FASTING (SAWM)



FASTING (SAWM)

Fasting is abstaining completely from eating, drinking, intimate sexual

contacts and smoking from the break of dawn till sunset. It is a matchless

Islamic institution which teaches man the principle of sincere love to God.

Fasting teaches man a creative sense of hope, devotion, patience,

unselfishness, moderation, willpower, wise saving, sound budgeting, mature

adaptability, healthy survival, discipline, spirit of social belonging, unity

and brotherhood.

Obligatory fasting is done once a year for the period of the month of Ramadan;

the ninth month of the Islamic year. Recommended fasting includes every Monday

and Thursday of every week, three days in the middle of each Islamic month,

six days after Ramadan following the Feast Day and a few days of the two

months before Ramadan. Fasting of Ramadan is a worship act which is obligatory

on every adult Muslim, male or female if he/she is mentally and physically fit

and not on a journey. Exceptions: women during their period of menstruation

and while nursing their child, and also in case of travel and sickness for

both men and women.

Sawm

The fourth pillar of Islam is fasting. Allah prescribes daily fasting for all able, adult Muslims during the whole of the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar calendar, beginning with the sighting of the new moon. Exempted from the fast are the very old and the insane. On the physical side, fasting is from first light of dawn until sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations. On the moral, behavioral side, one must abstain from lying, malicious gossip, quarreling and trivial nonsense.

Those who are sick, elderly, or on a journey, and women who are menstruating, pregnant, or nursing are permitted to break the fast, but must make up an equal number of days later in the year. If physically unable to do so, they must feed a needy person for each day missed. Children begin to fast (and to observe the prayers) from puberty, although many start earlier.

Although fasting is beneficial to the health, it is regarded principally as a method of self-purification. By cutting oneself off from worldly pleasures and comforts, even for a short time, the fasting person gains true sympathy for those who go hungry regularly, and achieves growth in his spiritual life, learning discipline, self-restraint, patience and flexibility.

In addition to the fast proper, one is encouraged to read the entire Qur'an. In addition, special prayers, called Tarawih, are held in the mosque every night of the month, during which a whole section of the Qur'an (Juz') is recited, so that by the end of the month the entire Qur'an has been completed. These are done in remembrance of the fact that the revelation of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was begun during Ramadan.

During the last ten days - though the exact day is never known and may not even be the same every year - occurs the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr). To spend that night in worship is equivalent to a thousand months of worship, i.e. Allah's reward for it is very great.

On the first day of the following month, after another new moon has been sighted, a special celebration is made, called 'Id al-Fitr. A quantity of staple food is donated to the poor (Zakat al-Fitr), everyone has bathed and put on their best, preferably new, clothes, and communal prayers are held in the early morning, followed by feasting and visiting relatives and friends.

There are other fast days throughout the year. Muslims are encouraged to fast six days in Shawwal, the month following Ramadan, Mondays and Thursdays, and the ninth and tenth, or tenth and eleventh of Muharram, the first month of the year. The tenth day, called Ashurah, is also a fast day for the Jews (Yom Kippur), and Allah commanded the Muslims to fast two days to distinguish themselves from the People of the Book.

While fasting per se is encouraged, constant fasting, as well as monasticism, celibacy, and otherwise retreating from the real world, are condemned in Islam. Fasting on the two festival days, 'Id al-Fitr and 'Id al-Adha, the feast of the Hajj, is strictly forbidden.

FASTING (SIYAAM)

Fasting, or siyaam, has two meanings. Generally, siyaam or sawm, is derived from

the root sama, to restrain from normal things, such as eating, drinking, and

talking. If an individual refrains from these things, he is considered saaim,

the observer of fast. Al-Qur'an uses the word generally when it revealed the

conversation between the angel and Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the angel

instructed her: "...And if you do see any man, say, 'I have vowed to remain

silent for Allah.'" (Al-Qur'an 19:26)

The phrase "to remain silent" is the interpretation of the Arabic word, "sawm."

The reason for this interpretation is that "sawm" cannot mean fast, i.e.

restraint from food, because Mary had just been told to eat from the palm tree.

This general meaning is common in the Arabic language.

In the Shari'ah, Islamic law, the word "sawm" means and implies a specific act,

that, is, "to worship Allah, abstaining, with intention to please Him from fast

breakers, such as physical nourishment, food, drink, and sexual intercourse or a

lustful discharge of semen from the period between the break of dawn until

sundown.

As this definition implies, the Islamic fasting is total abstinence from any

food particles passing through the mouth or nose, as well as drinks of any kind

- water, milk, juices, etc. - along with abstinence from sexual association

during the day that commences from the break of dawn till sunset.

Although the definition indicates restraining the stomach and private parts, the

tongue, eyes, ears and other limbs are equally obligated to be restrained if the

faster wants to gain the total rewards of fasting. This is why the Messenger of

Allah (saas) has been reported as saying in a hadith by Abu Hurairah:

"He who does not desist from obscene language and acting obscenely (during the

period of fasting), Allah has no need that he did not eat or drink." (Bukhari

Muslim)

In another hadith by Abu Hurairah (raa), the Prophet (saas) said: "Fasting is

not only to restrain from food and drink, fasting is to refrain from obscene

(acts). If someone verbally abuses you or acts ignorantly towards you, say (to

them) 'I am fasting; I am fasting.'" (Ibn Khuzaimah)

Indeed, these two reports imply fasting will not be complete until one observes

three elements:

1. Restraining the stomach and the private parts from the breakers of the fast -

food and drink,

2. restraining the jawarih, the other body parts, which may render the fast

worthless despite the main factors of hunger and thirst; so the tongue, for

instance, must avoid backbiting, slander, and lies; the eyes should avoid

looking into things considered by the Lawgiver as unlawful; the ears must stop

from listening to conversations, words, songs, and lyrics that spoil the spirit

of fasting; and,

3. restraining of the heart and mind from indulging themselves in other things

besides dhikir Allah (remembrance of Allah)

As-Siyam (The fast)

As-Siyam, in the month of Ramadan is the fourth pillar of Islam. Through

fasting all aspects of worship become integrated, and the sense of obedience,

and the will to observe is strengthened. Fasting is an act of worship, and a

means of bringing man closer to Allah, refining the manners, self-restraint

and setting the behavior aright. It is also a means of maintaining the fear of

Allah.

Allah says: you who believe fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to

those before you, that you may attain piety.

Fasting was prescribed to previous nations too as a means of purification and

help against life's inconveniences, because fasting requires patience, and

patience is one of the strongest means for acquiring the happiness in the

Hereafter. Allah saysAnd seek Allah's help through perseverance and prayer

Why Do Muslims Fast?Why Do Muslims Fast?

by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Certain truths are by nature evident and need not be discussed in normal

circumstances. But, in a day and age when the most evident truths are shrouded

by the clouds of doubt and questioned, one is forced to discuss even the most

obvious of them. One such truth is the necessity for an ascetic element in human

life. Without an element of self-denial and asceticism no religion and therefore

no human culture is possible. One must withdraw occasionally from the full life

of the senses even in order to be able to enjoy the fruit of sensual perception.

As the Taoist saying affirms, it is the empty space of the wheel which makes the

wheel. It is only a certain degree of restraint from the material objects of the

senses that makes even the life of the senses balanced, not to speak of making

possible an opening in the human soul for the spiritual life.

One such practice of restraint is fasting, promulgated in Islam as obligatory

for the month of Ramadân and recommended for other periods of the year. As the

Holy Qur’ân asserts, it is a practice which existed in older religions and in

Islam it was only revived and institutionalized in the form of the sawm of

Ramadân. Fasting during this month possesses, of course, many social and

external benefits and features which have been discussed often and in fact even

somewhat overemphasized in certain quarters, where the chief virtue of fasting

is reduced to charity towards the poor. This element of charity is, of course,

there but like all true charity it becomes spiritually significant only when it

is directed towards God. And in fasting it is the obeying of the Divine Will

which has as its fruit charity towards the poor and the needy and an actual

participation in their hunger and thirst.

But the most difficult aspect of the fast is the edge of the sword of abstention

directed toward the carnal soul, the al-nafs al-ammârah of the Holy Qur’ân. In

fasting, the rebellious tendencies of the carnal soul are gradually dampened and

pacified through a systematic submission of these tendencies to the Divine Will,

for at every moment of hunger the soul of the Muslim is reminded that it is in

order to obey a Divine command that the passions of the carnal soul go unheeded.

That is also why the fast does not include only food but also abstention from

every form of lust and carnal passion.

As a result of this systematic restraint, the human soul becomes aware that it

is independent of its immediate natural environment and conscious that it is in

this world but not of it. A person who fasts with complete faith becomes aware

very rapidly that he is a pilgrim in this world and that he is a creature

destined for a goal beyond this material existence. The world about him loses

some of its materiality and gains an aspect of "vacuity" and transparence which

in the case of the contemplative Muslim leads directly to a contemplation of God

in His creation.

The ethereal and "empty" nature of things is, moreover, compensated by the

appearance of those very things as Divine gifts. Food and drink which are taken

for granted throughout the year reveal themselves during the period of fasting

more than ever as gifts of heaven (ni‘mah) and gain a spiritual significance of

a sacramental nature.

To fast is also to wear the armor of purity against the passions of the world.

It is to incorporate even "physically" in one's body the purity of death which

is of course coupled with spiritual birth. In fasting, man is reminded that he

has chosen the side of God over the world of passions. That is why the Holy

Prophet loved fasting so much. It was a basic element of that "Muhammadan

spiritual poverty" (faqr), about which he said, "al-faqr fakhrî" (spiritual

poverty is my glory).

This death of the passions cleanses the human soul and empties it of the putrid

water of its negative psychic residues. The individual and through him the

Islamic community is renovated through this rite and reminded of its moral and

spiritual obligations and goals. That is why the arrival of the blessed month is

greeted with joy. For in it the doors of heaven are opened further for the

faithful and the Divine Compassion descends upon those who seek it. To have

completed the fast of Ramadân is to have undergone a rejuvenation and rebirth

which prepares each Muslim to face another year with determination to live and

act according to the Divine Will. The fast also bestows a spiritual perfume upon

the human soul whose fragrance can be perceived long after the period of

abstinence has come to an end. It provides for the soul a source of energy upon

which it feeds throughout the year. The holy month has therefore been called

"the blessed", mubârak, one in which the grace or barakah of God flows upon the

Islamic community and rejuvenates its deepest sources of life and action.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download