The month of Ramadan comes with great blessings for Muslims. It has been referred to as the ‘gift’ of Allah to Muslims, and a month in which Muslims get the opportunity to shun hell fire and straighten the path of their lives. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) always emphasized on the importance of Ramadan and fasting. The importance of Ramadan can be highlighted from the fact that Ramadan was the month in which the Holy Quran was revealed as an absolute source of guidance for mankind.

Of the twelve months in the lunar year, Ramadan is the only one whose name has appeared in the Holy Quran, and Allah has also mentioned its importance. The days and nights of this holy month carry Allah’s blessings, mercy and forgiveness, and hence, are unparalleled to the days and nights of any other month in the year. (more…)

Most animals are similar in the way their bodies work physically. In all the animals, food is digested in a similar way and air intake occurs through a similar process. Energy generation, movement and all other bodily functions occur in a similar manner.

What makes humans unique as a race is the fact that their minds are much more developed. Scientists have always connected the functioning of human mind to the processes that occur in the human brain. Unlike animal minds, human minds do not just gather information about food, water and shelter and process it accordingly to reach these things. Human mind carries the powers of visualization and reflection. In this article, we will discuss the possible effects of religious fasting on the human brain.

According to researches carried out at the National Institute of Aging in Baltimore, fasting can help people with mental conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Fasting for one or two days per week can even help people with perfectly sound brain operations. Professor Mark Mattson who is a professor of neuroscience at a leading medical school in the U.S was the lead author of this study. A great part of the study was based on the comparison of humans to other animals, and a lot of deductions of the study were drawn from an analysis of the specific effects produced by different actions in the other animals.

The results of the study were striking. Scientists who carried out this study have compared the effects of a cut on human food (energy) intake on the human brain cells as the effects of exercise on the muscle cells. Although most people think that a carefully crafted and properly controlled diet plan that runs throughout the week is a great way of losing weight. This continuous dieting, however, can affect the brain and some hormones in the body adversely. Scientists who carried out this study suggest that intermittent breaks from meals for one or two days per week work better than continuous dieting plans, because these ‘fasting’ plans help improve the functioning of the brain.

In the following, a few positive impacts of fasting on brain are enlisted:

-          Short term fasting induces an increase in neural autophagy

-          Boost in the production of ketones

-          Reduction in risk of trauma, stroke and depression

-          Calorie restriction through intermittent fasting reduces the risks of Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease.

In some animals, restriction of calorie intake results evidently in a prolonging of lifespan, and most scientists believe that the same is true for humans. However, no concrete evidence of this has been furnished yet.

Religious fasting may help us to not only become better human beings, but also to improve our physical and mental fitness.

Muslim community terms Ramadan as the month of blessings. Ramadan is the month in which the Holy Quran was revealed on the final messenger of Allah. Quran too is the final revelation of the Almighty God. Allah declares “learning self-restraint “to be the main purpose of this month in following verse:

“Fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was prescribed upon nations before you so that you may learn self-restraint“.

In the month of Ramadan Allah alters the rewards of our deeds. He rewards a Nafl prayer with the reward of an obligatory Farz prayer and increases the reward of a good deed seventy times. A person seeking forgiveness is granted forgiveness and Muslim community is rewarded with the day of Eid for keeping fasts throughout this month. However, abstaining from sins is just as important as committing good deeds.

Allah dislike sins and committing sins in the holy month of Ramadan is even more disliked. Committing a single sin in this month is equivalent to committing seventy sins in any other month. In this way Allah discourages believers from sins and at the same time Allah encourages them to seek forgiveness from their past sins. A hadith says “Whoever prayed at night in it (the month of Ramadan) out of sincere Faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven.”

Furthermore, in this month Muslims are obliged to observe fasts. Fasting in Islam is not merely abstaining from food and drink; it is also abstaining from any wrongdoing, in general. If a Muslim does not anything from dawn till dusk but takes or any other haram activity Allah does not accepts his fast so when a believer keeps a fast he gets bound to keep himself away from sins. Not only, he has to avoid all haram activities but also control his temperament.

If a Muslim keeps a fast he cannot abusive or insulting language against anyone, also he cannot harm anyone by his hands if he does he violates the basic rules and regulations of the fast. Generally, any individual uses his hands against others when he is in angry so when Muslims keep a fast, they ought to control their anger. In this way fasting teaches Muslims to control their diet and anger thereby learning self-restraint.

In a nut shell, all sources of Islam clarify the fast that fasting makes all believers control their anger and remain away from sins. Allah has used fasting as a tool so that all believers learn self-restraint i.e. they learn to control themselves from evils and Allah gives Muslims several incentives so that they may start following the right path. The following hadith further clarifies the point; it says “One day of fasting keeps a person away from hell 80 years”.

All Muslims share the basic belief that all human beings are mortal and this life is the preparation for the world hereafter. This belief creates a hunger in Muslims to perform the maximum number of good deeds they can perform in their lifetime since their hereafter purely relies on their performance in this world. Therefore, the arrival of Ramadan is cherished in every Muslim house as Ramadan is seen as the month of blessings since it offers a great amount of chances to do well.

All Muslims are promised a handsome reward by Allah if they surf their abilities in serving Allah and His mankind. This is why Ramadan is always seen as a great opportunity in all Muslim community.

Ramadan is ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is considered to be the holiest of all. In Quran and Hadith, there are several verses quoting the significance of the Ramadan. All Muslims believe that this month provides them with an ideal opportunity to fight the evil spirit and get uncountable virtue. This is because, firstly, in the month of Ramadan Allah fetters Satan and as a consequence Satan cannot whisper bad ideas in the minds of believers. Secondly, as all Muslims observe fasting so they spontaneously learn tolerance and patience. Fasting also teaches them how to learn self-restraint.

Allah declares this learning of self-restraint the purpose of fasting, the Quran says:

“Fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was prescribed upon nations before you so that you may learn self-restraint. “

In this way the month of Ramadan serves as the training platform for fight against evil, as individuals learn self-restraint, commit good deeds and follow the right path. This makes the person a stronger believer and even when the Satan is set free again, the Satan does not finds it easier to make a believer indulge in any wrongdoing. Ramadan purifies believers spiritually as Allah forgives the mistakes of believer and awards them with great reward for their good actions.

Furthermore, Muslims are also blessed with the uncountable virtue in this month. Allah blesses believers seventy times more than he blesses them, for the same deed, in other months. A Nafl prayer is rewarded with a reward equivalent to Farz prayer and Farz prayer is rewarded with the reward of 70 Farz prayers.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Whoever fasted the month of Ramadan out of sincere Faith (i.e. belief) and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his past sins will be forgiven, and whoever stood for the prayers in the night of Qadr out of sincere Faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven.”
Such are the blessings of Allah in this month and hence it can be concluded that Ramadan is the key to defeat evil spirit and avail uncountable virtue.

Have you ever repented on your poor behavior with anyone? Have you ever wanted to control your anger? Have you ever wished to gain patience to avoid this anger? If yes, Ramadan comes as a perfect solution for you. Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar calendar and the whole year for Muslims revolves around this one month.

Fasting in Ramadan is obligatory for Muslims, but this fasting is not meant to test them physically, but it is meant to prepare them for the mercy, blessings and forgiveness which form the essence of this month. To understand this you must be aware of the basic rules and regulations of a fast. This short essay will brief you about these rules and it will present an overview of how to use this Holy month for acquiring patience and tolerance.

Let us first understand what patience is, essentially. Shams Tabrezi, a famous Muslim scholar, defines patience as follows:

“Patience is not sitting and waiting, it is foreseeing. It is looking at the thorn and seeing the rose, looking at the night and seeing the day. Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full.”

This is what a Muslim exactly does in fast, it’s not that he cannot feel material instincts; it’s just that he is waiting for the dusk.

Allah says in the Holy Quran

“Fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was prescribed on nations before you so that you may learn self-restraint”.

In the light of this verse it can be concluded that the sole purpose of fasting is to make an individual learn self-restraint. The fundamental rules of fasting in this month are meant to extend the control if human mind over human instincts like food, hunger, sex, anger and frustration. Abstinence from all these things creates an individual who spreads love and tolerance at all times, and practices self-restraint to prevent anger or material desires to overtake his intent.

While fasting, a Muslim has to wait from dawn to dusk to eat or drink anything. He bears this hardship patiently just to acquire the love, mercy, forgiveness and blessings of Almighty Allah. He refrains from abusing or insulting anyone no matter how much angry he is. At times, he bears the misconduct of others but does not use his hand or tongue to act against it since Allah has not allowed this in fasting. He looks for divine justice or forgives the other person, but never commits any wrongdoing since he has to obey the commandments of Allah. All these things actually make him learn patience and tolerance. Not only, he learns them but also applies them during a fast. In everyday life, a man is likely to lose his temper occasionally. However, during fasting since he has to abide by the rules and regulations of the fast so he holds his temper

Thus, it can safely be concluded that Ramadan provides individuals with an ideal opportunity to learn and practice tolerance and patience.

In Ramadan, Muslims all around the world observe fasts and carry out various other practices just to acquire the love of Almighty Allah.The month of Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and Muslimcommunity unanimously believes it to be the month of blessings, mercy and forgiveness.During Ramadan, a good deed is rewarded with seventy times its normal reward. The month of Ramadan is the only lunar month whose name has appeared in the Quran, and it was also the month in which the Holy Quran was revealed. Such are the blessings of Ramadan and all Muslims must strive to make the most of these blessings.

At the end of Ramadan, Allah blesses the believers with the festival of Eid. Eid follows the month of Ramadan, and it is purely a reward for those Muslims who observed fasting and pushed their material instincts under control during Ramadan, to attain a state of greater mental purity. This Eid is known as EidUlFitr, which is celebrated on the first day of Shawwal.
When the month of Ramadan ends, Allah asks the believers to celebrate.It must be ensured that the underprivileged are kept a part ofEid celebrations. Therefore, Muslims distribute ‘Fitrana’ before Eid. Fitrana is a special charity donated at the end of Ramadan amongst poor people so that they can enjoy Eid in a similar manner as the rich.
It is narrated that the Holy Prophet would not sleep in the night before Eid. That night is termed as the night of reward so it is desirable to offer Nawafil prayers and pray to Almighty Allah.One can also engage in other forms of worship, for example, recite of Holy Quran. Muslims start their Eid day by offering a special Eid prayer. This Eid prayer must be offered any time between the Fajr and Zuhr prayer. However, many Muslim scholars suggest that the Prayer should not be delayed and should be offered early morning.

Ideally, Fitrana should be paid before the commencement of Eid prayer, to allow the poor with ample time to buy new clothes and food stuff. Eid prayers are congregational prayers; therefore they are a symbol of unity in Muslims.This prayer help in laying down a relationship of brotherhood as all Muslims, whether poor or rich, stand shoulder to shoulder with one another and offer the prayer.

Eid day is reward for Muslims, and Muslims are forbidden to fast on this day. It is narrated that “Allah’s messenger prohibited two fasts: Fasting the day of Adha and the day of Fitr”. Muslims are not supposed to offer any Nawafil after or before the Eid prayer as well, as the messenger of Allah, Muhammad (S.A.W) never practiced this in his life.

This Eid is the happiest day for Muslims around the world as they celebrate finally after their one month long hardships.