A Description of the Prophet’s Fast – Ustadh Abdullah Misra

Ustadh Abdullah Misra describes the fast of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and its importance as a spiritual template for the believer to follow.

Allah has given us life and tawfiq to see another months of Ramadan. When we look at what we need to do in Ramadan, this discussion is never complete without looking at a full description of the fast of the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace. We need to look at how we can make it more meaningful. And how we can use it as a means to draw closer to Allah Most High.

Intensifying Worship

Ramadan is the month that the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, revered the most. The reason being that this is the month where Allah Most High first revealed the Qur’an to him, on the night of power. The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, fasted nine Ramadans in his life.

The fasting, however, was not the only thing he did, Allah bless him and given him peace. He would also variegate and intensify all the worship he did, Allah bless him and given him peace. This is something for us to remember. Ramadan is about increasing all the different types of worship we do.

The point of Ramadan is not worship itself, but the One who is worshiped, namely Allah Most High. And the acts of worship during Ramadan are merely a means to come closer to Allah Most High.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, emphasized that fasting is not merely about refraining from food and drink. He said, Allah bless him and given him peace: “[From] that person who does not leave lying speech and acting on lying speech [meaning cheating and misleading others] Allah does not have any need for them to leave their food and drink.”

The Prayers of the Fasting Muslim

The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, encourages us to have suhur (the pre-dawn meal) and iftar; to eat fresh dates, and if that is not present, then, dry dates, and if that is not present, then, three sips of water.

He, Allah bless him and given him peace, did not make everyone go out and search for what they want to eat, but to break fast with whatever is there. This Ramadan, let us try to break fast with whatever is there.

The aim is not to worry about the food we are to eat, but to think about the fact that the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, said: “For every fasting person there is one due that is not rejected.”

This Ramadan, let us make an effort to focus our hearts and minds before the time for Maghrib enters, and ask Allah Most High from the bottom of our hearts that one dua, and it will not be rejected.

Being Nourished by Nearness

The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, used to fast “wisal.” Meaning that he, Allah bless him and given him peace, would continually fast, day after day after day, without breaking fast. And some of the Companions, Allah be pleased with them, did the same. He, Allah bless him and given him peace, forbade them from doing so. And when they said: “But you do it.” He said, Allah bless him and given him peace: “I am not like you. You are not like me. I am with my Lord. My Lord gives me food and drink.”

The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, was nourished by intimate discourse with his beloved, Allah Most High. By nearness to Him. By Praying to Him, beseeching Him, and experiencing nearness to Him.

We, unlike the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, cannot continually fast. This Ramadan, let us make our intimate discourse, our prayers, our closeness to Allah nourish us from the excess of the food we try to have take its place. To make spiritual nourishment more satisfying to us than our physical nourishment.

Standing the Night in Prayer

The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, stood in prayer in the nights of Ramadan. He said, Allah bless him and given him peace: “The person who stands in Ramadan in [tarawih] prayer, in iman (faith), expecting reward from Allah Most High, all his prior sins would be forgiven.”

And he said, Allah bless him and given him peace: “The person who stands with the imam [in tarawih] until the imam leave his place, it is written for him as if he stood the whole night in worship.”

So when we pray at night, we do so not simply to stand, but by imagining that we stand before Allah Most High.

Spiritual retreat

In the last ten nights the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, would intensify his worship even more. He would make i‘tikaf (spiritual retreat) in the masjid. He dis this, Allah bless him and given him peace, to search for Laylat al Qadr. Worshipping on that night is like a thousand months of worship.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, would restrict himself, would cut himself off from worldly affairs and dedicate himself to worshipping in the masjid.

This Ramadan, if we can make i‘tikaf – even if only a night or less than a night – let us make i‘tikaf. But even if we cannot, let us try to find some time alone with Allah, especially during the nights. Let us seek Laylat al Qadr and nearness to Allah Most High.

Reading the Qur’an Afresh

The Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, would recite the Qur‘an with Jibril, peace be upon him, in this month. The Companions, Allah be pleased with them, tell that Jibril, peace be upon him, came to the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, and they would do mudarasa. That is to say, they would recite it to each other so that the meanings become entrenched.

In the last year of his life, Jibril can to the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, and they read the Qur’an twice through. This Ramadan, let us read the Qur’an as if we were reading with Jibril, peace be upon him. As if we were reading it fresh from Allah Most High.

A Holy Month of Service to Allah

Let us also remember that Ramadan is not a time of inactivity, but a time to serve the religion of Allah. The two greatest events in Muslim history occurred in the month of Ramadan.

1. The Battle of Badr – the greatest spiritual struggle the Muslims underwent, when they were few, weak, and facing a greater force. On the night of the battle the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, stood under a tree in prayer, crying to Allah Most High. the next morning a rain of mercy came and they Muslims were given victory over the Quraysh.
2. The Conquest of Makkah – the Prophet, Allah bless him and given him peace, entered the city without a fight, and its people were so moved by his forgiveness of them that they all entered Islam and the Ka‘ba was cleared of idols.

This Ramadan may be your greatest spiritual struggle and it may also be your greatest spiritual conquest. So let us serve Allah Most High and remember that being with Allah Most High is the point of all that we do.

Ustadh Abdullah Anik Misra was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, into a Hindu family of North Indian heritage. He became Muslim at the age of 18, graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Business Administration, worked briefly in marketing, and then went abroad with his wife to seek religious knowledge full-time, first in Tarim, then in the West Indies, and finally in Amman, Jordan, where he has focussed his traditional studies on the sciences of Sacred Law (fiqh), hadith, Islamic belief, tajwid, and sira.

He now works at Qasid Institute and lives with his wife, three daughters, and two sons in Amman. He has worked with new Muslims ever since his conversion and is moved by a desire to present Islam in a way that is relevant to Muslims’ daily lives.

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