Imaam Sheikh al-AlBaani رحمه الله تعالى said,
“I start by opening with something
appropriate to the time and place we’re in, in that we all know the Statement
of Allaah سُبحانه وتعالى, “… decreed upon you is fasting as it was
decreed upon those before you, that you may become righteous..”
[Baqarah
2:183]
You have heard commentary and beneficial comments concerning this
verse and things connected to it many times, but I believe that you will have
seldom heard commentary on its last part, “… that
you may become righteous.”
Why was this fasting decreed? “That
you may become righteous.” This is one of the rare verses, in fact one
of the rare legislated provisions that links the legislated order with an
explanation of the intended goal and the reason it was legislated.
There is a declaration here of the obligation of fasting Ramadhan,
and Muslims should apply themselves to adopting and implementing this order
without asking why or how and so on, something which is common now in terms of
questioning the legislated orders, [such that] you will often hear some people
[saying], “Why this? Why that? Why this?”—we don’t approve of
exhaustively searching for the wisdom behind legislation, except what has been
expounded on [itself] in it, like what we’re discussing now [i.e., fasting].
“Decreed
upon you is fasting,” why? He سُبحانه
وتعالى
said, “… that you may become righteous,” i.e., the point of fasting is for it to be a means for the
fasting person to increase his taqwa of Allaah سُبحانه
وتعالى and
for him to get closer to Him.
If he fasts but does not improve compared to how he was before,
i.e., before Ramadhan, then it means that this person has not accomplished the
desired goal wanted from the implementation of fasting.
There are some
authentic hadiths, from the Prophet صلّى
اللَّهُ عليه وسلّم of course, which explain and
confirm this objective which the verse has stated, for example, the hadith Qudsi
which the Prophet صلّى اللَّهُ عليه
وسلّم
relates from his Lord سُبحانه وتعالى, in which He said, “Whoever does not
leave false speech, and acting according to it, then Allaah is not in any need
of him leaving his food and his drink,” this is a very great hadith, and
goes completely with the end of the verse, “… that you may become righteous.”
