Mohammad Elshinawy – Why Do We Fast?

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah
Allah Allah He was a huge marine.
		

			We begin the name of Allah Allah praise and glory be to our law and maize finest peace and blessings
be upon His messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his family and his companions every
last one of them alone, I mean, okay, so we begin the fasting rule book, as a preface to the legal
matters related to fasting and slim. We want it to begin today with some
		

			reflections on why we fast what is the purpose and the objective of fasting for us as Muslims. Of
course we all know that Allah subhanho wa Taala he said to us in the Quran, quotevalet Muslim all
you have believed fasting has been written on you, prescribed for you like it was prescribed for
those before you What was this prescription for La La Quinta de *, so that you may attain God
consciousness to be conscious and dutiful to Allah subhanho wa Taala.
		

			You know, fasting is one of the pillars of Islam for a reason because Islam is about you being aware
of Allah and submitting to him Subhana Allah Tada. Islam don't think of it as the name of the
religion. It is, of course, but it is also the meaning of the word is submission. So fasting is an
embodiment of that, that I submit to Allah.
		

			And so our Eman is erected on this principle and it has revived and reinforced in practice, through
the likes of fasting in a very profound way. It's even subconscious and almost like reading greens
or recalibrates us to what it means to be a Muslim, because you may not realize it, but you're
getting deprogrammed if you will, from prioritizing yourself and getting to reprogram, to
prioritizing Allah and rushing to him and rushing to where he wants you to be in the first few days
of fasting, especially if you think about
		

			the fact that
		

			you may not realize it, but you go for coffee at a certain time you go for a snack at a certain time
you go have a meal for a certain time and those first few days of fasting, you say, No, wait, it's
Ramadan, right? You You snap out of your habits.
		

			And you remind yourself I belong to Allah, I don't just respond to whatever impulse I have. And then
that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. And that's the second benefit of fasting is that it creates
in us a higher threshold for patience, because fasting is a practice of patience. You know, very
interestingly the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in mlra movie Talamo enamel Hill movie,
hello.
		

			And this is very profound and very eloquent of him it is Salatu was Salam he said to learning or
knowledge is by learning and patience is biwott practicing patience. And the reason why it's so
beautiful or of the reasons is that we all know that if you want to learn something, you need to
become a student humbled yourself and just go through the motions and learn educate yourself. But we
differentiate between the intellectual and like the moral. And so when it comes to patients, I don't
have patience, I'm short tempered, they tick me off, they should know better and you throw it on
someone else, no the same way your mental capacity or intellectual capacity can be enhanced by
		

			learning your capacity for patience can increase
		

			through practicing that practicing patience and so fasting is a huge practice for patients. So it's
going to help us better be able to tolerate the demands of ourselves our appetites in the most basic
sense food drink and you know the the sexual desire, and instead I am able to restrain those wants
and expects of me, this also serves our relationship with each other so many times were not able to
restrain my desire for having the last word or having it my way and, but to practice patience gives
you so many higher it gives you such higher horizons such a higher potential such a higher ceiling,
		

			if we would just invest in it amendatory investment is the fast thing in the month of Ramadan, also
of the benefits of Ramadan
		

			is our ability to let our spirits our rural households rise because we are more spirit than we are
body but we focus throughout the year on the body right. And so that is what makes us superior that
we have given priority to the spirit over the body.
		

			You know animals they just have their desire but they have no intellect to restrain their desires,
right? That's what makes them animalistic. What makes the human being special. The human being has
intellect and desires. So he develops the restraints we just spoke about
		

			to serve the desires which deserved to be front and center the desires of the spirit the needs of
the spirits which are loving Allah and knowing him and connecting with him. That is what makes the
human being so special, even more special than the angels because the angels have intellect but they
have no desire. And so you have both and it's your
		

			wrestling match. And so it gives more leverage to the Spirit helps it catch up in hopes that it will
take the driver's seat, this practice of fasting. And that is why also Ramadan is the month of Quran
Koran came down in Ramadan and Quran is extra rehearsed in Ramadan, right. One of the ways it helps
us rehearse is by severing that whole thinking about food time, meal time, snack time, more visits
to the bathroom, to be honest, all of that.
		

			And the last thing we will say that fasting, of course benefits us a great deal in terms of
developing also our empathy, because you know, we can speak about those in need. But it's not as
powerful as seeing an image, right? They say a picture speaks 1000 words, but even an image that we
look at, or even a video that we see on our news feeds of those that are suffering from hunger and
famine. It is not the same like tasting get yourself. And so these are the many benefits though
there's so many more than these four on the blessings and the wisdoms and the whys behind the fast
tomorrow and Charlize oj will talk about who is obligated to fast is like a little hidden and we'll
		

			leave one day at the end of each week for your question and answer a lot of the level that comes
that I want to come