I Asked My Non-Muslim Friends About Fasting

Few days back a friend of mine not knowing that i was fasting asked if we could go out to eat, Once i said that i was fasting, he replied that i could eat vegetarian foods like the others did. I was like

After getting to know more about it, fasting like that kinda type did exist as well and people of other religions did follow those kinda fasting.The most commonly asked questions by the non-muslims during the Ramadan time was “ Why do you fast? “

So I was curious and I asked few of my non muslim friends “ How do islamic people fast and why ? ” and asked them to send me voice notes on it.

So If you want to see that video which is about those voice notes and explanation feel free to watch the video 👈🏻

Now here let’s see

What is actually fasting and why fasting?

Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year for Muslims — the Prophet Mohammed reportedly said, “When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hell are closed and the devils are chained.

Fasting is one of the five basic pillars of Islamic people. The other four are Faith, Prayer, Charity, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

During Fasting, Muslims abstain from eating any food, drinking any liquids, smoking cigarettes, and engaging in any sexual activity, from dawn to sunset. That includes taking medication (even if you swallow a pill dry, without drinking any water). Chewing gum is also prohibited. During fasting it is not allowed to drink even a single drop of water. Why I’m emphasising this particularly is because in few religions people are granted to drink water and fast.Unlike that, Eating or drinking nothing is the way Islamic people fast.

The time period of fasting will be from Dawn till dusk. Fasting depends on the month and region one is residing currently, because in some countries daytime could vary from 16–17 hours and some countries could have 12 hours of daytime. So fasting is based on that.

So now i hope you may got idea about fasting and how it works let’s shift the gear to

Why fasting and What are the benefits ?

It is meant to be a time of spiritual discipline of deep contemplation of one’s relationship with God, extra prayer, increased charity and generosity, and intense study of the Quran.But if that makes it sound super serious and boring, it’s really not.

It’s a time of celebration and joy, to be spent with loved ones. At the end of Ramadan there’s a big day celebration called Eid al-Fitr. It’s kind of like the Muslim version of Christmas, in the sense that it’s a religious holiday where everyone comes together for big meals with family and friends, exchanges presents, and generally has a lovely time.

The commonly known answers for the question why muslims fast ? is that , By fasting one gets to know the hardships that the poor people undergo and the value of food and water can be felt.

Apart from this fasting has lots of benefits regarding health too. It removes toxins from body and purifies it.

Fasting helps in developing self control and discipline. If you ask me how, let’s say if i was fasting today and home alone, and i have a sudden hunger while i could go and eat since I’m under nobody’s surveillance and no one’s gonna know about it.

But still I won’t do it. Even though I could eat but still i refused to do it, i develop self control and discipline from it. Since this habit extends to my other habits as well, i can do a work without any procrastination and distraction.Thereby i can abstain myself from watching TV or scrolling social media so to build will power and build my life towards success.

I end this article with Buddha’s words on self control and discipline

“The person who masters himself through self control and discipline is truly undefeatable”.