RE: Ramadan Mubarak!
July 20, 2012 at 1:54 am
(This post was last modified: July 20, 2012 at 2:03 am by Rayaan.)
Welsh Cake, I don't think that fasting in Ramadan is comparable to starving ourselves. Why? Because in Ramadan, there is a certain time to stop eating and a certain time to start eating again. We have certain rules, routines, and recommendations that we follow so that we don't cause any significant harm to our health during the fasting.
I think that the main lesson behind the Islamic fasting is that sometimes we have to sacrifice our temptations or the desire for something pleasurable for the cause of a higher end, or for the sake of God, essentially. Refraining from food for a certain period of time is a way of showing our love and our obedience to Him.
Another lesson is that we have to seek the spiritual pleasures more than the material pleasures of this world, and this particular message is conveyed in many places throughout the Quran, i.e. that material pleasures such as food, money, sex, and all that stuff will be of no benefit to us in the next life. All those thing will disappear one day (according to Muslim belief), but our deeds and our actions will be recorded and they will not disappear unlike the tangible things that we see around us.
You don't have to agree with me, of course, but that is just my own understanding of fasting in Ramadan and the wisdom behind it. That is what I believe is the reason for fasting.
I think that the main lesson behind the Islamic fasting is that sometimes we have to sacrifice our temptations or the desire for something pleasurable for the cause of a higher end, or for the sake of God, essentially. Refraining from food for a certain period of time is a way of showing our love and our obedience to Him.
Another lesson is that we have to seek the spiritual pleasures more than the material pleasures of this world, and this particular message is conveyed in many places throughout the Quran, i.e. that material pleasures such as food, money, sex, and all that stuff will be of no benefit to us in the next life. All those thing will disappear one day (according to Muslim belief), but our deeds and our actions will be recorded and they will not disappear unlike the tangible things that we see around us.
You don't have to agree with me, of course, but that is just my own understanding of fasting in Ramadan and the wisdom behind it. That is what I believe is the reason for fasting.
