FASTING MONTH, RAMADHAN aL-MUBARAK IS COMING

“O who believe, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you;
perchance you will guard yourselves. ..."-Al-Quran,(Al-Baqarah)

Fasting is the fourth of the Five Pillars of Islam ( Rukun Islam) and involves fasting during Ramadan

The Holy Al-Quran states that fasting was prescribed for those before them (the Jews and Christians) and that by fasting a Muslim gains taqwa, which can be described as the care taken by a person to do everything God has commanded and to keep away from everything that He has forbidden.

Fasting helps prevent many sins and is a shield with which the Muslim protects him/herself from jahannam (hell).

Ramadan is the month in which the Holy Al-Quran was sent down, a guidance for the people, and clear verses of guidance and criterion.

In Islam, fasting for a month is an obligatory practice during the holy month of Ramadhan , from fajr (dawn), until the maghrib (sunset). Muslims are prohibited from eating, drinking, smoking, and engaging in sexual intercourse while fasting.

Fasting in the month of Ramadan is one of the Pillars of Islam ( Rukun Islam ), and thus one of the most important acts of Islamic worship. By fasting, whether during Ramadan or other times, a Muslim draws closer to Allah by abandoning body pleasures, such as food, drink and sex. This makes the sincerity of their faith and their devotion to Allah all the more evident.

Muslims believe that fasting is more than abstaining from food and drink. It also includes abstaining from any falsehood in speech and action, from any ignorant and indecent speech, and from arguing and fighting, and lustful thoughts. Therefore, fasting strengthens control of impulses and helps develop good behaviour.

Fasting also inculcates a sense of fraternity and solidarity, as Muslims feel and experience what their needy and hungry brothers and sisters feel. However, even the poor, needy, and hungry participate in the fast. Moreover, Ramadan is a month of giving charity and sharing meals to break the fast together.

The fasting is intended to teach Muslims patience and self-control, and to remind them of the less fortunate in the world. The fast is also seen as a debt owed by the Muslim to God. Faithful observance of the fasting is believed to atone for personal faults and misdeeds, at least in part, and to help earn a place in paradise. It is also believed to be beneficial for personal conduct, that is, to help control impulses, passions and temper.

The fast is also meant to provide time for meditation and to strengthen one's faith.

While fasting in the month of Ramadan is considered fard (compulsory or obligatory), Islam also prescribed certain days for non-obligatory, voluntary fasting, such as:

-each Monday and Thursday of a week
-the 13th, 14th, and 15th day of each lunar month
-six days in the month of Syawal (the month following Ramadan)
-the Day of Asyrura (10th of Muharram in the Hijri calendar),

Fasting is forbidden on these days:
-Hari Raya Aidil Fitri (1st Syawal) and Hari Raya Aidil Adha (Raya Haji 10th Dzulhijjah)
-Tashriq (11th, 12th, 13th Dzulhijjah)
-the Day of Arafat (9th of Dhu al-Hijjah in the Hijri ( Islamic Calendar),(Only pilgrims to Mecca)are forbidden from fasting.)

Although fasting is fard (obligatory), exceptions are made for persons in particular circumstances:

-Prepubescent children; though some parents will encourage their children fast earlier for shorter periods, so the children get used to fasting.
-Serious illness; the days lost to illness will have to be made up after recovery.
-If one is traveling but one must make up any days missed upon arriving at one's destination.
-Women who are pregnant or nursing.
-A woman during her menstrual period; although she must count the days she missed and make them up at the end of Ramadan.
-An ill person or old person who is not physically able to fast. They should donate the amount of a normal persons diet for each day missed if they are financially capable.
-A mentally-ill person

Penalty of purposefully breaking fast at Ramadan:
-For elders who will not be able to fast, a lunch meal (or an equivalent amount of money) is to be donated to the poor or needy for each day of missed fasting.

-If an adult who is sane, men or women, breaks his/her fast intentionally and without any excuse, he or she must make up the missing day(s) at the end of Ramadan.

-If an adult who is sane, men or women, having sexual intercourse during the day while fasting, expiation is achieved by freeing a slave, or fasting for 60 days successively (two months) without missing a day, or feeding sixty poor people. This penalty is not applicable to those whose having sexual intercourse at night since they do not fast at night.

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