FASTING IN ISLAM

Fasting during Ramadhan is one the five pillars of Islam. This is because the prophet (peace be
upon him) said Islam is upheld by five pillars: first, to bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that
Muhammad is His messenger. The second is to pray regularly. Third, to pay zakat (i.e divine tax) to the
poor. Fourth, to fast during the mouth of Ramadhan. Fifth, to visit the house of God in Mecca once in a
lifetime, for those who are able to make the journey.

Fasting can be defined as abstaining from eating, drinking, smoking and having sexual intercourse
from dawn to sunset. Fasting for the month of Ramadhan was prescribed during the second year of the
Hijra. Fasting was an ancient form of worship prescribed by God from the beginning of time. The aim of
ordering people to fast is that they should learn how to be patient, to have good morals, to purify their
hearths, to ennoble their character and to be gentle in dealing with people. One should feel the
sufferings of hunger and thirst in order to be quick to help those who are suffering when seeing them.
One must always learn to feel the fear of God and his mercy. Fasting in Islam has been prescribed by the
Qur’an and the sayings of the prophet. The Qur’an says: “O, you who believe, fasting is prescribed to you
as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may learn self-restraint” (Qur’an, Cow: 183)

The reward of the accepted fasting is Paradise. God the Almighty gives great reward for fasting as
much or more than we can realize. This is because fasting secret between man and his God, therefore,
it is the only aspect of worship that has been attributed to God. It has come down to us in the traditions
of the prophet when he said: “Any kind of good action done by the children of Adam will be rewarded
ten times to seven hundred times and may be more, according to the Will of God.” God said: ”Except
fasting for it is an attribute of me and I will reward it, because one who fasts is giving up his desires and
his food for my sake.” Fasting is a protection. When one is fasting he should not utter bad words, he
should not raise his voice. If someone insults him, or fight him, he should remind himself that he is fasting
by saying: “I am fasting, I swear by God, who has Muhammad’s soul in His hand that the smell of mouth
of the one who fasts is better than parfume in the sight of God.”

Answer the following question according to the text above.

1. How many pillars are there in Islamic teaching?
2. What is the fourth pillar?
3. In what month is fasting obligatory?
4. Is everybody obliged to perform the pilgrimage and fasting?
5. Since when the fast of ramadhan been obligatory?
6. What is the formal definition of fasting?
7. Has fasting really been prescribed only since the prophet Muhammad? If not, since when?
8. What is the objective of fasting?
9. How do we know that fasting if obligatory for us?
10. What does god say about fasting?
11. What will we get if we fast?
12. Can we compare what we will get from fasting with what we get from other religious worships?
13. What is your reason for your answer to 12? What is the specific characteristic of fasting?
14. Why is fasting called a kind of protection? What do you think?
15. What do we say if we are fasting and someone argues and fights us?