Many young people wonder why Ramadan passes by without them being able to attain piety even though they fast. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous} [Quran 2:183]
Fasting is supposed to breed piety and righteousness. So, why does this not happen?
I would tell you, “Sorry, you do not fast.”
Astonished, you would ask; “How can you say that, if I abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk and avoid sins as much as I can during that period?”
First, I ask you to read the words of the great scholar Ibn Al-Jawzi about fasting to confirm for yourself that you do not fast. Ibn Al-Jawzi divides the fasting of people into three categories:
First type: The fasting of laypeople
It is to abstain from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset. However, their organs do not fast or abstain from disobeying Allah The Almighty. Their eyes do not stop watching films, TV serials and pornography. Their ears do not stop listening to music. Their feet do not stop going to cafes and other place that involve disobedience and sin. Then, they wonder why they do not achieve piety from this fasting!
Second type: The fasting of the elite
It is to abstain from disobeying Allah The Almighty all day long as well as abstaining from eating, drinking and having sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset. This category enables one to achieve the piety one aspires for. Unfortunately, many young people cannot observe this type of fasting except those to whom Allah is Merciful. .
Are you sure now that you did fasted correctly?
You should always keep this type of fasting in mind while we are approaching the month of Ramadan. Be sincere to achieve it in order to become a renewed, more pious Muslim after Ramadan.
Wait, where is the third category? Did you forget it?
I can almost hear this inquiry anxiously coming from you…
I have not forgotten, but I wonder: will you be able to observe this third type? Let's see what this form of fasting entails.
Third type: The fasting of the special elite
It is to have your heart fast and abstain from thinking about anything other than Allah The Almighty. When the heart does not think or attach itself to anything but Allah The Almighty, sins do not cross the minds of such fasting Muslims. It is a state worthy of being sought and achieved even if only for a day or some days.