Mistakes Made While Fasting
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
The discussion of tonight’s Ramadan reflection is about some of the common mistakes made while fasting.” Many of those who fast make mistakes because they do not understand matters relating to fasting. They do not know the things that either invalidate or spoil the fast. They do not also have knowledge of what is allowed, what is obligatory, and what is forbidden. A hadith tells us:
مَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ بِهِ خَيْرًا يُفَقِّهْهُ فِي الدِّينِ
“When Allah wishes good for someone, He bestows upon him the understanding of Deen.” Muslims who want to worship Allah faithfully should ask about the matters they do not know about our Deen.
Some people who fast commit great sins that nullify their fast. One of the foremost among these is backbiting. As has been discussed in previous reminders, the fasting person has got to guard his tongue from indecent conversation, slander, backbiting and other forms of wrong utterances. He also has to guard his eyes from seeing what is unlawful or undesirable, and his ears from listening to that which is unlawful or undesirable.
Obscene speech, vulgarity and insulting people are amongst the most common mistakes made by fasting people which is contrary to the teachings of Prophet (S) who said: “If any one of you is fasting, let him not utter obscene talk or raise his voice in anger, and if anyone insults him or wants to fight, let him say: I am fasting”. The Prophet (S) also said: “If a person does not avoid false talk and false conduct during fasting, then Allah does not care if he abstains from food and drink.”
For some people, the entire month of Ramadan revolves around food. They spend the entire day planning, cooking, shopping and thinking about food, instead of concentrating on Salah, Qur’an and other acts of worship. All they can think of is food. It may not be wrong to say that they turn the month of fasting into the month of feasting. Eating too much iftar and suhoor distracts a person from many deeds of obedience and worship, makes him lazy and also makes the heart heedless. Moderation is the key to everything. Furthermore, excess food often leads to wastage of food. Allah says:
وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِين
“Eat and drink, but do not waste. He does not like the wasteful.” (al-A’raf, 7:31)
There are other fasting persons who burden their families with the responsibility of cooking so much food that the ladies are left with very little time for the Qur’an, remembrance of Allah, and ‘ibadah. If their demands were limited to the necessities, their families would surely find grater time for worship.
Some people spend a major part of their day sleeping. They cannot bear to be awake and face a little hunger or exert a little self-control. For a fasting person to spend most of the day sleeping is nothing but, negligence on his part. They miss the purpose of fasting. The wisdom of fasting is that the one who fasts should experience the pangs of hunger and thirst to gain the pleasure of Allah. The one who devotes his entire day to sleep will not attain this.
The month of Ramadan is a very precious. Before we know it, this month of mercy and forgiveness passes away. We should try and spend every moment possible in the worship of Allah so that we can make the most of this blessed month. However, there are some people who waste away their day playing video games, or worse still, watching TV, movies or even listening to music.
Some people do not take suhoor out of laziness. We should try not to skip our suhoor. The Prophet (S) said: “Eat suhoor for in suhoor there is blessing.” And he said, “The thing that differentiates between our fasting and the fasting of the People of the Book is eating suhoor.” There are some people who are too scared to fast if they miss Suhoor. However, this is a kind of cowardice and love of ease. Obedience to Allah overcomes everything.
Just to be on the safe side, some people break their fast after the adhan is finished or even few minutes after that. The Sunnah is to hasten to break the fast, which means breaking fast whenever the adhan starts or right after the sun has set.
There are fasting people who have no relationship or closeness with the Qur’an during Ramadan. They may be reading other books but they do not spend time reading the Qur’an.
It is also a matter of regret that during this great month, there are also people who make no effort to do good for themselves by giving charity. Their doors are shut and their fists are tight. Allah admonishes such people:
مَا عِنْدَكُمْ يَنْفَدُ وَمَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ بَاقٍ
“Whatever you have will end, but whatever Allah has is everlasting.” (an-Nahl, 16:96)
There are some people who abandon the tarawih prayer in Ramadan and ignore it completely. Such individuals are apparently driven by their inner voices that tell them that the performance of obligatory prayers is enough. These same people, however, are never satisfied with a little of this world. They are eager to seek its non-essentials as well as its necessities. Also, for those who pray tarawih should not fight over the number of rak’ahs of tarawih. There is no specific number of rak’ahs for tarawih prayer, rather it is permissible to do a little or a lot. The format of both 8 and 20 rak’ahs is okay.
As for making an intention to fast, we should make intention or resolve in our heart that we are going to fast tomorrow. That is all we need. It is not prescribed by the Shari’ah for us to say out loud, “I intend to fast tomorrow” or other such phrases. However there is a specific dua that should be recited while breaking the fast, and that we should try to memorize.
We pray to Allah (SWT) to forgive us our mistakes while fasting and to bless us with the understanding of His noble Deen. Ameen.
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
وَصَلَّ اللهُ عَلَى خيرِ خَلقِهِ مُحمَّدٍ وعَلَى آلِه وأصْحَابِه أجْمَعِين- بِرَحْمَتِكَ يا أرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِين
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Some passages have been excerpted and paraphrased from the book “Thirty Lessons for Those Who Fast” by Aa’id Abdullah al-Qarni.
