FASTING FOR TAQWA AND THANKSGIVING
The Quran states: “Believers, fasting has been prescribed for you, just as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard yourself against evil. … so that you may glorify Him for His having guided you and so that you may be grateful to Him.” (The Quran, 2:183, 185)
From these verses of the Quran we understand that fasting is training of two things at the same time. One, taqwa or righteousness, the other thanksgiving.
Food and drink are two great blessings of God. But in normal circumstances man does not realize it. During fasting when he abstains from these things the whole day and then after sunset when he eats and drinks after experiencing great hunger and thirst, only then he realizes how great these blessings of God really are. Overwhelmed with this experience, he expresses his gratitude to God from the innermost recesses of his heart. This inculcates the spirit of thanksgiving in a fasting person.
In this way the immediate benefit a fasting person receives is that he is enlisted by angels as a grateful servant of God. The second benefit is that person becomes deserving of receiving further blessings from God Almighty.
According to a tradition of the Prophet, God says: “O people, all of you are hungry except the one whom I feed.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2577)
This is indeed a reality because if the food we eat does not grow and be nourished by soil, we humans cannot gain it for consumption by any other means. That is why if a person keeps fasts in the month of Ramadan and is thankful for God’s blessings, he proves himself deserving of receiving the food grown in the soil for the rest of the year as well. Otherwise, he will be deemed a usurper.
On the other hand, fasting is a training in taqwa or living a God-fearing life. Taqwa means that man should keep himself away from all those things that God has forbidden in this life and he should do only those things that God has allowed him to do.
While fasting when he is consumed by hunger and thirst, man realizes how weak he really is; he realizes how much he is in need of the succour of God. It is when man experiences this helplessness, ijz which is made manifest during the times when man feels hunger and thirst, that his true self meets God. Thus it is the discovery of the real benefactor that brings along with it immense pleasure and satisfaction. This experience makes him aware of his duties as God’s humble servant. This feeling leads to caution in life. It makes one God-conscious and live a life of piety, taqwa.
Fasting breaks ones arrogance and stubbornness. It makes one realize the reality of life that is his helplessness on ijz. Man is cut to size. Realizing one’s complete dependence on God, one prays truly from the heart. Such prayers connect him to God Almighty.
Roza is, therefore, an opportunity or the meeting point between man and God. This meeting point is the last stage of helplessness, which makes you realize that God is all-powerful and man is helpless.
