Fasting and Research




Fasting in Islamic Religions

By Randi Fredricks

In Islam, the most sacred fast occurs during the month of Ramadan, to honor the period of time when Muhammad wrote the Qur'an. Fasting is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam known as “sawm” (MacGregor, 1989). The Muslim scholar, Al-Ghazzali said that the main purpose of fasting is “to purify the heart and to concentrate all its attention upon God” (Al-Ghazzali, 1995, p. 49).

The prophet Muhammad routinely fasted for extended periods. His best-known fast occurred before the Night of Power, the night the Qur'an was first revealed to him by Allah (von Braun, 2007).

In the Qur'an, an entire chapter is written about three different types of fasting; ritual fasting, fasting as compensation or repentance, and ascetic fasting (McAuliffe, 2002). The three types of fasting Muhammad outlined in the Qur'an represent different spiritual intents. The first, ritual fasting, is done on a prescribed day or days to honor someone, such as Muhammad. The second, fasting as repentance, is a type of self-sacrifice intended as compensation. The third type of fasting, ascetic, has to do with experiencing humility.

Fasting in Sufism

In Sufism, considered a mystical dimension of Islam, fasting is considered an essential practice. Many Sufi groups regard hunger as a necessary experience on the spiritual path (Renard, 2005).

Traditionally, Sufis have fasted during the month of Ramadan to purify the body and subdue the ego (Bayman, 2001). In Sufi customs, fasting serves as a transformative discipline by helping to curb physical and sexual appetites, and strengthen humility, patience, and gratitude.

Mystic Sufi ascetics practice “kalwah,” the act of isolating in retreats and caves for the purpose of meditation, prayer, chanting, and fasting (Drury, 2006). Karen Armstrong (1993) elaborated on how these techniques assisted Sufi mystics to achieve altered states of consciousness:

Sufis added the practices of fasting, night vigils and chanting the
Divine Names as a mantra to the basic requirements of Muslim law.
The effect of these practices sometimes resulted in behavior which
seemed bizarre and unrestrained, and such mystics were known as
"drunken" Sufis (p. 226).

One Sufi saying attributed to Sufi Abu Uthman al-Maghribi states, “The one devoted to the Lord eats only every forty days, and the one devoted to the Eternal eats only every eighty days” (as cited in Hoffman, 1995, p. 471).



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Randi Fredricks is a Naturopathic Psychotherapist with a Doctorate in Naturopathy and a Masters in Psychology. She sees clients at her office in San Jose, California. She can be reached at 800-957-5655 or you can contact her online. This article is an excerpt from Randi Fredricks' book Fasting: An Exceptional Human Experience. Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems.





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