|
يٰأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كُتِبَ
عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ
مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
‘O those who believe, the fasts have been enjoined
upon you as were enjoined upon those before so that
you be God-fearing.’ [Surah Baqarah, 183]
Literally, Sawm means ‘to abstain’. In the
terminology of Islamic law, Sawm means ‘to abstain
from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse: with
the conditions that one abstains continuously from
dawn to sunset, and that there is an intention to
fast.’ Therefore, should one eat or drink anything
even a minute before sunset, the fast will not be
valid. Similarly, if one abstained from all these
things throughout the day but made no intention to
fast, there will be no fast here too.
Past communities and the injunction to fast
The verse makes it obligatory for the Muslims to
fast in a specified period, but the command in the
respect has been accompanied by the statement that
the obligation of fasting is not peculiar to them.
The fasting had also been enjoined upon the earlier
Ummahs (communities of the past prophets). The
reference to the earlier Ummahs in the verse shows
the importance of fasting on the one hand, and gives
an encouragement to the Muslims on the other. It
indicates that although there may be some
inconvenience in fasting but the same inconvenience
was faced by earlier communities. This brings a
psychological comfort to the Muslims, because if an
inconvenience is faced by a large number of people,
it becomes easier to bear. (Ruh al Ma’ani)
The words of the Qur’an ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ
(those before you) have been used in general sense
including all religious communities from Sayyidina
Adam to the last of the Prophets (peace and
blessings upon him). This tells us that, like Salah,
fasting has also been enjoined upon every Ummah of
every prophet without exception.
Commentators who interpret مِن قَبْلِكُمْ (before
you) to mean ‘the Christians’ take it just as an
example, not aiming to exclude other communities. (Ruh
al Ma’ani)
The verse simply says that fasts have been enjoined
on Muslims as were enjoined on past communities.
From this it does not necessarily follow that the
fasts enjoined upon the earlier communities were
fully identical in all respects with the fasts
enjoined upon this Ummah. There may have been
difference in the number and the timings of the
fasts etc. and, actually, there has been such a
difference. (Ruh al Ma’ani)
By saying لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ (so that you be
God-fearing), the text has pointed out to the
inherent quality of fasting which contributes
significantly to one’s ability to become abstaining
from the sins and God-fearing. Fasting grows into
man a power which helps him control his desires,
which is really the foundation of Taqwa, the very
special term of the Holy Qur’an which has been
tentatively translated as fear of God, abstinence,
and the warding of evil.
|
