Fast in the Month of Ramadhan

Chapter 11 : the Prophet (pbuh) Preaching About the Month of Ramadhan

The following incident has been narrated by al-Saduq on pp. 84-85 of his Al-Amali Muhammad ibn Ibrahim says that Ahmed ibn Muhammad-alFlamaclani says that Ali ibn al-Hassan ibn Fadal quotes his father ~uoting al-Hassan’s father Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (as) who in ‘urn quotes his father Imam Musa ibn Ja’fer (as) quoting his father he master of martyrs Imam al-Husain ibn All ibn Abu Talib (as) saying that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) delivered a sennon once .n which he said:

"O people! A month has approached you laden with blessing, mercy and forgiveness; it is a month which Allah regards as the best of all months. Its days, in the sight of Allah, are the best of days; its nights are the best of nights; its hours are the best of hours. It is a month in which you are invited to be the guests of Allah and you are regarded during it as worthy of enjoying Allah’s Grace, Your breathing in it praises the Almighty, and your sleeping adores Him.

Your voluntary acts of worship are accepted, and your pleas are answered. Ask Allah your Lord, therefore, in sincere intentions and pure hearts to enable you to fast during it and to recite His Book, for only a wretch is the one who is deprived of Allah’s forgiveness during this great month. And let your hunger and thirst during it remind you of the hunger and thirst of the Day of Resurrection. Give alms to the poor and indigent among you; surround your elderly with respect, and be kind to your youngsters.

Visit your kin and safeguard your tongues, and do not look at what Allah has prohibited you from seeing, and do not listen to anything your cars are forbidden to hear. Be kind to the orphans of others so that your own orphans will equally receive kindness. Repent your sins to Allah and raise your hands to Him in supplication during the times of your prayers, for they are the best times during which the Almighty looks with mercy to His servants and answers their pleas when they plead to Him.

O people! Your souls are pawned by your deeds; therefore, release them by seeking Allah’s forgiveness. Your backs are over-burdened by the weight of your sins; therefore, lighten their burden by prolonging your prostration.

Be informed that the Exalted and Almighty has sworn by His Dignity not to torture those who perform their prayers and prostrate to Him, and not to terrify them by the sight of the fire when people are resurrected for judgment. O people! Whoever among you provides iftar to a believer during this month will receive a reward equal to one who sets a slave free, and all his past sins will be forgiven"

Having said so, people said to him: "O Messenger of Allah! Not all of us can do that!" He (pbuh), thereupon, responded by saying,

"Shun the fire of hell even by half a date! Shun the fire of hell even by a drink of water! O People! Whoever among you improves his conduct during this month will have a safe passage on al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem] (the straight path) when many feet will slip away, and whoever among you decreases the burdens of his slave (or anyone who works for him) will be rewarded by Allah decreasing his reckoning.

Whoever among you abstains from harming others will be spared the Wrath of the Almighty when he meets Him. Whoever among you affords generosity to an orphan will be rewarded by Allah being generous to him on the Day of Judgment. Whoever among you improves the ties with his kin will be rewarded by Allah including him in His mercy, and whoever among you severs his ties with his kin, Allah will withhold His mercy from him upon meeting Him.

Whoever among you offers voluntary prayers, Allah will decree a clearance for him from the torment of the fire. Whoever among you performs an obligation will receive the reward of one who has performed seventy obligations in other months. Whoever among you increases the sending of blessings unto me, Allah will make the balance of his good deeds weigh heavily when scales will be light.

Whoever among you recites one verse of the Holy Our’an will receive the blessing of one who recites the entire Holy Quran in another month. O people! The gates of heaven in this month are kept open; so, pray Allah your Lord not to close them against you, and the gates of the fire are kept closed; so, pray Allah your Lord not to open them for you; and the devils are kept chained; therefore, pray Allah your Lord not to unleash them against you.

Advising the great sahabi Abu Tharr al-Ghifari, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding the fast being a protection against the fire, he (pbuh) is quoted saying, "Shall I inform you of a deed which, if you do it, will keep Satan away from you as much as the distance between the east of the earth and the west?" People answered, "O yes, indeed, O Messenger of Allah!" He (pbuh) said, "Fast darkens his (Satan’s) face; alms break his back; the desire to please Allah and the giving of assistance to do good deeds cut his tail off, and seeking Allah’s forgiveness cuts off his aorta."

Then he added, "For everything there is a purification (zakat), and the purification of bodies is the fast." He (pbuh) is also quoted saying, "One who fasts is considered to be adoring his Creator even while sleeping on his bed as long as he does not backbite any Muslim." He (pbuh) has also said, "There are two merry occasions for anyone who performs the fast: one when he breaks his fast, and one when he meets his Lord, the Exalted, the Almighty.

I swear by the One Who controls Muhammad’s life, the excess on the mouth of one who fasts is better in the sight of Allah than the sweet smell of musk.

" He (pbuh) has also said that the Exalted and Almighty has said (in a Qudsi Hadith) that all good deeds of a descendant of Adam are His (to reward) "except the fast, for it is mine, and I shall reward for it. All good deeds of the son of Adam are rewarded with ten to seven hundred times except perseverance, for it is mine and I reward for it." So, the knowledge of the rewards of perseverance is with Allah, and "perseverance" means fast.

Regarding the interpretation of His saying (in the Holy Qur’an) "... and seek aid with perseverance," meaning the fast, it is reported that the person who fasts enjoys the gardens of Paradise and the angels keep praying for him till he breaks his fast. If a believer stands during a portion of the night to perform additional optional prayers, then he wakes up fasting, no sin will be recorded against him.

Whenever he takes one step, it will be recorded as a good deed for him, and if he dies during daytime, his soul will ascend the heights of heaven. If he lives to break his fast, the Almighty will consider him among those who often return to Him for forgiveness.

In the book titled Thawab al-A’mnal, relying on the authority of Abu Abdullah who quotes his forefathers, peace be upon all of them, the author, namely Shaikh al-Qummi al-Saduq, quotes one tradition indicating that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has said, "The sleep of someone fasting is like adoration, and his breath praises the Almighty."

Chapter 12 :Norms of Conduct related to the Fast

Having come to know the sanctity of this glorious month, the month of Ramadhan, which is Allah’s favourite month in which He revealed the Holy Qur’an "a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction," the month which He decreed that Muslims should fast during daytime and offer prayers during night-time, and having come to know some of its merits,

we ought to be familiar with the ethics related to fasting during this glorious month. There are certain norms of conduct, preparations, and recommended deeds related to it which we must not take lightly so that Allah may accept our fast and prayers and forgive us; He indeed is the oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. The following are the norms of conduct related to the month of Ramadhan and some highly recommended deeds (a’mal) to be performed during it:

1. Preparations in anticipation of welcoming the advent of the month of Ramadhan include repentance, cessation of doing anything prohibited, and the returning of trusts to their owners. One should not bear grudge against any other Muslim and should try hard to remove existing hostilities. He should abandon any sin he has been addicted to doing, or contemplating upon doing, and he should rely on Allah and make the intention to fast during the month of Ramadhan with sincerity, inwardly and outwardly.

2. He should exert himself with might and means to obey the Almighty, abstain from committing anything prohibited, abandon disputes and envy, avoid hurting people in any way, resort to silence except when praying to the Almighty, recite the Holy Qur’an and do every good deed he is able to do.

3. He should lower his gaze and not look at anything Allah has decreed he should not look at. He must avoid listening to vain talk or anything that may displease Allah, and avoid the places where things causing Allah’s Wrath may be done, and not to move except in obedience to Allah. Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, as quoted on p. 351, Vol.

94, of Bihar al-Anwar, and also on p. 87, Vol. 4, of Kulayni’sAl-Kafi, relying on the authority of Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Thaqafi, has said, "To fast is not just to abstain from eating and drinking. Rather, each of your senses has rights on you related to the fast. When you fast, you should let your hearing, vision, hair, skin, tongue, stomach and modesty fast with you, and you should safeguard yourself so that there is a distinction between the day you fast and the day you do not."

4. On p. 351, Vol. 94, of Bihar al-Anwar, it is recorded that the greatest Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (pbuh) is our role model and leader. Once he (pbuh) heard a woman cursing one of her neighbors, so he ordered some food to he brought, then he ordered her to eat it. She told him that she was fasting, so he asked her, "How can you fast and still curse your neighbor? Fast is not just abstention from eating and drinking.

" He (pbuh) is also quoted saying, "Anyone who fasts during the month of Ramadhan and protects his modesty and tongue and not hurt anyone, the Almighty will forgive his sins, the past and the future, and He will release him from the tire of hell and permit him to enter the eternal abode of bliss. He will accept his intercession as many times as the number of sands in the lands of the guilty ones living among the monotheists."

5. Imam al-Sadiq (as) quotes his ancestors who quote the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abu Talib, peace be upon them all, regarding what things the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has prohibited, saying, "Anyone who backbites another Muslim will have voided his own fast and diminished his wudu (ablution), and he will come on the Day of Resurrection suffering from a smell more foul than that of a cadaver, offending others waiting for their reckoning. So, if he dies before repenting, he dies like one who considered everything Allah has prohibited as permissible."

6. Imam al-Sadiq (as) quotes his forefathers who in turn quote the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) saying, ‘Anyone who starts his day fasting and is cursed and he responds by saying, ‘I am fasting; peace be with you; I shall not curse you as you have cursed me,’ the Almighty will then say, ‘My servant has sought refuge with fast against the evil of one of My servants. Protect him, therefore, from My fire, and take him into My garden."’

It is recommended that the fasting person should, if possible, spend half the daytime sleeping. The Prophet (pbuh) is quoted saying that the sleep of a fasting person is an act of adoration and his breath praises the Almighty.

Chapter : 13 Breaking the Fast (Iftar)

The Glorified and Praised One has said: "... And eat and drink until the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night at dawn, then complete the fast till nighttime" (Holy Qur’an, 2:187).

The Exalted and Omniscient has clarified in this glorious verse the time to start the fast which is when the white thread can be distinguished from the black one at the time of daybreak, and the time of breaking the fast, at the end of the fast during the entire daytime till the approach of the night.

Since fast in Islam is not merely abstention from eating and drinking, but rather a transformation from a physical state to a spiritual height whereby the Muslim pleases his Maker, Islam has set certain rules for breaking the fast which are derived from the Sunnah of His greatest Prophet and his Progeny, peace and blessings be upon them, which may be enumerated thus: 1) the invocations related to the breaking of the fast which take us from the physical state, through our fast, to a spiritual height; 2) sharing our food with the poor and the indigent, and Muslims breaking their fast with one another; and 3) foods recommended for breaking the fast.