Week Fourteen: The Virtue of Fasting

Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying, "Every (good) deed of the son of Adam would be multiplied, a good deed receiving tenfold to seven hundredfold rewards. Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, has said: With the exception of fasting, for it is done for Me and I will give a reward for it, for one abandons his passion and food for My sake. There are two occasions of joy for one who fasts, joy when he breaks it, and joy when he meets his Lord, and the breath (of an observer of fast) is sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk."

- Source: Sahih Muslim

SubhanAllah. I reread this hadith over and over again mesmerized by Allah's words to us. In this hadith, we are being told that when we fast, we fast for Allah's sake and only His. And of course, if we are fasting for His sake, we are being rewarded for it. We are fasting, abandoning the food and water that we eat and drink daily outside of Ramadan. And doing that can sometimes cause us to be tired and drained and low in energy. But we stay steadfast and we continue our fast for Allah's sake.

My favorite part of this hadith is this line: "and the breath (of an observer of fast) is sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk."

Read it and let it sink in.

May Allah make it easy for us to finish this Ramadan strong. May He accept all our acts of worship and allow us to continue worshipping Him outside of Ramadan.