Fasting and the physical body

Fasting and the Physical Body

We eat and drink for energy, which we then burn up when working or playing. When we generate greater amounts of energy than we actually use we then end up with excess energy and this is stored in the body as fat. There are two ways through which we can get rid of fat, and that is either by rigorous exercise which burn up a lot of energy rapidly, or by fasting. When we fast we still need energy to meet our daily requirements. When the source of energy through food and drink is limited the body uses its stored energy. In this way we get rid of excess fat.

By reducing or eliminating excess body fat every year during the fast of Ramadhan fasting makes an important contribution to physical health. It should be obvious, however, that this elimination of excess fat will not be achieved if one fasts for the whole day and then, at the time of breaking the fast, eats three times as much food as one would normally eat. In fact this overeating after a long day of fasting can have a distinctly negative impact on health.

The human body, like a motor car, needs to be serviced at regular intervals. By changing spark plugs, points, condenser, oil, oil filter, etc. and then “tuning” the engine, the car works better and more efficiently. There is, in addition, an increase in the life of the car. Similarly, the human body needs to be serviced and Islam achieves the servicing of the body during the fast of Ramadhan. While fasting, a number of bodily organs (particularly the digestive organs) are rested and thus serviced. This servicing restores human health and increases man’s longevity.

Physical strength cannot be sustained without good health, and fasting is essential for the maintenance and the preservation of good health. Indeed fasting helps in the cure of many illnesses! The question is: Does Islam establish a link between physical strength and power? And the answer is: Yes, it does! When the Israelites questioned the Divine choice of Saul (or Talut) as their king on the grounds that he was not a man of wealth, Allah Most High responded and pointed out that Saul was eligible for the status conferred upon him because he possessed knowledge and (physical) strength:

“And their prophet said unto those elders: “Behold, now Allah has raised up Saul to be your king.” They said: “How can he have dominion over us when we have a better claim to dominion than he, and he has not [even] been endowed with abundant wealth?” [The prophet] replied: “Behold, Allah has exalted him above you, and endowed him abundantly with knowledge and bodily perfection. And Allah bestows His dominion upon whom He wills: for Allah is infinite, all-Knowing.”

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:247)

Source: Fasting and Power 

To Be Continued ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipTVRuWfX_o

Between the two nights FASTING AND POWER

Between the Two Nights

The Mi’raj or ascension of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) to the special Divine presence has historically been recognized to have taken place on Rajab 27. This date appears to be linked in the Islamic calendar to Ramadhan 27, the likely day of the “night of power” or the Lailatul Qadr. It seem that this period of two months is a special season in which the collective spirituality is progressively enhanced until finally the individual effort of even the average worshiper elevates him to eligibility for some form of religious experience. This, in turn, launches him on a path of spiritual growth.

The progressive enhancement begins on Rajab 27, when the worshiper refreshes his memory about the Prophet’s Mi’raj and reminds himself that the five daily prayers (Salat) which were brought down from above in the Mi’raj, is the vehicle for his personal Mi’raj. He thus pays serious attention to improving the quality of his Salat. This involves, most of all, developing a devout frame of mind.

In the month of Shaban he follows the example of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) and fasts time and again to build the momentum with which to prepare the body and the mind for the rigors of the fast of Ramadhan. Thus the preliminary fast of Shaban is added to Salat and worship moves into a higher gear. On Ramadhan 1, not only does the compulsory fast for all adult Muslims begin but, also, there is Qiyam al-Lail or the prayers of the night-vigil, when long passages of the Qur’an are recited. Fasting, the night time prayer vigil and the recitation of the Qur’an have a dramatic impact in effecting a substantial qualitative improvement of worship.

When, on Ramadhan 21, the withdrawal from worldly affairs and seclusion in the Masjid (I’tikaf) for ten days commences, the worshipers reach a pitch or intensity of worship which makes this period most spiritually conducive for religious experience. As he withdraws from the Dunya the veils begin to fall from off his eyes and heart and as a consequence he now perceives the reality of things and of the world. 

Finally comes Ramadhan 27, the night of power (Lailatul Qadr) when Allah Most High sends down the angels and Gabriel for every errand:

“…In hosts descend in it the angels, bearing divine inspiration by their Sustainer’s leave; from all [evil] that may happen…;”  

(Qur’an, al-Qadr, 97:4)

i.e., to bestow, perhaps, the supreme gift of Mi’raj (i.e. a direct visionary experience of the unseen worlds) to all those who have deserved it or who have earned it. When the Qur’an asserts that the night of power is superior to a thousand months:

“The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months.”

(Qur’an, al-Qadr, 97:3) 

the implication is, perhaps, that the direct visionary experience of the unseen worlds which can best be experienced on that night is better than an entire life-span (a thousand months standing for an average life-span) lived without it. 

There are profound psychological and sociological lessons to be learnt from Islam’s fast of Ramadhan. The enhanced collective spirituality of Ramadhan, for example, literally reaches down to embrace even the weakest of the believers and to assist and strengthen their resolve to observe the fast.

Secondly, with the institution of the fast of Ramadhan and its attendant charity, prayers, and the recitation of the Qur’an, Islam takes the believer to the third stage of the process of religious development, the stage of total conformity and harmony with the externally imposed sacred law.

In the first stage, we should recall, the individual was invited to enter into Islam and to submit publicly to the Truth. In the second stage, on the other hand, the process witnessed the internalization of the externally proclaimed belief. This was the stage of faith or Iman. With the achievement of stage three or al-Ihsan, and with the possible vision of the unseen worlds, the believer now acquires the capacity to see with the internal eye what previously could not be seen. Thus it is that the Fast of Ramadhan delivers the capacity for internal intuitive spiritual insight with which to penetrate the reality of things and not to be deceived by appearance. Such a capacity constitutes a vital dimension of power.

Source: Fasting and Power 

To Be Continued ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipTVRuWfX_o

FASTING AND POWER Link with human rights, freedom and dignity

Link with Human Rights,

Freedom and Dignity

The Qur’an states that the Divine compensation which is exacted for accidental homicide by a Muslim of a Muslim includes freeing of a believing slave or, for those who find this beyond their means, fasting for two months.

“And it is not conceivable that a believer should slay another believer, unless it be by mistake. And upon him who has slain a believer by mistake there is the duty of freeing a believing soul from bondage and paying an indemnity to the victim’s relations, unless they forgo it by way of charity. Now if the slain, while himself a believer, belonged to a people who are at war with you, [the penance shall be confined to] the freeing of a believing soul from bondage; whereas, if he belonged to a people to whom you are bound by a covenant, [it shall consist of] an indemnity to be paid to his relations in addition to the freeing of a believing soul from bondage. And he who does not have the wherewithal shall fast [instead] for two consecutive months. (This is) the atonement ordained by Allah: and Allah is indeed all-Knowing, Wise.”

(Qur’an, al-Nisa’, 4:92) 

Hence the freeing of slaves is invested with a special degree of spirituality in Islam since it is equivalent in status to prolonged fasting. This is an achievement of great significance indeed for it permits the process of the dismantling of the institution of slavery to proceed in a manner which ensures the full rehabilitation of the freed slaves.

The negative after-effects of slavery and, in particular, the damage to the human personality, are still very visible in the western hemisphere more than a century after the abolition of slavery in Western civilization. The descendants of freed slaves in the United States of America are yet to be successfully integrated into the American society. The explanation of this pathetic situation lies in the fact that slavery was abolished in response to basically economic compulsions with no effort whatsoever to restore the slave’s humanity, human rights and human dignity. Western critics of Islam would hasten to scurry around searching for whatever can be used to conceal or distort the noble words of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) when he ordered:

“Give your slave to eat from what you eat, and give him clothes to wear which you wear.” 

(Bukhari)

Humanitarianism appears to have played a minor role in the whole affair. No evidence exists of any significant spiritual motivation in the dismantling of the institution of slavery in western civilization. (See the excellent work of Dr. Eric Williams, entitled Capitalism and Slavery)

We wish to suggest that this is the basic reason why western civilization has been able to live with, or at least to tolerate Western-imposed apartheid on the soil of the very continent from which the West enriched itself by enslaving a free people. In other words, apartheid is a manifestation of the spiritual bankruptcy of secular western civilization.

In India, on the other hand, the caste system imposes a very real form of slavery on millions of people in that hapless country. It is of crucial importance to note that there is a form of colour discrimination which is involved in the caste system. The fair-skinned Aryan is never at the bottom of the social order. That is reserved for the dark-skinned indigenous Indians. Although the caste system has been denounced by many great Hindu spiritual and religious leaders and Hindu reform movements, as well as being made illegal by the Indian constitution, it continues to survive and to impose terrible sufferings on low caste and casteless Hindus to this day. In Christianity as in Hinduism, there appears to be no basic linkage between fasting on the one hand, and the recognition of human freedom and dignity on the other. And it is the consequent inability to mobilize the spiritual consciousness and bring it to bear on such social problems as caste in India, apartheid in South Africa, and the integration of the descendants of freed slaves into American society which explains the continued existence of these manifestations of social cancer.

Islam’s basic achievement really lies in the functional linkage it has established between fasting, on the one hand, and charity, chastity and recognition of human freedom and dignity, on the other. The one envelops the others in a spiritual embrace of profound practical consequences.

When Muslims were ruled by those who lived lives faithful to Islam, one could not distinguish in Muslim society between the ex-slave and those who had never been enslaved. Freed slaves were integrated into Muslim society to such an extent that an ex-slave sometimes rose to become ruler of the Muslims.

It is only in this evil age of the ascendancy of a Zionist Judeo-Christian alliance which has taken control of the world through modern western civilisation, that Muslims are subjected to rulers who rule over them on behalf of their enemies. As a consequence Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia can boast of their high standard of living that rests on the foundations of slave wages. Indonesian maids who are paid the wages of a slave, and Bangladeshi, Filipino, Indonesian and Pakistani labourers who also work for slave wages, now blot the fair face of Islam.

Source: Fasting and Power 

To Be Continued ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipTVRuWfX_o