SHAH ALAM - Fasting is prescribed onto Muslims to achieve 'taqwa', says Sheikh Tariq Appleby. who hails from Cape Town, says that fasting has been prescribed for Muslims so that they can achieve "taqwa”.
Taqwa is in essence, doing what Allah SWT has commanded you to, he said.
However, the scholar from Cape Town, South Africa said taqwa does not merely stop there.
"The first half of taqwa is knowing why you’re doing something, in hopes that you will be rewarded by Allah.
"The second half of it is avoiding what is not permissible and has been prohibited for you,” he told Sinar Daily.
Tariq gave eating during the holy month of Ramadan as an example of achieving taqwa.
A simple basic need, he said, was that Muslims were not prohibited from eating, except for when they have to fast.
Without a valid excuse, a Muslim must fast and not eat or drink until it is time to break their fast. What’s stopping them is taqwa.
So how does fasting allow Muslims to achieve high levels of taqwa?
"A month ago, if you were hungry during lunch hour at work, you would probably go out and buy some lunch. That was permissible back then, but if you were to go today or tomorrow at 1pm, you can’t do so.
"As soon as the month of Ramadan comes, you can't do any of these during the day,” he said.
But what’s beautiful about fasting, he said is that it is purely for the sake of Allah.
He said that only Allah will know whether someone is fasting or whether they have completed their fast for the day.
This makes it more special but also all the more challenging - what stops one from achieving this higher state of taqwa is by not leaving behind the behaviours and actions that have always been impermissible like backbiting and gossip.
Backbiting, Tariq added, had been compared in hadiths to eating the flesh of a dead Muslim.
"How do you expect fasting to help you when you are still consuming what is making the problem worse or that which is displeasing Allah?
He then commented that Muslims must all hope for the mercy of Allah SWT when fasting and doing good deeds.
"It will change the way you view the things you are meant to do and change the way we worship the Creator.
"It also took a while for me to make that paradigm shift,” he said.