Do you see the meaning and the implication of ‘fasting’ from the verses in the Quran?
<Quran> Surah 2:185 is the origin of Ramadhan.
2:185. Ramadhan is the month in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting,…
Ramadhan is connected to the revelation of the Quran. The Quran was sent down as a ‘guidance to mankind, clear Signs for guidance and judgment between right and wrong’. Therefore, there is a connection between fasting during Ramadhan and understanding the Quran, as to receive revelation and guidance, to judge between right and wrong.
It is not the purpose of Allah SWT wanting people to suffer and abuse their physical bodies by asking them to fast. Being influenced by Gnostic understanding, mankind thought that the physical body is evil and corrupted; desire, especially sexual desire is not good. Thus, abstinence is a must and physical body must be dealt with severely. Gnosticism is no doubt incorrect, but why does the Quran requires Muslims to fast for the whole month of Ramadhan?
Fasting basically forbids eating. Hunger and desire for food are man’s survival instinct; they are the basic requirements for survival of mankind. It is the same as desire for sex. The One True God had given man this desire and physical needs when He created man. Sex is not unclean, yet why Allah SWT wants people to fast?
If man cannot understand the spirit of fasting during the month of Ramadhan, how can they praise Allah SWT and give thanks for His guidance? I am afraid that fasting will cause man to suffer when they feel the conflict between increasing desire and the fasting required by Allah SWT. The physical desire indicates ‘want’, Allah SWT says, “No!” The more fasting, the stronger the desire is. Allah SWT says strongly, “No!” How can you give thanks and praise Allah SWT then?
What is the connection between fasting during Ramadhan and receiving revelation and guidance from Quran as well as judgment between right and wrong? Do we need to fast in order to understand the Quran? What is the connection between the Quran and man’s physical body and desire? Is the relationship between the Quran and man’s desire both accommodating one another or is there tension between them?
What is the concern of the Quran, as a guide to mankind, clear signs for guidance and judgment between right and wrong? It is concerning the relationship between man and the Lord, it concerns about man’s ethic, mental and spiritual state. What about the flesh? It concerns about satisfying the desire. The flesh is very persistent and willful in insisting the will and rights of desires. If a person or a religion wants to deal with the fleshly desires, they will face enormous resistance and difficulties. You can never imagine how strong fleshly willpower could be.
If you want to deal with the flesh, it will resist you relentlessly.
The true challenge of fasting is whether you concern about the survival of your body and flesh or you concern about your spirit and yearn for the Giver of the Spirit.
During fasting, do you feel the spiritual hunger or the physical hunger? Do you yearn for the truth, yearn for God or long for the food for the flesh?
Fasting, should awake a man to pursue and desire for spirituality.
If a person does not divert his or her concern from own fleshly desire, he can never understand the revelation in the Quran and can never accept the guidance from the Quran. Perhaps, this is the meaning of fasting. Flesh and its desire are not something evil and corrupted, but, if a person centered his or her life on their fleshly desire, this is the onset of sin.
In the Gospel of John 6: 27, Jesus (Isa) criticized those followers who wanted to crown him as king so as to satisfy their physical needs for food, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.” He then explained in John 6: 63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
Flesh and its desires will emphasize on their dominance and necessities, that is: the material (food) should first be satisfied and guaranteed, and then only the spirit and the soul can be satisfied and comforted. Therefore, they will strongly urge the spirit and soul to submit to bodily desires, as if to commit the spirit to slavery and undermine the growth of character. Majority of the population are busy earning their daily living, even though they are spiritually tired and almost paralyzed, they always thought that with abundant materials they will have a safe and secure life, and only with a safe and secure life they will be able to have spiritual foundation and then they will look into their spiritual problems. They never realize that their spirit is still hungry while their stomach is full.
Prophet Amos prophesied, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.” (Old Testament, Amos 8:11). It is the prophecy of a spiritual hunger and barrenness. This famine is not due to the lack of food, but is without the Word of God – the spiritual food.
What is fasting? Fasting is to declare to the flesh and its fleshly desires, “I would rather stay hungry and weak physically than submitting to the flesh which will hinder my will and strength from focusing on the Lord and His will”. There are scholars who persuade and encourage Muslims to fast, saying there is no harm in fasting, instead fasting is beneficial to the health of the body. This is a wrong guidance because this will lead those who are fasting to continue to put their focus on the physical self. The true spirit of fasting is to guide the Muslims so that they will break away from the concern of the physical body and turn to the will and heart of the Lord and this is exactly what we require and need deep inside our hearts. Furthermore, for the sake of the will of our Lord, the Most Merciful and the freedom of our spirit, those who fast are willing to sacrifice their physical bodies. If man fast according to the true spirit of fasting, they will surely be moulded to be having strong personality in quality belief. Otherwise, fasting with a very strong flavour of religion can only bring up addicts who are strong physically but weak and dissatisfied in their spiritual life and faith.
The Gospel (Injil) recorded, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, he then became hungry.”
Then, Jesus was tempted by the devil who suggested that Jesus used the power in his authority to change the stone in front of him to bread. Jesus (Isa) quoted from <Torah> to deal with it, said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD (refers to Allah SWT in the Quran).”
Jesus (Isa) fasted for forty days and forty nights and he was hungry, his body was weak. It seemed to be a good timing for the devil’s temptation, “Jesus, I know you have a special body, you have the authority to command the stones to become bread. Do not ruin your body. Survival and health is prerequisite for the great mission that God entrusted to you, survival is primary, and material is the foundation and is security. Now is the time you should make use of your authority and power that the Lord had granted to you, I think, the Lord will not mind, after all you are hungry, human must first be alive.”
Jesus did not receive well this reasonable suggestion from the devil, because he saw the deceptive, survival logic hidden behind this seemingly good advice. For ages, this survival logic is being quietly instilled into the whole world: “Survival is primary, materials are primary.” To this, Jesus’ reply was decisive and firm, “No, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Food nourishes physical body, the Word of God nourishes spirit. Soul and spirit are primary; spirit is what decides whether a man is still alive or not and not the physical body. When a person is spiritually dry and away from the life-giving God, he is as good as dead even though his physical body is strong. We often encounter the common situation; physical body puts on weight because of excessive food and nutrition, but the spirit is wasting away.
I always see confused faces from my friends every time I shared this truth: is not survival crucial? If survival and the food needed for surviving is not able to satisfy and to give security, what more to talk about spiritual life and the freedom of conscience, or faith? I am frustrated and helpless for they cannot understand. If they do not have conflict and prejudice against the <Bible>, they will find a way out from here.
The meaning of fasting challenges survival logic. Fasting is filled with excitement and causes believers to run to the almighty Lord, fills the whole body and mind with the Lord’s will even though the physical body may be hungry. This is the spiritual interest of a believer.
<Gospel of John 4> recorded, one day in the afternoon, Jesus (Isa) and his disciples arrived at a city of Samaria called Sychar. Jesus, tired, sat by the well. The disciples went to the village nearby to look for food. At that moment, a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus guided her into knowing Christ (The Messiah) and in understanding the true meaning of worshipping God. When the disciples returned, they were surprised to see Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The disciples handed the food to Jesus and were surprised by Jesus’ reply:
But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest ‘? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. “Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
———————- (<John 4: 32 – 36>)
With an empty stomach, hungry and thirsty, Jesus told his disciples that he had food to eat that they did not know about. What is that? Jesus said, his food was to do the will of Him who sent him, to accomplish God’s work. Jesus was satisfied because he obeyed the will of the Lord, the Most Merciful. What is fasting? I would like to give room for people to meditate.
Regarding fasting, I still have things to say.
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PS: the ‘One True God’ in the <Bible> is ‘Allah SWT’ in the <Quran> Surah 29:46
Note:
- All Bible verses are quoted from New American Standard Bible with Codes (1995), with thanks
- All Al-Quran verses are sourced from English Translation of Al-Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, with thanks.