Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
SAWM: Fasting Teaches Restraint
Fasting reinforces moral discipline that enables a person to lead his life as a worshipper of God and as a well-wisher of all mankind.
Fasting is a form of worship which is performed annually. Each year in the month of Ramazan (the ninth month of the lunar calendar), fasting is observed for the whole month. During the period of fasting, at God’s behest, the believer abstains from eating from dawn to sundown. He moreover engages himself in more profound worship and remembrance of God. This act of fasting is done so that a person’s materialism may be minimized and his spirituality may make progress. He is then enabled to lead a spiritual life in this world.
Fasting awakens in a person the feeling of gratitude. This ritual deprivation of food and water highlights the importance of these blessings. Then when he has experienced hunger and thirst and eats only in the evening, he realizes how precious are the food and water which have been provided to him by God. This experience greatly increases his feelings of gratitude.
Fasting reinforces moral discipline. By curtailing the use of certain things, a person is conditioned to leading a life of moral constraint in this world.
Fasting is like a kind of speed breaker. By having to exercise self-control for one month, the believer learns the lesson that he has to lead a life of restraint not just for a month or a year but for his entire lifetime. He must not try to break through the boundaries set by God.
By observing this fast, a person engages himself more and more in worship, in recitation of the Quran and in remembrance of God. Fasting accentuates the effects of acts of worship. In this way, remembrance of God, worship and recitation of the Quran become more effectual.
Fasting is a kind of special training course extending over a whole one month designed to enable a person to lead his life as a worshipper of God and as one who feels good will towards all of mankind.