Fasting is a school that develops our humanitarianism and emphasizes our freedom.

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

The will is the Path of Righteousness

God says in His Glorious Book: O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard (against evil). (2:183). In this month, the blessed month of Ramadan God wants us to develop our Islamic personality on the basis of strengthening our will and resolve in the face of all challenges. Knowledge alone in not enough unless it is backed by will power... This sense was reported in several sayings of the Members of the House including Imam Al-Sadiq (a.s.) Who said: “Nobody is weaker than what the will power has decided “. If you have the resolve and the will you will have the physical ability to carry out what you have intended to do.

Thus this will power and the resolve are the weapon that defeats all the whims, desires and bad habits, like smoking and masturbating which many, especially the teenagers, practice though they pray and fast.

You might meet an addict whether on smoking or drugs, and advise him to stop for obvious medical reasons, but he will tell you that he cannot. But this is not true.

He certainly can, although his will has been weakened by his addiction. Many analysts explained why does a person return to a bad habit after he has been successful in quitting it. They said that such a person thinks about the good aspects more than the bad ones. And to quit for good he has to take both aspects into consideration.

Fasting: a Freedom school

In the light of this, Allah, the most Exalted, wants man to take a training course in this month to learn how to say “ No”… When he stops taking coffee breakfast...etc. Why does he do that? Because he has been commanded by God. But as the month unfolds his will power will gain strength. Thus, one should not tread fasting as a habit. It is a method to liberate oneself from every habit, to become one that could say “no” to every bad thing and “yes” to every good thing that elevates what is human in man.

What makes you strong and able to practice your freedom in front of those who try to enslave you...

It is the will of power in you: When you believe that Allah has created you as a free person…your freedom will be stronger than your desires... Man derives his value from what he accepts and what he rejects…but some always says “yes “while others always say “no”, while there should be a certain balance between the two.

This is what makes the nation capable of challenging and fighting the arrogant powers… They see in their freedom their pride and self-respect… What else makes the Mujahideen all over the world ready to sacrifice themselves...It is their belief in the freedom and their will power to defend it. Any nation that accepts oppression and arrogance does not live its freedom and consequently its human nature.

Imam Assadiq linked freedom with being able to endure deprivation. He said: “A free man is free in every situation… He will not be broken by any misfortune, even if he is enslaved or imprisoned”.

We have to consider fasting as a school that develops our personality and strengths our freedom, so as to become a nation that stands on the same footing with the rest of the nations of the world.

Do you know why most of the rulers of the Muslim world do not stand firmly in front of the arrogant powers? Because they threaten their thrones and wealth, and thus they enslave them as a condition to keep them in their positions. The rulers have chosen this slavery and preferred it to the freedom of their nations.

Eating and drinking is not an issue, the issue is to be free in obtaining your food. This is what we should stress on when we fast. For example: There are those who usually treat their family members and employees harshly and they grow more ill tempered during the month of Ramadan... Their excuse is that they are fasting... They should fast on this bad temper… If you are afraid of God’s punishment if you eat or drink, you should know that breaking your fast by being unjust is more dangerous.

Feeling with others

There is also a kind of human and social fasting that we are told about by the Prophet and the Imams. They tell us that the rich and the well off in general feel in the month of Ramadan, the pain of hunger and thirst, thus they could share those who do not find food to eat what they suffer from.

The role of fasting is to make a free and strong person who could say “no” to anything that he rejects and “yes” to anything he accepts.

Lest it will be the same whether your fast or not. The Messenger (p.) said: “There are those that [earn] nothing from their fasting except hunger and thirst...” To fast is to make your mind fast on falsehood your heart fast on hatred and your actions fast on deviation”.

In this season of Mercy and forgiveness ;of accountability and hard work. Let us live in a state of spiritual and social emergency…Let us become by the end of this month closer to God and those who need us.

May Allah, the most Exalted, accept our repentance and have Mercy on us. He is the most Merciful.