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يٰأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كُتِبَ
عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ
تَتَّقُونَ
‘O those who believe, the fasts have been enjoined upon you as were enjoined
upon those before so that you be God-fearing.’ [Surah Baqarah, 183]
Literally, Sawm means ‘to abstain’. In the terminology of Islamic law, Sawm
means ‘to abstain from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse: with the
conditions that one abstains continuously from dawn to sunset, and that there is
an intention to fast.’ Therefore, should one eat or drink anything even a minute
before sunset, the fast will not be valid. Similarly, if one abstained from all
these things throughout the day but made no intention to fast, there will be no
fast here too.
Past communities and the injunction to fast
The verse makes it obligatory for the Muslims to fast in a specified period, but
the command in the respect has been accompanied by the statement that the
obligation of fasting is not peculiar to them. The fasting had also been
enjoined upon the earlier Ummahs (communities of the past prophets). The
reference to the earlier Ummahs in the verse shows the importance of fasting on
the one hand, and gives an encouragement to the Muslims on the other. It
indicates that although there may be some inconvenience in fasting but the same
inconvenience was faced by earlier communities. This brings a psychological
comfort to the Muslims, because if an inconvenience is faced by a large number
of people, it becomes easier to bear. (Ruh al Ma’ani)
The words of the Qur’an ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ (those before you) have been
used in general sense including all religious communities from Sayyidina Adam to
the last of the Prophets (peace and blessings upon him). This tells us that,
like Salah, fasting has also been enjoined upon every Ummah of every prophet
without exception.
Commentators who interpret مِن قَبْلِكُمْ (before you) to mean ‘the Christians’
take it just as an example, not aiming to exclude other communities. (Ruh al
Ma’ani)
The verse simply says that fasts have been enjoined on Muslims as were enjoined
on past communities. From this it does not necessarily follow that the fasts
enjoined upon the earlier communities were fully identical in all respects with
the fasts enjoined upon this Ummah. There may have been difference in the number
and the timings of the fasts etc. and, actually, there has been such a
difference. (Ruh al Ma’ani)
By saying لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ (so that you be God-fearing), the text has
pointed out to the inherent quality of fasting which contributes significantly
to one’s ability to become abstaining from the sins and God-fearing. Fasting
grows into man a power which helps him control his desires, which is really the
foundation of Taqwa, the very special term of the Holy Qur’an which has been
tentatively translated as fear of God, abstinence, and the warding of evil.
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