Fasting during Ramadan - abstaining from food, drink and sexual relations from dawn to sunset for one lunar month - is a school for moral uprightness, spiritual love and transcendence, as well as social solidarity. It is also an act of self-restraint and self-empowerment.

     Fasting during Ramadan strengthens sincerity and honesty and guards Muslims from pretense and ostentation:  anyone can pretend to fast while enjoying food and drink in private. When a Muslim fasts – he/she affirms that Allah is dearer to him than the dearest necessities of life: food, drink and sex! The extreme hunger and thirst he/she may experience are a measure of his sincere love of God.  Indeed, the fasting person seeks the pleasure of His Lord and his heart addresses Him saying:" Oh my Lord, I have given up the most precious things in my life for your sake, so accept me and grant me Paradise and forgiveness."

       While fasting, the Muslim is in a state of spiritual transcendence, for he/she has grown into a soul that proudly ignores the most basic bodily needs. Now, the Muslim is busy feeding his soul. His body is taking rest until sunset.

     Fasting also promotes unity and social solidarity between Muslims: regardless of sex, wealth, power or colour, all Muslims - the pauper and the prince; the worker and the boss- have no option but to fast. They all fast from a given time until a given time concurrently experiencing hunger and thirst. This spontaneously generates a sense of sharing and togetherness and urges those who have to be charitable towards those who have not.

     That fasting is an act of self-restraint and self-empowerment is obvious. The reason is quite simple: abstaining from food, drink and sex is not an easy task. In fact, it takes a vast amount of patience, forbearance, willpower and determination to undertake that task. In the process the fasting person will have built and developed mental discipline and inner power. And this is in keeping with the rationale underlying the legislation of fasting in Islam: Allah Almighty imposed a month's fast on Muslims not to make them suffer but so that they prosper and attain self-restraint as is stated in the Glorious Qur'an:

 

"O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off evil (/that ye may learn self-restraint)"                                   

                                                                                                         Al Baqarah 2:183                                                                                             

     Indeed, the ultimate goal of a Muslim during the month of Ramadan is –beyond the obvious abstinence from food, drink and sex- see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and think no evil.

     Last but not least, there is a three-in-one bonus: reinvigorating your body, cleansing your digestive system and losing some weight. This bonus is however exclusively granted for those who observe fasting properly, i.e. those who, following the practices and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), eat and drink moderately. As for those who spend the night stuffing their bellies to capacity, Ramadan will only be a source of added physical hardships.

     In brief, the benefits one derives from fasting are considerable and the little pain one undergoes in the process is by comparison insignificant. The achievement of just one of the end-results mentioned, namely moral uprightness, spiritual love and transcendence, social solidarity, self-restraint, and self-empowerment, obviously requires some time, money and energy. How much then would the achievement of all of them require? It should be noted however that not all those who fast during Ramadan will reap such rewards. Many of them will come out of Ramadan empty-handed. Fasting is a school. Some pass. Some fail. Only a few are on the roll of honour.