Meaning of Fasting of Body-Parts (2/2)

The Holy Prophet’s Knowledge of Ghayb (Unseen)

This narration clearly proves that Allah has given the knowledge of the Ghayb to His beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) who is aware of his Ummah’s circumstances, which is why he (Peace be upon him) gave the news of Ghayb about those two girls sitting in the Masjid. Further, we also learnt that committing sins such as backbiting can directly affect fast and can make fasting unbearably painful. Anyhow, whether one is in the state of fast or not, he must control his speech or else it could lead to tragic consequences.

If we adopt the following three principles, we would avoid many troubles:

1. Evil-talking is always bad.

2. Silence is better than useless talking.

3. Righteous talking is better than silence.

Fast of Hands

Fast of hands is that they only be used for virtuous acts such as touching the Holy Qur’an in a state of purity and shaking hands with pious people. The Noble Prophet  (Peace be upon him)  said, ‘When two persons who love each other for Allah shake hands and recite salat on Rasul their  previous sins are forgiven before they leave.’ (Reported by Musnad Abi Ya’la, pp. 95, vol. 3, hadith 2951)

If possible, stroke the head of an orphan affectionately as one will be rewarded for every single hair that he strokes (boys and girls are considered orphans as long as they are minors. As soon as they become adult, they will no longer remain minors. A boy may reach adulthood between the age of 12 and 15 while a girl between the age of 9 and 15).

Beware!  Never misuse your hand in oppressing someone, taking bribery, stealing, playing cards, flying kites and shaking hands with women (one should avoid shaking hands even with a young attractive beardless boy in case of lust, but do not hurt him, evade him with proper strategy).

Fast of Feet

Fast of feet implies using feet for permissible and good acts such as walking to Masjid or the shrines of saints, visiting scholars and pious people, attending Sunnah-Inspiring Ijtima’, calling people to righteousness, travelling with Madani Qafilahs in the company of righteous people and helping the needy. If only we would ever walk towards Makka-tul-Mukarramah and Madinah-tul-Munawwarah   Mina, ‘Arafat, Muzdalifah and perform Tawaf and Sa’i. Never misuse feet in walking towards cinemas, bad company, playing or watching chess, ludo, cards, cricket, football, videogames, table football etc. If only we would walk towards Madinah uttering the word ‘Madinah.’

In fact, we can attain the real blessings of fast when we make all of our body-parts fast, otherwise we will not gain anything apart from thirst and hunger as Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that our beloved Rasul (Peace be upon him) said, “There are many people who attain nothing but thirst and hunger from their fasts and there are many people who acquire nothing from their Falah except staying awake.” (Reported by Sunan Ibn Majah, pp. 320, vol. 2,   hadith 1690)

Therefore, those who do not prevent their body parts from committing sins despite fasting, fail to acquire the real spirituality of fast and those who stay awake till late night gossiping, chatting or playing different games, get nothing but the loss of their health and time in addition to causing difficulty for their Hereafter.