Fasting According to Islam

Ladies and gents,tomorrow islamic brothers and sisters from all over the world will start to fast for one whole month.Its a holy month because it is a month full with allah's love and bless.

Why in islamic calendar during ramadhan all muslims must fast?what is the significant and wisdom behind it?According to Dr Arafat , refer here,

• It teaches man the principle of sincere Love: because when he observes Fasting he does it out of deep love for God. And the man who loves God truly is a man who really knows what love is.
• It equips man with a creative sense of hope and an optimistic outlook on life; because when he fasts he is hoping to please God and is seeking His Grace.
• It imbues in man the genuine virtue of effective devotion, honest dedication and closeness to God; because when he fasts he does so for God and for His sake alone.
• It cultivates in man a vigilant and sound conscience; because the fasting person keeps his fast in secret as well as in public. In fasting, especially, there is no mundane authority to check man's behavior or compel him to observe fasting. He keeps it to please God and satisfy his own conscience by being faithful in secret and in public. There is no better way to cultivate a sound conscience in man.
• It indoctrinates man in patience and selflessness, as through fasting, he feels the pains of deprivation but he endures them patiently.
• It is an effective lesson in applied moderation and willpower.
• Fasting also provides man with a transparent soul, a clear mind and a light body.
  It shows man a new way of wise savings and sound budgeting.
• It enables man to master the art of Mature Adaptability. We can easily understand the point once we realize that fasting makes man change the entire course of his daily life.
  It grounds man in discipline and healthy survival.
• It originates in man the real spirit of social belonging, unity and brotherhood, of equality before God as well as before the law.

Who is eligible to fast or must fast?

Every man and woman who is fit under this terms and conditions:

• To be mentally and physically fit, which means to be sane and able.
• To be of full age, the age of puberty and discretion, which is normally about fourteen.
• Children under this age should be encouraged to start this good practice on easy levels, so when they reach the age of puberty they will be mentally and physically prepared to observe fasting.
• To be present at one's permanent settlement, your home town, one's farm, and one's business premises, etc. This means not to be on a journey of about fifty miles or more.
• To be fairly certain that fasting is unlikely to cause you any harm, physical or mental, other than the normal reactions to hunger, thirst, etc.

Exemption From Fasting:

• These said qualifications exclude the following categories:
• Children under the age of puberty and discretion.
  Insane people who are unaccountable for their deeds. People of these two categories are exempted from the duty of fist, and no compensation or any other substitute is enjoined on them.
• Men and women who are too old and feeble to undertake the obligation of fast and bear its hardships. Such people are exempted from this duty, but they must offer, at least, one needy poor Muslim an average full meal or its value per person per day.
• Sick people whose health is likely to be severely affected by the observance of fast. They may postpone the fast, as long as they are sick, to a later date and make up for it, a day for a day.
• Travelers may break the fast temporarily during their travel only and make up for it in later days, a day for a day
• Pregnant women and women breast-feeding their children may also break the fast, if its observance is likely to endanger their own health or that of their infants. But they must make up for the fast at a delayed time, a day for a day.
• Women in the -period of menstruation (of a maximum of ten days or of confinement (of a maximum of forty days).; They must postpone the fast till recovery and then make up for it, a day for a day.
• It should be understood that here, like in all other Islamic undertakings, the intention must be made clear that this action is undertaken in obedience to God, in response to His command and out of love of Him.
• The fast of any day of Ramadan becomes void by intentional eating or drinking or smoking or indulgence in any intimate intercourse, and by allowing anything to enter through the mouth into the interior parts of the body. And if this is done deliberately without any lawful reason, this is a major sin which only renewed repentance can expiate.

If anyone, through forgetfulness, does something that would ordinarily break the fast, 0a observance is not nullified, and his fast stands valid, provided he stops doing that thing the moment he realizes what he is doing.

On completion of Ramadhan,all muslims must pay a few ringgit known as zakat fitrah before first day eidul fitri ends.