FASTING FOR SELF-CONTROL

According to a saying of the Prophet of Islam, one who fasts should never stoop to using abusive language; if someone abuses him, he should simply say ‘I am fasting.’ (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith No. 2363)

Islamic fasting, as far as formal practice is concerned, is to abstain from food and drink. But the actual spirit of fasting is self-control that is to refrain from indulging in negative thinking and the use of negative language.

Self-control, far from being a negative or passive action, has great value in human behaviour. Self-control is integral to social ethics. If you live alone on an island, there is no need for any control, as the absence of others leaves you free to do whatever you want to do. However, when you are living in a society, you have to give leeway to others. This is what every person on the road does when he drives a car: he either keeps to the left (or to the right depending upon which country he is in) so that he gives way to other cars and can carry on in his journey without accidents.

Having learnt self-control while fasting one lives by the principle: refrain from actions on more than fifty-per cent occasions, and act only in less than fifty-per cent occasions.

This principle of self-discipline is applicable to the entire life of an individual. It entails giving others the chance to live their lives while living one’s own life.