Fasting Teaches the Discipline to Live by God’s Word

Ramadan is a blessed time. It is the spring season of virtues. It is a time when good deeds are specially encouraged and bad deeds are abandoned. It is a time that makes all time valuable. It is a time that is associated with the revelation of God.

Pre-Islamic Arabs knew Ramadan, which began this year on Sunday, as just another month in the lunar calendar. But in the year 610 or 611, in one night of this month, something extraordinary happened. The eternal word of God was communicated from heaven to the Earth. Ever since that moment Ramadan stands out as a unique month for Muslims.

“Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Koran, as a guidance to mankind,” says the Koran.

It was during Ramadan that the archangel Gabriel visited Muhammad, a man of about 40 years of age who was all by himself in prayer and devotion inside a cave in a mountain near Makkah. The angel told him that God had chosen him as his prophet. He gave Prophet Muhammad the first words of revelation:

Read! In the name of thy Lord who created,

Created man from a clot.

Read! For thy Lord is most Gracious,

He taught the use of pen

He taught man what he knew not

What followed after this for 23 years was Prophet Muhammad’s work as a prophet of God. The angel of God continued giving the prophet the verses of the Koran at different occasions of his life and continued giving directions for him and his followers.

Prophet Muhammad--peace be upon him--was fasting when the first revelation came to him. We know that Prophet Moses was also fasting when he received the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. Prophet Jesus was also fasting when he received the divine call near River Jordan.

Fasting awakens the heart, enlightens the spirit and prepares the mind and soul to receive the word of God. When the mirror of the soul shines, then the word of God descends into it like a beautiful reflection.

Following the examples of God’s prophets, in Ramadan we fast every day and spend the evenings reading and listening to the Koran in long prayers.

Islamic fasting is a means and a method of purification, self-discipline and self-mastery. In fasting, one abstains from food, drink and sex from dawn to dusk. The body is denied these basic urges during the day. At the end of the day, after sunset, one satisfies oneself in moderation, but then one abstains again the next morning.

Thus a whole training period of abstention and satisfaction for a whole month trains a person in self-control and self-mastery. One learns how and when to say yes and when to say no. This is a lesson that one must learn to live in this world of good and evil, opportunities, challenges and temptations. One must have discipline in order to live by the word of God.

Fasting also teaches us to appreciate God’s gift of food and drink. Eating and drinking are simple, mundane activities. We take them for granted. But food is the gift of God and it is also his gift that we are able to enjoy our food. We must show our gratitude to him and we must use our resources in moderation, with care and responsibility.

There are many who are poor and in need. Fasting also generates the spirit of giving, charity and kindness. It is ironic that we human beings sometimes learn by contrast. By controlling our appetite and hunger we learn how to appreciate the gift of food and drink. By abstaining we learn how to give to others.

Like their brothers and sisters in faith around the world, Muslims in America also fast and pray during Ramadan. We are pleased that many of our neighbors and co-workers are now aware of this tradition and want to learn more about it.

Ramadan this year and for the coming three years will be at the time of Jewish and Christian holidays. I hope this will give more occasions for our three communities of faith to know more about each other and learn to live in harmony and peace. Ramadan Mubarak and happy holidays to everyone.

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On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson at 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Submissions also may be faxed to (714) 966-7711 or e-mailed to jack.robinson@latimes.com.