So, what will your fast look like?
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Peace All,
I'm going with Mary and doing a silent fast. I shall fast at sunset as the white thread of day turns into darkness, until nighttime. I shall do this for 3 nights beginning on the 23rd June. My husband is already worried about me not talking to him. He is unsure how to fast. He is a submitter, who is still exploring. He believes it is not a food fast, but is still exploring everything else.
Peace. -
Peace downgeorgeous.
You don't even need to create a new thread again, because I think your previous one is clear .
Mr Aidid Safar says "Where is the command line for the prohibition on eating and drinking?"
Then I will respond him back by saying "Where is Allah's commandment to us to do silent fasting?"This is the verse which allegedly to became commandment to do silent fasting.
341He said ?My Lord, make for me a sign.? He said ?Your sign is not to speak to the people for three days except by symbol, and remember your Lord greatly, and glorify at dusk and dawn.?
See.Even an elementary boy will say if this verse is not about silent fasting during Ramadhan, but it's Allah'sign to Zacharia before he got a son.
Plus the more important is the term "Month of Ramadhan" was appeared during Prophet Muhammad's time and so it's very-very imposibble if that verse is about Ramadhan silent fasting.
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Peace Earthdom,
I based my decision mainly on 1926.
Dawn.
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Peace downgeorgeus.
I already mentioned about verse 1926 in top most post in page 2 of your previous thread.
I ever found tread in this forum that claiming the fasting is not talk to other people, but I forgot what tread, maybe you can search yourself.
But the verse of the base used is 1926.?So eat and drink and be content. If you see any human being, then say ?I have vowed an abstinence for the Almighty, so I will
not talk today to any of mankind.??If we look surrounding verses, this verse actually Maryam's commitment not Allah's commandment.Because 1926 is not Allah's commandment so that's why we don't need to follow it since it's Maryam's own initiative.
Differ from verse 2187, this verse is real Allah's commandment or order.Once again that verse is not Allah's commandment for do 3 days silent fasting, but a Maryam's humbling to Allah.
The key word is "Month of Ramadhan created during Muhammad saw's time"I already read some Mr Aidid's articles and in the fact he is not expert in Arabic and I think he is not an Arab.
I'm afraid if you use Mr Aidid as your main Mullah.
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Peace Earthdom,
I take your point. However, it has taken me years of searching to arrive where I am today. I do not believe in Mullahs. I believe in using my own intelligence, as God tells us to. I may change my mind next week, if something comes to me that does not make sense. I have no arabic, so I rely on my intelligence and what makes sense. I am strongly aware that some of the translation of the Koran does not make sense and has even been translated to fit with men's ideas as opposed to women's ideas. Take the idea of beating women. After careful analysis, beating becomes, beat it, go away from them.
Dawn.
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Peace,
My fast will be the traditional one, as I see no error in the usual interpretation of the Quran.
God bless you
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Peace Earthdom,
I take your point. However, it has taken me years of searching to arrive where I am today. I do not believe in Mullahs. I believe in using my own intelligence, as God tells us to. I may change my mind next week, if something comes to me that does not make sense. I have no arabic, so I rely on my intelligence and what makes sense. I am strongly aware that some of the translation of the Koran does not make sense and has even been translated to fit with men's ideas as opposed to women's ideas. Take the idea of beating women. After careful analysis, beating becomes, beat it, go away from them.
Dawn.
Peace Dawn,
Previously, on your other thread, you were saying that it must be sexual intercourse that the fast was referring to. It was quite strong language from what I recall as well in favour of it. You may have updated that thread but I haven't read all the posts on it. What made you change your mind in favour of focusing on 1926 particularly out of interest? I remember mentioning on that thread several points about how the sexual intercourse interpretation would be a little flawed and the points in favour of speech fasting. But I myself am still considering this whole topic. Right now though I am still in favour of a 'fast from speaking'.
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Peace,
1926 is talking about something completely different than fasting. I do not understand how you connect that with Ramadhan. It is a totally different topic in the context of that occurrence.
Well, it is your interpretation, but I find it a bit farfetched. I have a critical approach to Quran, but I have not been able to find any inconsistency regarding fasting.
Fasting from food and drink is a practice for more than for only ramadhan. In some scenarios it is a punishment, which the reverent Believer chooses to carry out himself, if he wants to look good in front of God.
The only true remaining question is whether it is a full month in my opinion, for in older scriptures it is talk about shorter fasts annually to commemorate God. I doubt Quranic muslims would have a harder practice.
But the verses related to the annual fast are quite clear in my opinion. Eat and drink until the break of dawn and then fast until sunset. Sex used to be forbidden, but God seems to have "changed His mind" due to the shortcoming of man and that people used to break this rule anyway and he forgave it. Feeding a poor person if we fail the fast is just another sign on the purpose of the fast, to humble ourselves.
This is also a reason I doubt a entirely pre-written fate without any possibility to change anything in your destiny.
And regarding those who say that in northern countries where the sun barely goes beyond the horizon. The easiest suggestion from me is to be rational and simply fast until the sun "visibly" disappears from the horizon but there is still light out. And same with the mornings, start fast when the sun is visibly arriving up over the horizon. This will make the fast begin at about 4am and end at about 10pm, which I think is fair enough. Check the data for sunrise-sunset for best accuracy, but also mere observation of the horizon is fine. You can see Mr Sun climb up )
Arguing it is too late? Well, intention counts. You cannot see any white thread of light appear in the sky in northern countries anyway since there is light all day long. Stay healthy, fast the rational way.
I have tested fasting until 1030pm and then start over again after 1am. It is not healthy. Add a physically demanding job on top of that. You will be incredibly exhausted.
The meaning of this whole event is not suffering. We should simply get some time reflecting upon our situation, our lives, our food and those less fortunate souls, and of course think about God. God does not even force you to fast, you can feed a poor person instead, although fasting seems to be preferable.
Is one day simply too hard? Compensate! You can rest and add another day at the end.
The only thing I am not sure at heart about is whether the fast is truly a full month or a shorter period than that. A full month sounds a bit long. However, I have no convincing proof to alter the habit. It cannot be less than 10 days since the Quran tells to gather up together the last 10 days of it in Mosques. To be honest, in the end I think it has to be about a full month.
But I must say I really enjoy these meals at the end of the fast. Tastes so nice when you return after a day at work.
Fortunately, down in Iran, Ramadhan fasts end between 8-9pm.
God bless you
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Peace Support,
Once again, it was through pondering that I changed my point of view. I thought of God reminding us to fast like they did before us (I can't remember the verse). I also thought of Mary's fast in 1926. Both these fasts are speech fasts. I then thought that logically, if the fast were sex, then only those people who are married could take part. If this were the case, then a significant amount of people would not be benefiting from the fast. It could not be a speech fast, if it were to last from dawn until dusk, as this would interfere far too much with our daily routines. People could end up dying if we could not communicate during the day. Then I read Safar's contention that the thread of light between day and darkness is not dawn but dusk. This then made sense. you can manage a fast between sunset and night. My husband and I did this fast tonight. From around 7pm to around 8.30 pm. We read Koran, meditated and simply did not talk to each other. It was actually a challenge. If we wanted to, we could have had sex later. If we had gone to a mosque to fast, then obviously sex is out of the question. As I type this, how wonderful I imagine it would be to be in a mosque or similar place and offering up a fast of not talking with many people around.
This fast was manageable, respectful and felt significant. Not talking was peaceful. No bad words, profanities etc. Not enough time to feel hard done by. Tomorrow I might have to miss this fast, because I will be in a situation, where I need to speak. Therefore, I will make up this fast, if I can, during the full moon.
Hope this makes sense.
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Peace Man of Faith,
I am not against fasting from food, in fact I am still very open to that possibility - I'm trying to actually understand what the Quran says. There are some interesting things that I want to look into, especially when it says - as mmkhan has pointed out - like those before you AND then the Quran mentions sawm in a very specific way. Then there are other things, which I find interesting as well, but I'd like to keep this post short.
It's a bit like the issue of Shaytan in the Quran as well. Some think it means Iblis, others think it means there can be A shaytan but THE shaytan is not a person. I think the other claim may be that Iblis is never spoken of as being renamed THE shaytan, like they say about lucifer changing his name to satan - although I believe its even argued that the bible doesn't say this name change happened either. It could be that this is something people have become accustomed to and so read the text that way. It's possible that fasting is about food, but I'm just trying to ensure I explore other possibilities.
Peace Support,
Once again, it was through pondering that I changed my point of view. I thought of God reminding us to fast like they did before us (I can't remember the verse). I also thought of Mary's fast in 1926. Both these fasts are speech fasts. I then thought that logically, if the fast were sex, then only those people who are married could take part. If this were the case, then a significant amount of people would not be benefiting from the fast. It could not be a speech fast, if it were to last from dawn until dusk, as this would interfere far too much with our daily routines. People could end up dying if we could not communicate during the day. Then I read Safar's contention that the thread of light between day and darkness is not dawn but dusk. This then made sense. you can manage a fast between sunset and night. My husband and I did this fast tonight. From around 7pm to around 8.30 pm. We read Koran, meditated and simply did not talk to each other. It was actually a challenge. If we wanted to, we could have had sex later. If we had gone to a mosque to fast, then obviously sex is out of the question. As I type this, how wonderful I imagine it would be to be in a mosque or similar place and offering up a fast of not talking with many people around.
This fast was manageable, respectful and felt significant. Not talking was peaceful. No bad words, profanities etc. Not enough time to feel hard done by. Tomorrow I might have to miss this fast, because I will be in a situation, where I need to speak. Therefore, I will make up this fast, if I can, during the full moon.
Hope this makes sense.
Peace Dawn,
So none of those posts in that thread you made helped you? It's just when you started that thread you were strongly saying it was sex abstentation then some days later it's this, so it just seemed that some posts there could have helped. Or mmkhan's posts. Hmm. I was just curious.
Anyway, I'm not sure about the issue of it being fasting during the night because of the way fajr is used - I can't say for sure but I'll have to look into it more.