In about another week Muslims worldwide will celebrate the coming of the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, Ramadan, the month of obligatory fasting which is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Deriving from the Holy Qur’an and the Prophetic Traditions, it has been an established practice among Muslims to remind themselves of the virtues of fasting in general, and the importance of Ramadan, particularly when the month is fast approaching.
Such a practice involves reciting the many Qur’anic verses and reflecting on Prophetic sayings pertaining to fasting, pondering their different layers of meaning and significance as well as emulating them.
One such saying is the famous Hadith Qudsi which reads: “Every act of obedience of the son of Adam is for him except fasting, it is for Me (Allah) and I (Allah) will reward for it” (kull ‘amal ibn Adam lahu illa al-siyam fa-innahu li wa ana ajzi bihi).
[Hadith Qudsi is a special category of the Prophetic sayings in which the Prophet relates what Allah the Almighty says in the form of the first person.]
Any Muslim will surely be curious about the real intent of such a saying who knows full well that according to the religion of Islam, as explained in some Qur’anic verses and Prophetic sayings, any act of obedience is performed with sincerity and devotion for the sake of Allah alone.
In addition, Allah is the one who will ultimately reward for such an act.
Many Muslim scholars in the past were driven by such curiosity to reflect on what the saying ultimately seeks to convey.
For example, al-Bayhaqi in his Shu‘ab al-Iman; al-Ghazali in his famous Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din; ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani in his Fath al-Bari and Shihabuddin al-Qastalani in his Irshad al-Sari, the latter two being leading commentators of the great collection of Prophetic sayings, Sahih al-Bukhari; al-Nawawi in his voluminous commentary on another great collection of Prophetic sayings, Sahih Muslim; Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari in his Min Mirqat al-Mafatih Sharh Mishkat al-Masabih; and Muhammad b. ‘Allan al-Makki al-Shafi‘i, author of Dalil al-Falihin li Turuq Riyad al-Salihin.
As a result, at least three main explanations have been offered, all of which revolve around the basic meanings of sawm or siyam-the Arabic terms for fasting-being self-restraint (kaff or imsak), involving at its most basic level the restraining of oneself from eating, drinking, and sexual congress with one’s spouse.
One explanation is that fasting is an act of worship which allows no room for insincerity.
In fact, fasting is like a secret (sirr) which it is difficult to divulge.
For unlike other forms of worship, it lacks positive forms of actions which are perceivable.
In saying one’s prayer (salah), for instance, one can easily be seen performing the act, namely standing facing a certain direction, raising one’s hands, bowing and prostrating.
Yet in fasting, excluding one’s pure intention which is known only to Allah, what is asked is merely for one to exercise self-restraint from ordinary physical pleasures.
Should one keep the fact that one is fasting strictly to oneself, it is not always easy for others to immediately determine whether or not one is fasting.
As such, compared with the other acts of obedience, one is less likely to be hypocritical (riya’) in fasting; the doors to sincerity in worship are thus flung open wide.
And hence, the Prophet Muhammad’s declaration: “There can be no eyeservice [or deceit] in fasting” (lays fi al-sawm riya’).