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The
ruling and wisdom behind fasting
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Question:
What is the ruling of and the wisdom behind fasting?
Response:
With Allaah lies all success. As for its wisdom, Allaah(subhaanahu
wa-ta'aala) mentioned a very incorporating meaning in that
regard: {O you who believe fasting has been prescribed for
upon you as it was prescribed upon those that came before
you that you may attain taqwaa (piety)} [Soorah al-Baqarah,
Aayah 183]. It incorporates everything the people have mentioned
with regard to its wisdom.
•
Taqwaa is a comprehensive word for everything that Allaah
(subhaanahu wa-ta'aala) loves and is pleased with from actions
which are desirable and from abandoning prohibitions. So fasting
is the greatest way to reach this goal which is the goal of
the pleasure of the servant in his worldly life and his Hereafter;
•
The fasting person seeks closeness to Allaah (subhaanahu wa-ta'aala)
by avoiding all desires, giving love of Allaah precedence
over the love of his self. For this reason, Allaah specified
it out of the other actions by attributing it to Himself,
as in the authentic hadeeth;
•
It is from the principles of taqwaa, as Islaam is not complete
without it;
•
It causes an increase in faith, and attainment of patience
and in it is training one's self upon hardships that bring
one close to the Lord of the Heavens;
•
It is a cause of increase of one's good deeds, prayer, reciting
(the Qur.aan), remembrance (dhikr) and charity that actualizes
at-taqwaa;
•
In it is prevention of the self from Haraam (prohibited) things,
of prohibited action and speech which is the pillar of Taqwaa.
In the authentic hadeeth: ((Whoever does not abandon false
speech and acting upon that, Allaah is in no need of his abandoning
his food and drink)). So the servant seeks closeness to Allaah
(subhaanahu wa-ta'aala) through avoiding prohibitions altogether,
and they are:
•
"False speech" - and that is every haraam (prohibited) speech;
•
"Acting upon that" - and that is every haraam (prohibited)
action;
•
Leaving every haraam thing that obstructs the fast and that
is those thing things which break the fast.
So,
since in fasting there are advantages, benefits and attainment
of all good and reward, that which necessitates its prescription
at all times, Allaah (subhaanahu wa-ta'aala) told that it
was prescribed upon us as it was prescribed upon those before
us. This is His affair with all His Laws that have universal
advantages.
As
for its rulings: all the "al ahkaam at takleefiyyah" Islaamic
rulings could apply to it in accordance with the differing
reasons behind it:
•
As for the obligatory (waajib
& fardh):
1) It includes fasting Ramadhaan upon every Muslim that is
Islamically bound by the `Eed
and is able;
2) It also includes the fast that a person vows to do;
3) It includes the fasts of expiation (after having done an
act obligating that.)
•
As for the prohibited fast, it is:
1) Fasting the days of Sharee'ah;
2) Fasting the 11th, 12th, and 13th of Dhul-Hijjah, except
for the person who is doing Hajj at-Tamattu' or Qiraan but
does not have a sacrifice and did not fast before the Day
of Sacrifice;
3. Also included in the haraam fast is the fast of menstruating
woman and the woman in post-natal bleeding;
4. Also, the ill person that fears death (as a result of fasting);
5. Also, it is obligatory to break the fast upon the one that
needs to in order to save a sinless soul from jeopardy - (meaning
the baby in the mother's womb.)
•
The fast which is recommended (sunnah) is the supererogatory
fast, the restricted and the unrestricted;
•
As for the fast that is disliked (makrooh), it is the fast
of the ill person who feels hardship in doing that;
•
The permissible fast (jaa.iz): the fasting of a traveler.
It is permissible for him to fast or not particularly if he
traveled in a day in which he began fasting before traveling.
Shaykh
as-Sa'dee
Fataawa Ramadhaan - Volume 1, Pages 34-36, Fatwa No.8;
al-Irshaad ilaa Ma'rifatil Ahkaam - Pages 82-84
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