I remembered the first time I had to fast during Ramadan. I was five years old at that time. Being a child, everything looks so harsh and tiring. No food, no drink, the nights filled with Tarawih Prayers and mornings filled with the recital of Quran. Yes, it looks harsh to a five year old. But that was before I knew the beauty of the fasting month.

Ramadan is known as the holy month as Muslims around the world fast and brought themselves closer to Allah s.w.t

by doing Tarawih prayers in the evening, and abiding the purity of thought and actions during Ramadan and Quranic recital on whichever parts of the day. Young and old, rich and poor, Muslims around the world embrace the ninth month of the Islamic Year.

To fast during the month of Ramadan from Fajr (dawn) to Maghrib (dusk) brings us the experience on how the poor who barely survived on meager scraps of food manage. We, the middle income and the well to do takes things for granted and many of times have we thrown excess food down the dustbin, never once thought of those who would even fight for the leftovers. By not consuming any food and drinks, we have therefore lowered ourselves to be literally in the shoes of the poor. This act have brought many Muslims into realization and made them more humble. Incredibly, gastric patients, who have bouts of gastric attacks without consuming their food on time, does not face any gastric problems when they did their fasting.

The month of Ramadan also teaches Muslims self restraint by avoiding actions which can break his or her fast. Such actions are engaging, hearing and viewing irreligious and obscene acts. Event the thought of causing bodily harm to another person can break the fast of the Muslim. Amazingly Muslims who relatively faced low level self-restraints are able to go through this threshold easily without a second thought.

Other than Quranic recital, Muslims are encouraged to dzikir (prayer chants), listening to Islamic religious talks and speeches and Zakat. Zakat, is the act of donating which is one of the pillars of Iman. In this month, Muslims are not only encouraged to be generous and charitable they are also obligated to pay tithes or Zakat on this holy month. For every working Muslims in each household, it is an obligatory to Zakat. The amount collected from this will then be given out to the needy, thus the cycle of spiritual enlightenment continues.

Fasting also doesn't stop many Muslims from doing their normal activities. They do still exercise, in fact I had the experience of fasting during my cross country training when in college. Instead of feeling disastrously tired and faint, I felt quite normal after each day of eight kilometer run. Of course there were times when my throat gets really dry but due to the love of Islam and the respect of other Muslims around the world, I forgo the thought of breaking my fast and continued on. Amazingly that whole month has managed to increase my stamina to triple.

As such, fasting in the month of Ramadan has many benefits. Not only are Muslims spiritually enlightened by the acts of making themselves closer to Allah s.w.t, they are also blessed by the physical benefits that accompanies the act of fasting.

Learn more about this author, Nur Asyikin Abdul Majid.
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