days crying and
the people used to ask him, “Why
do you cry, is it due to the fear of
Allah? He said, ‘No.’ They said, “Is
it due to the fear of the Hellfire?”
He said, ‘No. It is not the fear of
Hellfire that makes me cry, what
makes me cry is that I have been
worshipping Allah all these years
and doing scholarly teaching, and
I am not certain that my
intentions are purely for Allah. ’”
POINT 5: Refinement of manners,
especially those related to
truthfulness and discharging
trusts.
The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said, “Whoever does not
abandon falsehood in word and
action, then Allah has no need
that he should heave his food
and drink. ” (al-Bukhari) What we
learn from this, is that we must
pay attention to the purification
of our manners. The Prophet
(peace be upon him) said, “was
sent to perfect good
manners. ” (Malik) So we must
check ourselves, are we
following the behaviour of the
Prophet (peace be upon him)?
For example: Do we give salam to
those we don ’t know and those
we do know? Do we follow the
manners of Islam, by telling the
truth and only telling the truth?
Are we sincere? Are we merciful
to the creation?
POINT 6: Recognizing that one
can change for the better
The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said, “Every son of Adam sins and
the best of the sinners are those
who repent. ” (Ibn Majah) Allah
provides many opportunities to
repent to Him and seek His
forgiveness. If one was
disobedient they can become
obedient.
POINT 7: Being more charitable
Ibn ‘Abbas said, “The Prophet
(peace be upon him) was the
most charitable amongst the
people, and he used to be more
so in the month of Ramadan
when Jibril (angel Gabriel) used
to meet him on every night of
Ramadan till the end of the
month …” (al-Bukhari) The
Prophet (peace be upon him)
said, “He who gives food for a
fasting person to break his fast,
he will receive the same reward
as him, without nothing being
reduced from the fasting
person ’s reward.”
[At-Tirmidhi]
POINT 8: Sensing the unity of the
Muslims
The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said, “…Those of you who will
live after me will see many
differences. Then you must cling
to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of
the rightly guided khalifahs
(leaders). Hold fast to it and stick
to it. ”
[Abu Dawud]
In this month we sense that
there is a possibility for unity,
because we all fast together, we
break fast together, we all
worship Allah together, and we
pray Salatul-`Eid together.
Therefore we sense that the
unity of Muslims is possible. It is
possible for Muslims to be a
single body, but this will only be
achieved when obedience is only
to Allah and His Messenger.
POINT 9: Learning discipline
The Prophet (may Allah send His
blessing and peace upon him)
made us adhere to discipline and
strictness, strictness that does
not lead to fanaticism or going
outside the bounds that Allah has
laid down. One cannot knowingly
break the fast before the sunset,
as this will not be accepted by
Allah. Muslims should learn to be
very strict in their lives, because
they are people of an important
message, which they mold their
lives around.
POINT 10: Teaching the young to
worship Allah
It was the practice of the people
of Madinah, that during the fast
of ‘Ashura (which is now a
recommended fast of one day)
to get their children to fast with
them. When the children would
cry of hunger and thirst, their
parents would distract their
attention by giving them some
sort of toy to play with. The
children would break their fast
with their parents. (as
mentioned in al-Bukhari).
So the young should be brought
to the masjid and they should
pray with their parents, so that
they are able to get into the
habit of becoming worshippers
of Allah. If one does not
encourage children to fast when
they are young, they will find it
very difficult to fast for thirty
days at the age of puberty. This
is why the Prophet (peace be
upon him) said, “Command your
children to pray at the age of
seven and beat them at the age
of ten (if they do not
pray. ” (Hakim)
There is yet another
consideration for the fasters of
Ramadan, although this is not
something we usually consider
as the motivation for following
Allah ’s command, and that is the
physical and medical advantages
usually associated with fasting.
We are ordered to take care of
our health and provide our body
with its rights over us. Our
prophet, (peace be upon him),
told us our body has rights on us
and in one hadith he said,
“The strong believer is better and
more beloved to Allah than the
weak believer, and there is good
in everyone. “ Sahih Muslim
Make du’a for us while you are
fasting –please, Insha’Allah. May
Allah accept your fasting and put
you in His Jannah, ameen
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very-important-points-for-
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