FASTING IN THE HADITH
HADITH 1
Every action of the son of Adam (‘alayhi ‘sSalam) is multiplied (in reward), as good deeds are (rewarded from) tenfold up to seven-hundred fold. Allah Ta’ala says, “Except fasts. (Fasting) is for me and I will give the reward for it. (My servant) leaves his desires and his food for my sake.” (Muslim)
From the Noble Qur’an, we can learn that out of His kindness and generosity, Allah Ta’ala rewards all good deeds by giving at least ten times the reward for it, up to seven hundred times. However, when it comes to fasting, He hasn’t set a limit, and He will personally give the reward for it. This reward may be exclusive mercy, a greater heaven or His close friendship.
This is because other good deeds don’t require the level of sacrifice that fasting does. Fasting is not just a physical act of worship, but psychological too, as it involves going against your wishes for three quarters of a day at times!
In fact, in another narration, Allah Ta’ala says that He Himself is the reward for fasting, showing that He will take care of His servant and grant Him his love and happiness!
HADITH 2
Whoever fasts the month Ramadan with faith and in anticipation of reward, all of his previous sins will be forgiven. (Bukhari)
This famous Hadith tells us that after fasting in Ramadan, we’ll leave the month with all of our previous sins forgiven. However, the unique aspect of this Hadith is that it attaches two conditions to this virtue.
Both conditions are reasons for why this person should be fasting. They should primarily be fasting because they believe the Noble Qur’an to be correct in its claim that fasting will help them become better, and they believe the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم and that whatever he has brought is for the best. Secondly, they should realise the great reward behind fasting and fast out of eagerness for this reward.
Both of these conditions show that fasting has to be with a good intention and purpose. This means that if a person is fasting merely because “it’s that time of the year”, it’s customary, or because they fear what others would think about them were they to miss the fast, then the person would not be fasting in its true respect and would miss out on all the benefits of fasting in Ramadan. Therefore, let us correct our intentions so that we don’t miss out on this reward.
HADITH 3
The person who fasts will have happiness twice: Once when he breaks his fast, and
another when he meets his Lord. (Muslim)
The happiness felt by a person when they break their fast is inexplicable. Even if they don’t have the best of food, just water itself will seem like the best thing to have, and he will appreciate whatever food he has.
This Hadith then says that fasting gives you nothing but happiness eventually in the hereafter when we meet Allah Ta’ala and see the reward we have for our fasts.
Note that the beginning of the Arabic wording of the Hadith literally translates to “The faster”, or if you want to go into the Arabic language in depth, “the one who truly fasts”. This shows that this happiness will only truly be experienced by someone who’s fasting for sincere reasons, as the previous Hadith showed. Only they will feel that their fast was worth it, and will feel the joy of fulfilling such a gruelling act of worship when they break their fast.
Therefore the joy mentioned in this Hadith would then mean the joy of having done a great deed, rather than just the joy of eating food!
OTHER BENEFITS OF FASTING
Besides the spiritual benefits of fasting, there are even health benefits:
1. Our body starts to repair itself
2. We lose unwanted fat
3. It lowers the risk of diabetes
4. It helps reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other harmful triggers.
5. It helps the growth of new neurons in your brain
6. Studies show it prevents diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer.
7. It gives your body a detox and flushes out harmful toxins present in your body.
Lastly, fasting helps us understand what the poor people in the world go through, and appreciate the food Allah Ta’ala has given us. However, the main purpose of fasting is what the Noble Qur’an tells us: it helps us develop Taqwa and a self-discipline that allows us to control ourselves when we have desires of committing sins.
BY HUDA PRESS
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