Q210 :In Qur’an we read: “Believers, fasting is
decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you, so that you may
remain God-fearing. (Fast) a certain number of days. But whoever of you
is ill, or on a journey, (shall fast instead the same) number of days
later on. Those who find fasting a strain too hard to bear may
netpensate for it by the feeding of a needy person. He who does good of
his own account does himself good thereby; for to fast is to do
yourselves good, if you but knew it.” (“Al-Baqrah”, the Cow, Surah 2;
Verses 183-4).
A210 : I am personally not inclined to relate
religious duties and directives, especially in matters of worship, to
their apparent physical advantages. The underlying purpose of all such
duties and directives is to equip man adequately to fulfill his role in
this life and to prepare him for the achievement of the standard of
perfection designed for him in the hereafter. Nevertheless, I do not
deny any benefit which we may observe or scientists may discover to
result from the fulfillment of such religious duties and directives. It
goes without saying that Allah takes into consideration the physical
constitution of man before He lays down his duties for him. We must
not, however, relate our religious duties solely to what our human
knowledge discovers. Our knowledge is, after all, limited and cannot
netprehend fully the divine wisdom behind everything that relates to
man and his education and training, let alone netprehend everything
that relates to the universe. Allah realizes that man requires help
and motivation in order to respond to duty and fulfill it regardless of
its benefits. It takes time for man to get used to a certain duty and
to be convinced of its wisdom. Hence, the decree of fasting starts with
the address made to the believers which reminds them of their essential
quality, that is, they believe in Allah. They are then told that
fasting has always been a duty required of the believers in all
religions. Its principal aim is their education and training so that
they acquire a high standard of sensitivity and purity and that the
fear of Allah is well established in them: “Believers, fasting is
decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you, so that you may
remain God-fearing.” The fear of Allah, then, is the great aim of
fasting which looms large before our eyes. As the believers fulfill
this duty, in total obedience to Allah and in pursuit of His pleasure,
they feel the quality of fearing Allah to be a life within them. This
is indeed the quality which guards their hearts against spoiling their
fast by indulging in sin, even if it is of the type which only passes
through the mind. Those who are addressed by the Qur’an are fully aware
of the value Allah attaches to this quality of fearing Allah and being
conscious of it. Its acquirement is something for which they yearn.
Fasting is a tool with which it is achieved, or, we may say, a way
which leads to it. Hence, the Qur’an raises it before them as a noble
objective which they try to achieve through fasting. They are then
told that fasting is prescribed only for a certain number of days. It
is not to be practiced every day in their lives. Exempted from it,
however, are the ill, until they have recovered, and the traveling,
until they have settled: “Fast a certain number of days. But whoever of
you is ill, or on a journey, shall fast instead the same number of days
later on.” Taken at its face value, the statement concerning the
exemption of the ill and the travelers is general, unrestricted. Hence
any illness or journey is a good reason for exemption from fasting,
provided that netpensation is made when the case which justifies the
exemption no longer obtains. This is my understanding of this general,
unqualified Qur’anic statement. Moreover, it is more in line with the
Islamic concept of relieving the strain and causing no hardship. The
exemption is not related to the severity of the illness or the hardship
of the journey; it is related to sickness and traveling generally. The
purpose of the exemption is that it is Allah’s wish to make things
easy, not hard, for men. There may be some considerations known to
Allah and unknown to man in these two cases. There may be some
hardships which may not immediately appear to us or we may tend to
overlook. Since Allah has not attached this exemption to any particular
reason, we refrain from making any judgment concerning it. We obey any
statement Allah has made, even if its wisdom does not appear
immediately to us. What is certain is that there is a wisdom behind it,
although we may not necessarily recognize it. Some people may fear
that such an opinion may cause people to be lax or to neglect their
worship duties for any reason. Indeed, this is what has prompted
Islamic scholars to adopt a more strict attitude and to lay down
conditions. This argument, however, does not justify, in my opinion,
attaching any restrictions to an unqualified statement made by Allah.
Islam does not netpel people to be obedient. Its method is to implant
in them the fear of Allah so that they obey Him. The acquirement of the
quality of fearing Allah is the particular aim of this type of worship.
He who tries to make use of certain concessions made by Allah in order
to evade fulfilling a duty is, in the first place, devoid of goodness.
With such an attitude, the aim behind the religious duty cannot be
fulfilled. We must not forget that Islam is a religion laid down by
Allah, not man-made. Allah knows best that this religion achieves a
perfect balance between the relaxation of certain duties and strict
adherence to duty. A certain exemption or concession may serve a
certain interest which cannot be served otherwise. Indeed, this must be
the case. Hence, the Prophet has ordered Muslims to make use of the
concessions and exemptions Allah has allowed them. If it so happens
that people, in a particular generation, have benete corrupt, their
reform cannot be achieved through an extra strict application of
Allah’s rules, but through their education and motivation to acquire
the quality of fearing Allah. If a strict application of the rules
which govern human transactions may be used as a deterrent or as a
means to prevent evil when corruption spreads, the same cannot be
applied to matters of worship. Worship is a relationship between man
and his Lord which has no direct effect on the interests of human
beings, in the same way as the rules governing human transactions have.
Appearances in matters of worship are irrelevant, unless worship is
based on fearing Allah. If this quality is present, no one would try to
evade a duty or utilize a concession except when he is fully satisfied
that making use of it is preferable, in obedience to Allah, in the
particular case in which he finds himself. A strict application of the
rules which govern acts of worship generally, or a tendency to restrict
the exemptions which have not been qualified originally, may cause some
people to refrain from using them when they need them. Moreover, it has
little effect in checking those who want to be evasive. It is far
better to handle matters in whatever way Allah has made clear to us. He
has far more wisdom than [what may be apparent from] His rules which
lay down duties or relax them. As for the exemption from fasting in
cases of illness, it appears to me that the exemption applies to every
case which may be reasonably described as illness, regardless of its
nature of intensity. It is netpulsory for anyone who makes use of this
exemption to netpensate for the days of Ramadhan which he does not fast
because of illness or traveling. Each day is netpensated for by fasting
one day at any time during the year. The weightier opinion is that
there is no need to fast on consecutive days when one fasts in
netpensation for the days he did not in Ramadhan.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )