Another quiet evening at home last night -- almost every evening seems to be a quiet evening these past 2 weeks. :) Had some beef salami in the fridge; sliced some up, threw them onto the hot plate, toasted a couple pieces of bread, sliced up a tomato, put it all together, add a slice of NZ tasty cheddar cheese, and voila, dinner.
Munching away in front of the tv, i asked myself why i was fasting. I suppose its an interesting question to ask given that i've already fasted for 12 days; it would be embarassing to suddenly discover that i didn't know why i was doing it.
The straight and narrow answer would be: because God asked me to, and i'm doing it for His pleasure. But, therein lies a weakness in thought -- why did Allah s.w.t. ask me to fast? Certainly, there are good reasons for it, just as there are good reasons for all the laws in the shariah.
So did some digging around this morning and found this interesting article by Ali Al-Timimi. To summarize, there are 11 benefits of ramadhan for the Muslim who fasts:
LESSON 1: Gaining Taqwaa
LESSON 2: Drawing closer to Allaah
LESSON 3: Acquiring patience and strong will
LESSON 4: Striving for Ihsaan (righteousness and sincerity) and staying away from riyaa’ (showing off)
LESSON 6: Recognizing that one can change for the better
LESSON 7: Being more charitable
LESSON 8: Sensing the unity of the Muslims
LESSON 9: Learning discipline
LESSON 10: Teaching the young to worship Allaah
LESSON 11: Caring for one’s health
Its a good read, logical with the appropriate dalil (proof, substantiation) for each lesson.
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