FASTING IS A PROCESS OF CLEANSING OUR BODY FROM IMPURITIES AND AT THE SAME TIME, PURIFIES OUR HEARTS AND MINDS FROM ALL IMPURE THOUGHTS

Fasting for a whole month, abstaining from food, water and pleasures during the day, practicing charity and other good deeds, and getting closer to the Creator comes with it a host of benefits for both mind and body.

Muslims across the globe fast the complete day during all the days of Ramadhan for physical and spiritual reasons, according to scholars as well as scientists.

Fasting is prescribed for purification and refinement of the soul. The Glorious Quran says: “O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may attain “Taqwa” (God consciousness, Selfrestraint, God fearing, Guarding against evil) (2:183).

“Refraining from eating and drinking alone does not make one refined in the sight of God Almighty, rather one should refrain from everything that causes God’s displeasure. It may be said that patience, tolerance, will, and perseverance are synonyms of fasting,” says Shakeel Hassan, Resident Manager, Gulf Madhyamam.

The rich and those who never experienced deprivation of material things in life are given a unique opportunity to discover the hardship imposed on poor, needy and downtrodden people through fasting.

When someone fasts, he or she will go through the feelings of hunger, thirst and deprivation of so many other pleasures in life and realise the gifts and bounties that God has bestowed upon them.

Fasting, in simple terms, is a process of cleansing our body from impurities and at the same time, purifies our hearts and minds from all impure thoughts and lust, desires. Therefore when one observes fasting, all his senses — eyes, ears, tongue, hands and feet — must fast with him in order to get both the physical and mental benefits.