Fasting is an expression of freedom.
Freedom from the routine patterns and habits of everyday life.
Freedom from the enslaving urge for food, drink, and sex.
Freedom from instantaneous gratification.
Freedom from the opinions of others regarding the status of our stomach, tongue, and limbs.
Freedom from our lower selves and ego.
Freedom from worldly attachments.
Freedom from indifference to Divine bounties.
Freedom from mindless and profitless chatter.
Freedom from empty hearts into hearts brimming with awareness and love.
I choose freedom, do you?
Here is a relevant hadith (it’s authenticity is debated on) on fasting and the removal of veils at the time of iftar (meal of breaking fast):
“Prophet Moses said to God:
‘O God! You have granted me the honor and privilege of talking to you directly, Have you given this privilege to any other person?
God replied, ‘O Moses! During the last period I am going to send an Ummah (community), who will be the Ummah of Muhammad (pbuh), with dry lips, parched tongues, emaciated body with eyes sunken deep into their sockets, with livers dry and stomachs suffering from the pangs of hunger. They will call out to me (in du’a). They will be much closer to me than you. O Moses! While you speak to me there are 70,000 veils between you and me but at the time of iftar, there will not be a single veil between me and the fasting Ummah of Muhammad (pbuh). Oh Moses! I have taken it upon myself the responsibility that at the time of iftar I will never refuse the du’a of a fasting person!’”
