Leaving food and water while fasting is symbolic. This is not real abstinence.  By abstaining from food and water, a person takes the pledge or decides that he will also leave all those things which are undesirable to God. In the world nowadays, the culture of lying is common. In newspapers and on radio and television, there is falsehood everywhere.

People say something while the reality is something else. The reality is different from the words people utter. For example, a government may make a grand plan and spend huge amounts of money to implement it, but in reality this would only be a way of robbing people of money. This happens in individual life too.

A person may make a promise to you. He would speak very well. But later he wouldn’t fulfil his promise. Fasting is symbolic of leaving the culture of lies and adopting the culture of honesty. The Quran says that in the Hereafter some people would be sitting on the seat of truth: Copy arabic text (54.55) Who are these people? These are the people who would leave the culture of lies in this world. In the form of fasting, they pledge to abandon the culture of falsehood. Fasting is a pledge to leave the culture of dishonesty. Those who fast in this sense will surely be placed on the seat of truth near God Almighty.