Part Two
Fulfilling one's obligation of fasting in a manner pleasing to Allah is a sign of strong faith, purity, sincerity and fear of Allah. Fasting is an act of worship between Allah and His servant, since only Allah knows a person's intentions, sincerity, purity, and the care he takes over the lawful and unlawful as he fulfils this obligation. Nobody can know whether someone else fasts to impress those around him or else out of sincere intent. A person who fasts is recompensed for this act of worship only in the sight of Allah.
Our Prophet gave
believers great glad tidings in a hadith: "How happy are those who
spend this month fasting, worshipping and in doing good deeds!"
Allah reveals the obligatory nature of fasting in Surat al-Baqara:
"You who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard (against evil)." (Surat al-Baqara: 183)
As is revealed in
that verse, one of the reasons why fasting is obligatory is for people to
avoid evil and restrain their desires. The only way to do that is to
believe in Allah with a sincere heart, abide by His commands and
recommendations and avoid the temptations of one's desires. Such a
person's morality will grow ever more pleasing with time, his faith will
mature and his fear of Allah grow stronger.
However, the
important thing is that the pure faith, sincere prayer, care taken over
the remembrance of Allah and attention to restraining one's desires
acquired during the month of Ramadan should not weaken once it is over. A
person with strong faith spreads the superior morality of Ramadan over
every moment of his life. Allah has made fasting on certain days an
obligation, and has commanded people to avoid wrongdoing. Yet one must
avoid wrongdoing throughout one's life, listen to the voice of one's
conscience, make efforts to win Allah's good pleasure with godly intent
and turn only to Him. That is the morality that Allah will find pleasing.
Doing the opposite, in other words only worshipping, praying and
remembering Allah during the month of Ramadan, and then turning away from
the truths revealed in the Qur'an once that month is over is behaviour
condemned by Allah. That is because on the Day of Judgement a person will
be asked to account for all his deeds, great and small, and will be
appropriately rewarded for them. Those who avoided evil and listened to
the voice of their conscience will be saved, and those who denied Him will
suffer the endless torments of hell.
