The virtues and benefits of Siyâm (Fasting)

All praise is due and belongs to Allâh. We praise Him, seek His help and forgiveness and repent to Him. We seek refuge with Allâh from the evils of ourselves and from the wickedness of our own deeds. Whomever that Allâh guides, none can mislead him, and whomever He sends astray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allâh alone with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ ﴾

(O you who believe, fear Allâh as he should be feared and die not unless you are Muslims) [Al-Imran: 102]

﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالاً كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاء وَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءلُونَ بِهِ وَالأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا ﴾

(O people fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul. From it, He created its spouse, and from both of them scattered many men and women. Fear Allâh, by whom you ask one another, and (fear) the wombs (lest you sever its relationship). Allâh is ever watching over you). [An-Nisa: 1].

﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا * يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَن يُطِعْ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا ﴾

(O you, who believe, fear Allâh and say sound statements. He will mend your deeds for you and forgive your sins. Whosoever obeys Allâh and His Messenger shall win a great victory) [Al-Ahzab: 70-71].

Here is an act among the acts of worship, which does not have parallel among other acts of worship, a ritual among the religious rituals, which nothing among other religious rituals looks like. In fact, Abu Umamah narrates saying: The Messenger of Allâh (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) set up an army, and I came to him and said: O Messenger of Allâh, pray to Allâh that I am martyred in His cause. He said: «O Allâh deliver them and their flocks». We fought the battle and we and our flocks were delivered. He continued until he mentioned it three times. He said, and then I approached him, I said: O Messenger of Allâh,I came to you three times in succession, I ask you to pray to Allâh that I am martyred, but you said: «O Allâh deliver them and their flocks», and we and our flocks were delivered, O Messenger of Allâh. So, bid me to do a deed that will get me into the Paradise. He said: «You should fast; for there is nothing like it». He said, smoke was never seen in Abu Umamah's home during the day unless they had some guests. Therefore, if they observed the smoke in their home during the day, people would know that they had some guests (Ibn Hibban).

In another transmission of An-Nasaei, he said, «you should fast; for it has no parallel ".

How can fasting has parallel, co-equal, or equivalent when a fasting person rises above all the most important worldly pleasures and comforts and the most pressing of his needs and necessities with respect to food, drink and sexual intercourse, and transcends above them for Allâh's sake, the Most Glorified and Exalted, assuming the angelic resemblance in degree! How can it have parallel when Allâh, the Most Glorified and Exalted has singled it out to reward its observers by Himself, exclusively allocating a gate for them in the Paradise from where no any other creature besides them would enter, and has made it a secret between a person and his Lord!

Slaves of Allâh! Why is the worship of fasting not like any other act of worship and has no parallel? We say that fasting may entail countless virtues, characteristics and blessings, and we shall begin with its eschatological virtues, which include as follows:

First virtue: Protection from the hellfire. The Prophet, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) said, «Fasting is a shield, and a fortress from the hellfire» (Ahmad). Furthermore, the Prophet, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) has explained that such protection comes by time and distance.

As regards time, he, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) said, « Any slave of Allâh who observes Saum (fasting) for a day in the Cause of Allâh, Allâh will keep his face from Hell-fire at a distance of seventy years » (Muslim).

As for the distance, he, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) said, «Whoever fasts one day for the sake of Allâh, He will make between him and the hellfire a trench as wide as the distance between the heaven and earth » (At-Tirmidhi).

Second virtue: Admission to the Paradise. Hudhaifah narrated that the Prophet, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him), said, «Anybody that dies while fasting on that day will enter Paradise» (Al-Bazzar).

The person who fasts will not enter Paradise through just any door, but he shall have a special gate dedicated to him, as the Messenger of Allâh, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) said, «In Paradise, there is a gate, which is called Ar-Rayyan through which only those who observe Saum (fasting) will enter on the Day of Resurrection. None else will enter through it. It will be called out, "Where are those who observe fasting?" So they will stand up and proceed towards it. When the last of them will have entered, the gate will be closed and then no one will enter through that gate » (Agreed upon).

Third virtue: Intercession on the Day of Resurrection: The Prophet, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) said, « Fasting and Qur'an will intercede for the slave of Allâh. Fasting will say: O my Lord, I prevented him from food and lusts during the day, so let me intercede for him, and the Qur'an will say: I prevented him from sleep at night, so they will intercede» (Al-Hakim) » (Al-Hakim).

Fourth virtue: the joy that will fill his heart on the Day of Greatest Panic: In a hadith Qudsi: "Allâh, the Most Glorified says, fasting is for Me and I shall reward for it. He abstains from his lust, food, and drink for my sake! Fasting is a shield, and there are two pleasures for a fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord. And the smell of the mouth of a fasting person is better in Allâh's Sight than the smell of musk» (Agreed upon).

Those who observe fast will come on the Day of Resurrection among those concerning whom Allâh said:

﴿ وَهُمْ مِنْ فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ آمِنُونَ ﴾

And they will be safe from the terror on that Day [An-Naml: 89]

He also said :

﴿ لَا يَحْزُنُهُمُ الْفَزَعُ الْأَكْبَرُ ﴾

The greatest terror (on the Day of Resurrection) will not grieve them [Al-Anbiyaa: 103]

Fifth virtue: Expiation of sins. This is owing to the saying of the Messenger of Allâh, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) «Whoever fasts Ramadan out of faith and hope in reward, will be forgiven his previous sins» (Agreed upon).

O Muslims! These are some of the eschatological virtues of fasting, and how great are they! As regards the mundane benefits of fasting, they are many; some are spiritual, some are moral, some are health benefits, while some are social ... Its spiritual and moral benefits include the following:
First: the purification of sincerity and development of self-surveillance. No one knows the reality of the fasting of a fasting person but Allâh and then the slave himself. He can break his fast in seclusion, without being seen by humans, but he refrains from breaking the fast due to his belief that Allâh sees him. This is a great lesson in the watch of Allâh. This is all the more reason, Allâh, the Almighty, said: « Every good deed of Adam's son is for him except fasting; it is for Me and I shall reward (the fasting person) for it » (Agreed upon).

Second: the transcendence of the spirit above the clay of this world. The fasting person is deprived all day from food, drink and lust, and during the fasting he undergoes a feeling of spirituality and rising above vices. He dispenses with the lawful good, so how can he condescend and be immortalized to the malignant and forbidden! Hence, his spirit learns how to transcend over this and that, except what is direly necessary.

Third: Returning credit to the Master of credit, the Most Purified and Exalted. A person observing fast learns to give thanks to the bestower of blessing for the blessing bestowed; because deprivation during fasting makes him feel the value of the blessings he has been engrossed in but he never felt about that. Like this he moves from ingratitude to gratitude, and Allâh, the Most High, has said:

﴿ وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَئِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ ﴾

And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks, I will give you more (of My Blessings), but if you are thankless (i.e. disbelievers), verily! My Punishment is indeed severe [Ibrahim: 7].

Fourth: providing the spirit with determination. So, the soul that was toiling under the trap of desires unable to get out of them, soon overcomes the barriers to repentance, and realize with confidence, the the possibility of change, after fasting has taught it that change is possible. Just as fasting changed his habits with respect to food, drink, sleep and waking up ... this change is indeed possible also in all affairs. Hence, he does not become entrenched in a situation imposed on him or which he has imposed on himself, but he always strives to change for the better.

Fifth: Complementing good manners. The Prophet of Islam, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) has made it a condition for the perfection of fasting, saying: « Whoever does not give up false speech and acting upon it, and acts of ignorance, Allâh has no need of his giving up his food and drink (i.e. Allâh will not accept his Fasting). "(Al-Bukhari).

He (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) further stressed this when he said, « If one of you is fasting, he should avoid sexual relation with his wife and quarreling, and if somebody should fight or quarrel with him, he should say, 'I am fasting» (Agreed upon).

Among the spiritual and moral benefits of fasting as well, are habituation of patience, self-control, and the development of piety, which is the secret of fasting as a whole. Allâh, the Most High, said:

﴿ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ ﴾

O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become pious [Al-Baqarah: 183].

Fasting involves the cleansing of our hearts, purity of our souls, purity of our conscience, and proximity to our Creator and Maker. Fasting is major spiritual University, where the slave of Allâh gets rid of all the diseases, ailments and ill health that have been in him. Through it, the slave of Allâh assumes unstinting morality and noble emotions, where his motto is forbearance, forgiveness, control of rage, spending, giving and offering...
O believers! As for the health benefits of fasting, we discover all the new and unique aspects of them daily, and these include the following:

Fasting protects against the impairments of negative arousal effervescence, which causes congestion in the body, as well as safeguard from falling guilty of masturbation and its well-known damage. It also protects against fornication and adultery, the carrier of diseases, which are intractable to treatment. How wonderful is our Prophet, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him), when he summed it all in his saying, «0 young men! Those among you who can afford it should marry, for it restrains eyes (from casting evil glances) and preserves one from immorality; but he who cannot afford it should observe fast for it is a means of controlling the sexual desire» (Agreed upon).

The health benefits of fasting include cleansing of the bowels, revamping the stomach, cleaning the body of waste and sediment, prevention of obesity, blood pressure, atherosclerosis, diabetes, liver and spleen enlargement, chronic intestinal tract disorders, and acute kidney and heart disease...

He, who does not speak of passion (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him), indeed spoke the truth when he said, «No man fills a vessel worse than his stomach. A few morsels that keep his back upright are sufficient for him. If he has to, then he should keep one-third for food, one-third for drink and one-third for his breathing» (Al-Hakim).

O those who observe fasting! As fasting has eschatological virtues, it also entails spiritual benefits and health blessings. We are now left to say that fasting as well has precious social blessings, including:

First: It teaches sympathy and solidarity. During fasting, if the rich feels the hunger that used to bite the belly of the poor and needy throughout the day, he will rush to meet his hunger and quench his thirst, if he has an iota of faith in his heart. The Messenger of Allâh (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him), spoke the truth when he said, «He that sleeps with a full stomach while his neighbor beside him is hungry has not truly believed in me and he knows that » (At-Tabarani).

Second: It leads us to social interaction and keeping the ties of kinship. Our religion has encouraged giving food to people observing fast to break their fast. Zaid bin Khalid Al-Juhani narrated saying: The Messenger of Allâh, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) said, « He who provides a fasting person something with which to break his fast, will earn the same reward as the one who was observing the fast, without diminishing in any way the reward of the latter » (At-Tirmidhi).

In addition, this entails much unity and dissemination of affection, familiarity and communication.
Third: Fasting makes one accustomed to generosity, spending and giving. When the fasting person realizes that a little of this world is sufficient for him, he will live moderate his attachment to it and act graciously, give out generously and spend. This brings about affection of the hearts and hatred leaves the souls. Perhaps, fasting and the noble Qur'an were among the reason for the increase of the Prophet's generosity in Ramadan, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him). Ibn 'Abbas (May Allâh be pleased with them) reported, « The Messenger of Allâh, (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) was the most generous of the men; and he was the most generous during the month of Ramadan when Jibril visited him every night and recited the Qur'an to him. During this period, the generosity of Messenger of Allâh (May the blessings and peace of Allâh be upon him) waxed faster than the rain bearing wind» (Agreed upon).

Fasting makes one accustomed to organized life, unity and love of justice and equality. It generates the emotion of compassion, develops the ties of familiarity, teaches the act of hastening to give charity and racing to do good deeds, and it protects the society from evils and corruptions.

Dear Slaves of Allâh! You should be mindful of both the obligatory and voluntary fasting; for it is one of the most celebrated acts of worship. It is one of the greatest acts of gaining proximity to Allâh. It is the habit of the righteous and watchword of the pious. It sanctifies the soul and refines the morals. It is a school of piety and home of guidance. Whoever enters it in good faith and true followership, he will graduate from it with a certificate of integrity, and he will be among those who gain salvation in the world and the Hereafter...

O Allâh! Guide us to fast in the right manner, and accept from us, O Lord of the Worlds...

Invoke prayers and blessings of Allâh upon the one Allâh, the Most Exalted and Glorified, has commanded you to do so when He said,

﴿ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا ﴾

Allâh sends His Salâh (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy, etc.) on the Prophet (Muhammad) and also His angels too (ask Allâh to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salâh on (ask Allâh to bless) him (Muhammad), and (you should) greet him with the Islamic way of greeting [Al-Ahzab: 56].

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