Benefits of Fasting

In fact, benefits of fasting are endless. Few of them are listed below based on the Qur’an and Sunnah.
? Fasting helps in gaining Taqwa (Fearness and love of Allah (SWT)). Allah (SWT) legislated fasting for gaining Taqwa through the following verse of the Holy Qur’an.
"O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed upon you as it has been prescribed upon those before you, so that you may attain Taqwa." (2:183) Taqwa." (2:183) o Taqwa in this case means to make a shield between oneself and Allah (SWT)'s anger and hellfire. So we should ask ourselves, when we break our fasts, 'Has this fasting day made us fear and love Allah (SWT) more? Has it resulted that we want to protect ourselves from the hellfire or not? ? Fasting helps in striving for Ihsaan (righteousness and sincerity) and staying away from riyaa' (showing off). Ihsaan means to worship Allah (SWT) as if one sees Him, and even though one does not see Him, He sees all. Hasan al-Basree said, "By Allah (SWT), in the last twenty years, I have not said a word or taken something with my hand or refrained to take something with my hand or stepped forth or stepped back, except that I have thought before I have done any action, 'Does Allah (SWT) love this action? Is Allah (SWT) pleased with this action?' So, when one is fasting, one should gain this quality of watching oneself and also staying away from riyaa' (showing off). That is why Allah (SWT) said in a Hadith-e-Qudsee, "Fasting is for Me and I reward it." (Bukhari) Allah (SWT) singles out fasting from all other types of worship saying, "Fasting is for Me", because no one knows whether you are fasting or not, except Allah (SWT). ? ? Fasting helps to be more charitable. Ibn Abaas (RA) said, "The Prophet (SAW) was the most charitable amongst the people, and he used to be more so in the Holy month of Ramadan (Bukhari). The Prophet (SAW) said, "He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him, without nothing being reduced from the fasting person's reward." (Tirmidhi)
? Fasting teaches sympathy for the hungry. Fasting is the only thing which gives a sense of pangs of a hungry man in the mind of the rich. Thus this sense creates a spirit of kindness to the poor and the distressed. It also gives rise to the thought of how the people will fare on the resurrection day when they will feel the greatest urge of hunger and thirst.
We should treat Ramadan as a spiritual not as a ritual. We should not fast just because everyone else is fasting around us. It is a time to make dua, to purify our hearts and souls from all evil deeds. It is the proper time to ask forgiveness to our Lord, not just stay away from food and drinks.we should not give much stress on food during the month of Ramadan. Some people spend the whole day for planning, cooking, shopping and thinking about only food, instead of concentrating on Salaah, studying Qur’an and Hadith, giving charity to the poor and needy and other acts of worship. We should not turn Ramadan from month of fasting to month of feasting.We should should not spend our entire day for cooking and preparing food. Some of our sisters spend a lot of time for cooking throughout the day and even at night, which makes them tired. As a result, they can’t even perform Isha and Taraweeh prayers on time, or even read Qur’an. So, we should try to turn off our stove and turn on our Imaan during this Holy month of Ramadan. we should not waste our valuable time. The time is very precious during the month of Ramadan, because this month comes only once a year. Therefore, we should spend as much time as possible on doing good deeds, performing prayers, reading Qur’an and Hadith, making dua and zikr, helping other Muslim non-Muslim brothers and sisters, etc.we must pray if we fast. If someone fasts but doesn’t pray, it is totally a contradiction. In such case how can we expect that person’s fasting will be accepted. Also, for women, it is strongly recommended to wear the Hijab if she is fasting, because there are rewards for it.
Last but not least, we should not waste the last part of Ramadan for Eid preparations and shopping. Last part of Ramadan is very important in terms of worship, more and more supplications for getting mercy and forgiveness from Allah SWT but many of us spend this valuable time on Eid preparations and shopping only. This practice should be stopped. Eid preparations and shopping can be done earlier. Furthermore, we should pay our Fitra to the poor and needy before going to Eid prayer. ( Concluded)

The author is the Research scholar Physics at NIT Srinagar
Email:------aaqibmaths@gmail.com