Chapter VI: Secrets of Fasting
patient will be given rewards without account (39 : 13). It appears from this that rewards will be open for the fasting men and they will not be kept for measurement as it is only for God. All worships are for God but the honour of fast is like that of the Ka'ba. Everything in the world has got a speciality. The speciality of fasting is forbearance and sacrifice, as it is the action of the mind and secret from public eye, but all other actions fall within human eyes. Nobody sees fast except God as it is a secret action with sincere patience. Secondly, it is punishment for the enemy of God as the way of the devil is sexual passion and it increases through the help of food and drink. For this reason, the Prophet said: The devil runs through human body like the circulation of blood. Curb it by hunger. For this reason, the Prophet said to Ayesha; Knock at the door of Paradise. She asked: How? The Prophet said: With hunger, specially when fast controls the devil, shut his path and make narrow his passage. Then its connection remains with only God. If the enemy of God is controlled, it will be helping God.
God says: If you help God, God will help you and will make your feet firm - 47 : 8. So at the beginning, a servant will make efforts and then hope for reward of God. For this reason, God Says: I will show certainty My path to those who strive hard for us (29 : 69). God says: God does not change the condition of a people unless they change their own condition (13 : 12). This change is said to be due to increase of sexual passion as it is the grazing field of the devil and a place for his movement. The devil moves in it till it is fertile. God's light is hot disclosed to the person in whom he moves. The Prophet said: If the devil had not moved in the human minds, they could have surely known the mysteries of heaven. For this reason, fast is the door of worship and its shield.
When the excellence of fast is so wide, its secret and open conditions and its rules and regulations should be known and they will be discussed in three sections.
SECTION 1
SIX COMPULSORY DUTIES OF FAST
(1) To seek the new moon of Ramzan. If there is cloud, thirty days of Shaban must be completed. The sight of the new moon of Ramzan is based only on the evidence of one just man of intellect,
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while the moon of I'dul Fitr is based on the evidence of two just pious Muslims. If the new moon is seen in one place and is not seen in another place and if the distance between the two places in less than about two miles, it is compulsory for the inhabitants of both the places to keep fast. If however the distance is more, the inhabitants of each place will decide the case separately.