Fasting and Moral Discipline CONTENTS

irritating circumstance. This shows that fasting is not just a ritual but aims rather at producing the true spirit within a man; which may change his thinking and his temperament; thus, bringing about a transformation in his character. In this way, fasting can change the entire personality of a person so that it becomes spiritual in nature. True fasting makes a person sincere to the ultimate extent. Every aspect of his personality is coloured by his seriousness. He is not upset in the slightest by the gravest of provocations. No amount of provocation deflects him from the right path, and he becomes a peaceful member of society. He turns into a truly modest instead of an arrogant person and does not create problems for others. The individual who fasts in the real spirit will not give up eating and drinking while at the same time failing to abstain from immoral behaviour. His fasting will have no meaning if, when he changes the timings of his regular intake of food and drink, he does nothing to change an immoderate way of life. True fasting necessarily inculcates moral discipline in a person. FASTING AND CHARACTER-BUILDING Fasting (sawm) is one of the five pillars of Islam. Right from dawn till dusk, a man who is strictly on a fast will neither eat as much as one morsel of food nor drink a single drop of water. By submitting to this discipline, that is, by depriving himself of the prime necessities of life, man learns the valuable lesson of fortitude. With no food and drink, he naturally feels hungry and thirsty, and his strength begins to ebb. The entire routine of his life is severely disturbed and his whole system is upset. But, out of a high sense