Hello Mambuna,
May Allah reward you for your great efforts in broaden our knowledge in
Islam.We really appreciate it.Well I got few questions for you in terms of
Fasting in relations to certain obligation beyond our control.First what
does Allah says when travelling for a day or more,second when you assigned a
task when involves alot of physical body movement or out somewhere example
out at sea for training.Whereby you will be on a ship not on land .What are
the possible solutions or what does the Quran say on such situations.Thanks
for your cooperation.
Sariang.


>From: "Mambuna O. Bojang" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: FWD: MEANING AND BLESSING OF FASTING
>Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 13:06:50 -0500
>
>Ramadan greetings to everyone in advance. May Allah (SWT) make it easy
>for all of us, and may He accept our fasting and forgive us for our sins
>(ameen). Below is a pretty lenghty reading, but I think it will surely
>worth your time.
>
>God Bless!
>Pa Mambuna
>
>
>
>PROPHET SAYS:    Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Allah the
>Almighty has said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of
>Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O
>son of Adam,  were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you
>then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were
>you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you
>then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you
>forgiveness nearly as great as it." (Tirmidhi)
>
>
>MEANING AND BLESSING OF FASTING
>
>
>The second act of worship that Allah enjoins upon Muslims is Sawm or
>fasting. It means abstaining from dawn to sunset       from eating,
>drinking and sex. Like Prayer, this act of worship has been part of the
>teachings of all the Messengers. Their followers fasted as we do.
>However, the rules, the number of days, and the periods prescribed for
>Fasting have varied
>from one Shariah (the revealed, or canonical, law of Islam) to another.
>Today, although  Fasting remains a part of most religions in some form
>or other, people have often changed its original form by accretions of
>their own.
>
>O Believers! Fasting is ordained for you, even as it was ordained for
>those before you." (The Qur'an 2:183). Why has this particular act of
>worship been practiced in all eras?
>
>Life Of Worship
>
>Islam aims to transform the whole life of man into a life of worship. He
>is born a slave; and to serve his Creator is his very nature. Not for a
>single moment should he live without worshipping, that is surrendering
>to Him in thoughts and deeds. He must remain conscious of what he ought
>to do to earn the pleasure of Allah (SWT) and what he ought to avoid. He
>should then walk on the path leading to Allah's pleasure, eschew that
>leading to His displeasure just as he would avoid the embers of a fire.
>
>Only when our entire lives have become modeled on this pattern can we be
>considered to have worshipped our Master as is His due and as having
>fulfilled the purport of "I have not created jinn and men except for My
>lbadah (complete submission and obedience).
>
>Rituals Lead To Worship
>
>The real purpose of ritual acts of worship - Salah, Zakah, Sawm and Hajj
>- is to help us to come to that life of total worship. Never think that
>you can acquit yourselves of what you owe to Allah only if you bow and
>prostrate yourselves five times a day, suffer hunger and thirst from
>dawn to sunset for thirty days in Ramadan and, if wealthy, give alms and
>perform the Pilgrimage once in a lifetime. Doing all this does not
>release you from the bondage to Him, nor make you free to do whatever
>you like. Rather, one of the underlying purposes of enjoining these
>rituals upon you is to develop you so that you can transform your whole
>lives into the lbadah of Allah.
>
>The Private Worship
>
>All acts of worship include some outward physical movement, but not
>Fasting. In Prayer you stand, sit, bow down and prostrate yourselves;
>all these acts are visible to everybody. In Hajj you undertake a long
>journey and travel with thousands of people. Zakah, too, is known to at
>least two persons, the giver and the receiver. None of these acts can
>remain concealed; if you perform them, other people will come to know
>about them.
>
>But Fasting is a form of lbadah which is entirely private. The
>all-knowing Allah alone knows that His servant is Fasting. You are
>required to take food before dawn (Suhur) and abstain from eating and
>drinking anything till the time to break the Fast (Iftar). But, if you
>secretly eat and drink in between, nobody except Allah will know about
>it.
>
>Sure Sign Of Faith
>
>The private nature of Fasting ensures that you have strong faith in
>Allah as the One who knows everything. Only if your faith is true and
>strong, will you not dream of eating or drinking secretly: even in the
>hottest summer, when your throats dry up with thirst, you will not drink
>a drop of water; even when you feel faint with hunger, when life itself
>seems to be ebbing, you will not eat anything. To do all this, see what
>firm conviction you must have that nothing whatsoever can ever be
>concealed from Allah! How strong must be His fear and love in your
>hearts. You will keep your Fast for about 360 hours for one full month
>only because of your profound belief in the reward and punishment of the
>Hereafter. Had you the slightest doubt that you have to meet your Maker,
>you would not complete such a Fast. With doubts in the hearts, no such
>resolves can be fulfilled
>
>Month-long Training
>
>In this way does Allah put to the test a Muslim's faith for a full month
>every year. To the extent you emerge successful from this
>trial, your faith becomes firmer and deeper. The Fasting is both a trial
>and a training. If you deposit anything on trust with somebody, you are,
>as it were, testing his integrity. If he does not abuse your trust, he
>not only passes his test, but at the same time, also develops greater
>strength to bear the burden of greater trusts in the future. Similarly,
>Allah puts your faith to a severe test continuously for one month, many
>long hours a day. If you emerge triumphant from this test, more strength
>develops in you to refrain from other sins. This is what the Qur'an
>says: "O Believers! Fasting is ordained for you, even as it was ordained
>to
>those before you, that you might attain to Allah-consciousness." (The
>Qur'an 2:183).
>
>Practicing Obedience
>
>The Fasting has another characteristic. It makes us obey the injunctions
>of the Shariah  with sustained intensity for prolonged periods of time.
>Salah lasts only a few minutes at a time. Zakah is paid only once a
>year. Although the time spent on Hajj is long, it may come only once in
>a lifetime. In the school of Fasting, you are trained to obey the
>Shariah of Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him), for one full month,
>every year, day and night. You have to get up early before dawn for
>Suhur, stop all eating and drinking precisely at a certain time, do
>certain activities and abstain from certain activities during the day,
>break your Fast (Iftar) in the evening at exactly a certain time. Then,
>for a few moments only you relax, before you hurry for long late evening
>prayers (Tarawih).
>
>Every year, for one full month from dawn to dusk and from dusk to dawn,
>you, like a soldier in an army, continuously live a disciplined life.You
>are then sent back to continue your normal duties for eleven months so
>that the training you have received for one month may be reflected in
>your conduct, and if any deficiency is found it may be made up the next
>year.
>
>Communal Fasting
>
>Training of such profound nature cannot be imparted to each individual
>separately. In just the way an army is trained, everyone has to act at
>the same time at the sound of the bugle so that they may develop team
>spirit, learn to act in unison, and assist each other in their task of
>development. The month of Ramadan is earmarked for all Muslims to fast
>together, to ensure similar
>results. This measure turns individual Ibadah into collective lbadah.
>Just as the number one, when multiplied by thousands, becomes a
>formidable number, so the moral and spiritual benefits accruing from the
>Fasting by one person alone are increased a millionfold if a million
>people fast together.
>
>The month of Ramadan suffuses the whole environment with a spirit of
>righteousness, virtue and piety. As flowers blossom in spring, so does
>Taqwa (fear and love of Allah) in Ramadan. Everyone tries extra hard to
>avoid sin and, if they lapse, they know they can count on the help of
>many brothers and sisters who are Fasting with them. The desire
>automatically arises in every heart to do good works, to feed the poor,
>to clothe the naked, to help those in distress, to participate in any
>good work being done anywhere, and to prevent evil.
>
>For this reason the Messenger (pbuh) said: "Every good deed of a man is
>granted manifold increase, ten to seven hundred times. But says Allah:
>'Fasting is an exception; it is exclusively for Me, and I reward for it
>as much as I wish.' "               (Bukhari, Muslim). All good deeds
>grow, then, in proportion to both the intention of the doer as well as
>their results, but that there is a limit to their growth. Fasting,
>however, has no such limit. In Ramadan, in the season for the
>flourishing of good and piety, not one but millions of people jointly
>water this garden of virtue. The more you sincerely perform good deeds
>in this
>month and the greater you avail yourselves of its blessings, the more
>you sustain the impact of fasting on your life during the subsequent
>eleven months, the more will our garden flourish, and flourish without
>limit. Should its growth become inhibited, the fault must lie with you.
>
>Where Are The Results?
>
>After snapping the vital links between various parts of Islam and
>injecting into it many new things, we cannot expect the same results as
>from the whole. A second reason is that we have practically changed the
>meaning of lbadah. Many of us believe that mere abstention from food and
>drink, from morning till evening, amounts to lbadah; once you do all
>these things you have       worshipped Allah. A greater majority of the
>Muslims is unmindful of the real spirit of Ibadah which should permeate
>all our actions. That is why the acts of Ibadah do not produce their
>full benefit. For everything in Islam depends on intention and
>understanding.
>
>The True Spirit Of Fasting
>
>Essentially every work which we do has two components. The first is its
>purpose and spirit; the second, the particular form which is chosen to
>achieve that purpose. Take the case of food. Our main purpose in eating
>is to stay alive and maintain our strength. The method of achieving this
>object is that we take a piece of food, put it in our mouth, chew it and
>swallow
>it. This method is adopted since it is the most effective and
>appropriate one to achieve our purpose. But everyone knows that the main
>thing is the purpose for which food is taken and not the form, the act
>of eating takes.
>
>How would we react if someone tried to eat a piece of sawdust or cinder
>or mud? You would say that he was mad or ill. That he would not have
>understood the real purpose of eating and would have erroneously
>believed that chewing and swallowing constituted eating. Likewise, we
>would also call someone mad who thrust his fingers down his throat to
>vomit up the food he had just eaten and then complained that the
>benefits said to accrue from taking the food were not being realized.
>Rather, on the contrary, he was getting thinner day by day. This person
>blames the food for a situation that is due to his own stupidity. Thus
>the purpose of eating cannot be achieved by merely fulfilling these
>outward actions.
>
>Outward Replaces Real
>
>Perhaps we can now understand why our lbadah has become ineffectual and
>empty. The greatest mistake of all is to take the acts of Prayer and
>Fasting and their outward shape as the real Ibadah. Otherwise, how can
>we explain, that a person who is Fasting, and is thus engaged in the
>lbadah of Allah from morning till evening, in the midst of that lbadah,
>tells a lie or slanders someone? Why does he quarrel on the slightest
>pretext and abuse those he is quarreling with? How dare he encroach on
>other people's rights? And how can he claim, having done all these
>things, that  he has still performed the lbadah of Allah? Does this not
>resemble the actions of that person who eats cinders and mud and thinks
>that by merely completing the four requirements of eating he has
>actually done the job of eating?
>
>How, too, can we claim to have worshipped Allah for many long hours
>throughout Ramadan when the impact of this whole exercise in spiritual
>and moral upliftment vanishes on the first day of the next month? During
>the Id days we do all that pagans do in their festivals, so much so that
>in some places we even turn to adultery, drinking and gambling. And I
>have seen some degenerates who Fast during the day and drink alcohol and
>commit adultery at night. Most Muslims, Alhamdulillah, have not
>fallen so low. But how many of us still retain any trace of piety and
>virtue by the second day of Id?
>
>The Perspective
>
>This form has been prescribed to create in us such fear of Allah and
>love, such strength of will and character, that, even against our
>desire, we avoid seemingly profitable things which in fact displease
>Allah and do those things which possibly entail risks and losses but
>definitely please Allah. This strength can be developed only when we
>understand the purpose of Fasting and desire to put to use the training
>we have undergone of curbing our physical desires for the fear and love
>of Allah only.
>
>Just as the physical strength cannot be obtained from bread until it is
>digested, transformed into blood, which spreads through
>every vein, so spiritual strength cannot be obtained from Fasting until
>the person who keeps the Fast is conscious of its purpose and allows it
>to permeate his heart and mind and dominate his thoughts, motives and
>deeds.
>
>Fasting As A Way To Piety
>
>This is why Allah, after ordaining fasting, has said that Fasting is
>made obligatory on you, so that you may attain to Allah-consciousness.
>Note that there is no guarantee that you will definitely become
>Allah-conscious and righteous. Only someone who recognizes the purpose
>of Fasting and strives to achieve it will receive its blessings; someone
>who does not,
>cannot hope to gain anything from it.
>
>Conditions Of Fasting
>
>The Messenger (pbuh) has said: "If one does not give up speaking
>falsehood and acting by it, Allah does not require him to give up eating
>and drinking." (Bukhari). On another occasion, he said: "Many are the
>people who Fast but who gain nothing from
>their Fast except hunger and thirst; and many are those who stand
>praying all night but gain nothing except sleeplessness." (Darimi).
>
>Faith And Self-Scrutiny
>
>The Messenger (pbuh) draws attention toanother aim of Fasting thus:
>"Whoever observes the Fast, believing and counting, has
>all his past sins forgiven." (Bukhari, Muslim). Believing means that
>faith in Allah should remain alive in the consciousness of a Muslim.
>Counting means that you should seek only Allah's pleasure, constantly
>watching over your thoughts and actions to make sure you are doing
>nothing contrary to His pleasure, and trusting and expecting the rewards
>promised by Allah and the Messenger. Observing these two principles
>brings the rich reward of all our past sins being forgiven. The reason
>is obvious: even if we were disobedient, we will have now turned, fully
>repentant, to our Master--and "a penitent is like one who has,
>as it were, never committed a sin at all" as said the Messenger (pbuh).
>
>Shield Against Sins
>
>The Messenger (pbuh) said: "The Fast is like a shield [for protection
>from Satan's attack]. Therefore when one observes the Fast he should
>[use this shield and] abstain from quarreling. If anybody quarrels with
>him, he should simply say: 'Brother/Sister, I am fasting.'" (Bukhari,
>Muslim).
>
>Hunger for Goodness
>
>The Messenger (pbuh) once directed that a man, while Fasting, ought to
>do more good works than usual and ardently desire to
>perform acts of kindness. Compassion and sympathy for his brothers
>should intensify in his heart because, being himself in the throes of
>hunger and thirst, he will all the more be able to realize the misery of
>other servants of Allah who are destitute. "In Ramadan, whoever provides
>food to a person who is Fasting to break that Fast will earn forgiveness
>for his sins, deliverance from the Fire and as much reward as the one
>who is Fasting, without any reduction in the recompense of the latter."
>(Baihaqi).
>
>Abdullah Ibn Abbas said the Messenger (pbuh) used to become unusually
>kind and generous during Ramadan. No beggar in that period went
>empty-handed from his door, and as many slaves as possible were set
>free. (Baihaqi).
>
>By S. A. Mawdudi
>
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