The Health Benefits of Fasting
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God says that he enjoined fasting so that we can attain piety. God says he wishes ease and not hardship.
if you claim that God made fasting obligatory to go without food and water from sunrise to sunset for 30 days straight, please refer me to the verses in the Koran.
if you claim that islamic practice of fasting for 30 days from sunrise to sunset is beneficial, refer me to the studies that have shown this to be the case.
fasting has its benefits. but look at the articles and studies done. How many hours/days did the test subjects fast? Who did they study? and how many studies have been done looking at the health benefits of going without food/water for 30 days straight from sunrise to sunset?
I posted references to studies that showed the harmful effects of islamic fasting. They are not lies. If you go without food/water from 430 am till 9pm working as a farmer out in the field from sunrise to sunset under the scorching sun, you can get dehydrated.
here's an abstract
The health risks of occupational stress in Islamic industrial workers during the Ramadan fasting period.
Schmahl FW, Metzler B
Abstract
During Ramadan, Moslems are required strictly to avoid fluids and nourishment from dawn to sunset. Heat stress during such abstinence represents a substantial health hazard. In the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) where numerous Moslems, particularly of Turkish origin, perform heat work and other heavy labour, we observed moderate to severe health disturbances in such labourers during Ramadan, e.g. tachycardia, severe headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and circulatory collapse. The severe dehydration of these workers was demonstrated by substantial increases in their hematocrit, serum protein, urea, creatinine, uric acid and electrolyte imbalance. Because of the evidence of the substantial health hazard to Islamic workers in such situations, we have strongly urged employers to refrain from assigning Islamic workers to heat work or heavy daytime work during Ramadan; we have therefore limited systematic studies of health problems during Ramadan to persons performing only moderate work. Even under these conditions signs of dehydration were found in the 32 labourers monitored. Some of these labourers also had to interrupt their observance of Ramadan due to health problems, e.g. acute gout due to serum uric acid increase, or circulatory insufficiency. In light of the observed potentially harmful pathophysiological effects, the danger of dehydration of Islamic workers due to heat work during Ramadan should be taken very seriously. -
Wa Salaams Farida,
Thank you...I wasn't paying attention. The times when I think I might be ready to give up on fasting, I think of it this way It's 30 days out of 365...tough it out.
I also know of people that do other types of fasts, like not watching television or social fasts (where they dedicate an entire day to just studying or praying alone).
Salaam Amina
It is almost always 29 clear days(dawn to dusk) during a lunar cycle, maybe its in winter we may be able to count 30 days in a lunar cycleThe Moon exhibits different phases as the relative position of the Sun, Earth and Moon changes, appearing as a full moon when the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth and as a new moon (dark moon) when they are on the same side. The phases of full moon and new moon are examples of syzygies, which occur when the Earth, Moon, and Sun lie (approximately) in a straight line. The time between two full moons (a Lunar month) is about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes) on average
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phaseI too think that 'sawm' means refraining from specified acts as we can read in the Qur'an that Mariam was asked to refrain from talking. In the case of Ramadan it's clearly refraining from eating drinking and sex, during day time, and only for those who "witness this cycle", which IMO means that those who do not see a clear division of day and night are exempt from fasting.
Also Allah (swt) acknowledges that fasting could cause hardships for some, where as on this forum those who find it hard to fast want to abolish it for the rest who can fast without hardship o2183 Specific days (are designated for fasting); if one is ill or traveling, an equal number of other days may be substituted. Those who can fast, but with great difficulty, may substitute feeding one poor person for each day of breaking the fast. If one volunteers (more righteous works), it is better. But fasting is the best for you, if you only knew.
Peace -
Salaam Amina
It is almost always 29 clear days(dawn to dusk) during a lunar cycle, maybe its in winter we may be able to count 30 days in a lunar cycleThe Moon exhibits different phases as the relative position of the Sun, Earth and Moon changes, appearing as a full moon when the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth and as a new moon (dark moon) when they are on the same side. The phases of full moon and new moon are examples of syzygies, which occur when the Earth, Moon, and Sun lie (approximately) in a straight line. The time between two full moons (a Lunar month) is about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes) on average
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phaseI too think that 'sawm' means refraining from specified acts as we can read in the Qur'an that Mariam was asked to refrain from talking. In the case of Ramadan it's clearly refraining from eating drinking and sex, during day time, and only for those who "witness this cycle", which IMO means that those who do not see a clear division of day and night are exempt from fasting.
Also Allah (swt) acknowledges that fasting could cause hardships for some, where as on this forum those who find it hard to fast want to abolish it for the rest who can fast without hardship o2183 Specific days (are designated for fasting); if one is ill or traveling, an equal number of other days may be substituted. Those who can fast, but with great difficulty, may substitute feeding one poor person for each day of breaking the fast. If one volunteers (more righteous works), it is better. But fasting is the best for you, if you only knew.
PeaceThank you (again) for that insight (you answered my question on another post if I remember correctly). I know of a sister that I work with who prepares herself for the month by drinking more water and eating a little less in the weeks prior to it's beginning. I think that makes total sense so as not to shock ones system. I had the intention of doing that this year, but it never happened. Allah knows best, and is oft-forgiving and merciful, so I hope I am able to make up my fasts and it will be acceptable.
Amina