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The
Spiritual and Health Benefits of Ramadan Fasting
Shahid Athar, M.D.
This
year the Islamic month of Ramadan will start on December
20th. Muslims all over the world will start this month
with fasting from dawn to dusk daily for 30 days as
ordained in Quran.
"O you who believe fasting is prescribed to you as it
was prescribed to those before you so that you can learn
Taqwa" (Quran 2:183)
The Arabic word Taqwa is translated in many ways including
God consciousness, God fearing, piety, and self
restraining. Thus we are asked to fast daily for one month
from dawn to dusk and avoid food, water, sex and vulgar
talk during that period.
But why do we need to fast? It is our experience that
temptations and ways of the world tend to spoil our purity
and austerity. Thus we indulge in food all of the time,
snacking and nibbling the whole day, heading to obesity.
We drink too much coffee, or tea, or carbonated drinks.
Some sexaholics can not stay away from sex unless they do
it at least once or more a day. When we argue, we leave
our decency aside and resort to vulgar talk and even
physical fighting.
Now when one is fasting, he or she cannot do all of that.
When he looks at the mouth watering food, he cannot even
taste it and he has to give up snacking and nibbling as
well as smoking cigarettes if he does. No constant coffee,
tea or Coke drinking either. Sexual passions have to be
curtailed and when he is provoked to fight, he says "
I am fasting that I cannot respond to your
provocation". To achieve God consciousness or God
nearness, a better word, we are advised to do additional
prayer and read the Quran.
Medical benefits of Ramadan Muslims do not fast because of
medical benefits which are of a secondary nature. Fasting
has been used by patients for weight management, to rest
the digestive tract and for lowering lipids. There are
many adverse effects of total fasting as well as of crash
diets. Islamic fasting is different from such diet plans
because in Ramadan fasting, there is no malnutrition or
inadequate calorie intake. The calorie intake of Muslims
during Ramadan is at or slightly below the nutritional
requirement guidelines. In addition, the fasting in
Ramadan is voluntarily taken and is not a prescribed
imposition from the physician.
Ramadan is a month of self-regulation and self training,
with the hope that this training will last beyond the end
of Ramadan. If the lessons learned during Ramadan, whether
in terms of dietary intake or righteousness, are carried
on after Ramadan, there effects will be long lasting.
Moreover, the type of food taken during Ramadan does not
have any selective criteria of crash diets such as those
which are protein only or fruit only type diets.
Everything that is permissible is taken in moderate
quantities.
The difference between Ramadan and total fasting is the
timing of the food; during Ramadan, we basically miss
lunch and take an early breakfast and do not eat until
dusk. Abstinence from water for 8 to 10 hours is not
necessarily bad for health and in fact, it causes
concentration of all fluids within the body, producing
slight dehydration. The body has its own water
conservation mechanism; in fact, it has been shown that
slight dehydration and water conservation, at least in
plant life, improve their longevity.
The physiological effect of fasting includes lowering of
blood sugar, lowering of cholesterol and lowering of the
systolic blood pressure. In fact, Ramadan fasting would be
an ideal recommendation for the treatment of mild to
moderate, stable, non-insulin diabetes, obesity, and
essential hypertension. In 1994 the first International
Congress on "Health and Ramadan", held in
Casablanca, entered 50 extensive studies on the medical
ethics of fasting. While improvement in many medical
conditions was noted; however, in no way did fasting
worsen any patients' health or their baseline medical
condition. On the other hand, patients who are suffering
from sever diseases, whether type I diabetes or coronary
artery disease, kidney stones, etc., are exempt from
fasting and should not be allowed to fast.
There are psychological effects of fasting as well. There
is a peace and tranquility for those who fast during the
month of Ramadan. Personal hostility is at a minimum, and
the crime rate decreases. Muslims take advice from the
Prophet who said, "If one slanders you or aggresses
against you, say I am fasting." This psychological
improvement could be related to better stabilization of
blood glucose during fasting as hypoglycemia after eating,
aggravates behavior changes. There is a beneficial effect
of extra prayer at night. This not only helps with better
utilization of food but also helps in energy output. There
are 10 extra calories output for each unit of the prayer.
Again, we do not do prayers for exercise, but a mild
movement of the joints with extra calorie utilization is a
better form of exercise. Similarly, recitation of the
Quran not only produces a tranquility of heart and mind,
but improves the memory.
One
of the odd nights in the last 10 days of Ramadan is called
the night of power when angels descend down, and take the
prayer of worship to God for acceptance.
Fasting is a special act of worship which is only between
humans and God since no one else knows for sure if this
person is actually fasting. Thus God says in hadith qudsi
that "Fasting is for Me and I only will reward
it". In another hadith, the Prophet Mohammad (peace
be upon him) has said "If one does not give up
falsehoods in words and actions, God has no need of him
giving up food and drink".
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