Beyond Hunger And Thirst: The Spiritual Objective Of Fasting

By Mawlana Ammar Ahmed | 2026-06-29T17:56:52.873874+00:00 | Topic: Ramadan

Adhān

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
Ashhadu an lā ilāha illAllāh. Ashhadu an lā ilāha illAllāh.
Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasūlullāh. Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasūlullāh.
Hayya 'alas-salāh. Hayya 'alas-salāh.
Hayya 'alal-falāh. Hayya 'alal-falāh.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
Lā ilāha illAllāh.

Opening Praises

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And the end is for the righteous. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the prophets and messengers — our Prophet, our Beloved, our Leader and our Master, Muhammad, and upon his family and all his companions.

Allah says in the Holy Qur'an — I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytan:

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
(Quran 2:183)

"O you who have believed, fasting has been decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may be righteous."

Respected friends and elders, As-salāmu 'alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh.

Adjusting to the Rhythm of Ramadan

As we are progressing through the month of Ramadan, we find that the fasts are starting to become a little easier on us. We have developed a schedule, and now we see that maintaining that schedule has become much easier. Spending days with fewer hours of sleep has become easier. Spending hours without eating has become easier. Spending hours without drinking has become easier. And so now we find ourselves at a point where we are starting to adjust to the schedule of Ramadan. We find that now we are moving at a certain pace towards a certain desired direction.

However, if we are not careful, then these schedules which we have, these struggles which we undergo, will only be mere thirst, mere hunger, and mere frustration — nothing else. Ultimately we undergo these struggles seeking the pleasure of Allah, seeking some sort of reward. But if we do not tread this path carefully, then all of this will be a means of struggle without any reward. It will just become a disappointment in the ākhirah.

The Essence of Fasting: The Hadīth Qudsī

But now if we look at fasting — what is it that Allah loves so dearly about fasting? Is it that Allah just loves to see us in pain? Does Allah love to see us fatigued? Does Allah love to see us hungry and thirsty and frustrated? Is that what makes Allah happy? Rather, we must understand the purpose and objective of fasting. We must understand what Allah loves about fasting.

The essence of fasting is found in a hadīth narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, found in the Sahīh of Imām al-Bukhārī رحمه الله — a hadīth qudsī — where the Prophet ﷺ relates on behalf of Allah:

الصِّيَامُ لِي وَأَنَا أَجْزِي بِهِ، يَدَعُ شَهْوَتَهُ وَأَكْلَهُ وَشُرْبَهُ مِنْ أَجْلِي

(Sahīh al-Bukhārī, Hadīth 1904)

Allah says: "The fast is solely for Me, and the reward of the fasting individual is only with Me — he is leaving his base desires, he is leaving his desires for intimacy, he is leaving his desires to eat, he is leaving his desires to drink — for My sake."

So the struggle in itself is not what Allah desires, but rather the direction of the struggle. A person could leave eating, could leave drinking, could be frustrated the entire day — but if it is not for the sake of Allah, if the greater objective is not the pleasure of Allah, then all it is is mere struggle, mere pain without any reward.

When an individual understands the greater objective — which is that I need to reach the pleasure of Allah, and that is more beloved to me than anything else — then and only then will he receive the virtues of fasting. And so if we are not careful with our fast, we may be void of these virtues. There are so many virtues of fasting, so many benefits of fasting, so many rewards for fasting. But it is only when it is coupled with this understanding — that this is for the sake of Allah, that the pleasure of Allah is more desirable to me than even my own eating and drinking — that the fast reaches the level of virtues which we find in the ahādīth.

The Levels of Fasting: Imām al-Ghazālī's Framework

Now, with fasting there is a struggle. And in order to preserve the virtue of fasting, in order to preserve the spiritual benefits of fasting, there is also a struggle. Imām al-Ghazālī رحمه الله mentions six things to keep in mind if we want to preserve the level of our fasting. When discussing fasting in his book Ihyā' 'Ulūm al-Dīn, he first mentions that there are different levels of fasting.

The first is the base level of fasting — which we all do — which is simply that according to the fiqh, the fast is valid. Oftentimes we just do this base level of fasting and we think we have achieved all the rewards of fasting, that we have reached the pinnacle of our fast. We think the pinnacle of our fast is that we went through the entire day and we didn't feel hungry. But rather there is a level beyond that.

Imām al-Ghazālī رحمه الله mentions that the next level of fasting is that an individual stays away from all forms of disobedience of Allah. And so he mentions six things to keep in mind.

1. Ghaḍḍ al-Baṣar — Protecting Our Eyes

The first is ghaḍḍ al-baṣar — to protect our eyes. If we are not careful of our eyes, if our eyes are going everywhere — and when I say our eyes are going everywhere, this refers to anything and everything which will soil our hearts, which will draw our hearts to something other than the remembrance of Allah, other than the worship of Allah, other than the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. That can even be just looking at houses, even reading the newspaper. These things can become a means of our fast losing its virtue.

Imām al-Ghazālī رحمه الله mentions: first, stay away from everything which will turn your heart away from the remembrance of Allah, especially those glances which have been forbidden by Allah. All it takes is one glance, one look, and we could potentially risk the reward for hours of struggle. So we must be very careful of this.

There is a narration in Al-Mustadrak of Imām al-Hākim رحمه الله where the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that the glance itself is a poisonous arrow which Shayṭān likes to use.

Now, if an arrow is shot at someone, immediately they are injured, but after some time they will recover. But if the arrow is poisoned — which arrow's effect is more long-term? The regular arrow or the poisonous arrow? The poisonous arrow. So our glance is such that at the time of utilizing our eyes for wrong, there are consequences — but the consequences are such that they last much longer, just like the poison on the arrow, lasting much longer than the actual wound which the arrow inflicts.

And the glances can be such that they either take us completely away from Allah, or they can bring us very near to Allah and make us very dear to Him. Whoever uses his glance to protect himself — leaving impermissible glances, leaving looking at things which will turn his heart away from Allah, out of fear of Allah — what will he get? Allah will grant him such a beloved level of faith that he will feel its sweetness inside of his heart, such that looking at things which are impermissible becomes very detestable for him. He doesn't want to. He finds it very immoral. That desire starts to lower and lower and lower, and it becomes very easy for him to control that. Shayṭān will try to use that against him, but his strength of īmān is so strong that he will easily be able to push away the cause of Shayṭān.

2. Protecting Our Tongues

Next is to protect our tongues. Oftentimes we will fast — we will even be in the masjid, fasting, protecting our gazes — but throughout the day we are just talking about this person and that individual, and what happened here and what happened over there, and all we are doing is spending the entire day backbiting. Or an individual begins to lie. Or we start making fun of one another. And we start hurting one another with our tongues.

What happens? We are not physically eating anything which breaks our fast, but we are nullifying the spiritual state of our fasting. So it is very important that we protect our tongues.

3. Protecting Our Ears

Following that, we must make sure that we are not engaged in any conversation where such things are being said — protecting our ears. There are so many āyāt in the Qur'an which allude to this: that although you may not be the one uttering such speech, just by being in the conversation, just by hearing these things, you will be in the same state as them.

4. Protecting the Rest of Our Limbs

Next is to protect the rest of our limbs. Of course, if we are protecting our eyes, our tongues, and our ears, our entire body should be such that it is refraining from the disobedience of Allah.

5. Keeping a Little Hunger and Tiredness

The fifth is something which may be a shocker to some of us: although we spend the entire day fasting and we are hungry, keep yourself a little hungry. Keep yourself a little tired. And Imām al-Ghazālī is not saying to starve yourself and be sleep-deprived the entire month. Yes, eat and sleep — but keep a little tiredness within you. Keep a little hunger within you.

Because once you are satiated, once you are full and have slept the entire day, a level of laziness will start to breed within you slowly, slowly, slowly. So at ifṭār time, do not fill yourself up completely — keep yourself a little hungry so you can spend the night in the ibādah of Allah in Ṣalāh. There are many accounts of our Salaf mentioning that the single most important factor in breeding ghaflah (heedlessness) is being satiated — being full, making sure that we are completely pampered and taken care of.

6. Keeping Our Fast Between Khawf and Rajā'

Lastly, keep our fast in a state between khawf and rajā' — between fear and hope. Have this fear that maybe all this hunger I went through, all these hours, nothing was accepted. Not just that we say it, but really at the moment of ifṭār when we are breaking our fast, we should be scared: what if none of this was accepted? But also remember the raḥmah of Allah — that although our fasts are filled with so many deficiencies, Allah can still accept them.

And if we keep our fast in between these two states, we will be much more conscious throughout our days. Then those 12, 14, 16 hours of fasting become such that we are on our toes the entire time: I don't want to do anything which could nullify the spiritual state of my fasting. I don't want to miss out on the rewards of this month.

Summary: The Six Keys

So again, the six are:

  1. Protecting our eyes
  2. Protecting our tongues
  3. Protecting our ears
  4. Protecting the rest of our bodies
  5. Keeping ourselves a little hungry and a little tired
  6. Always being in the state between fear (khawf) and hope (rajā')

With this, we ask Allah to grant us the ability to elevate our levels of fasting and to protect us from committing any action which will nullify the spiritual benefits of our fasting.

Announcements

Just a couple of announcements:

Du'ā' Requests

Lastly, we do have a large crowd, so I would request everyone to get up right now — and if you see any space in front of you, please fill that up, inshā'Allāh.