God has imposed on us all the duty of fasting, so that we may draw closer to the state of being God-fearing. He says in the Qur’an: “Believers, fasting has been decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you, so that you may be God-fearing.” (2: 183) To suppress one’s anger and forgive people’s faults are among the main elements of God-fearing that fasting promotes. In describing God-fearing people, the Qur’an states that they “spend in His way in time of plenty and in time of hardship, and restrain their anger, and forgive their fellow men. God loves the benevolent.” (3: 134)
The Prophet teaches us that should we find ourselves at the end of some abuse by an ignorant or ill-mannered person, we should not reply to him, declaring only: “I am fasting! I am fasting!” That teaches us better control of our emotions and reactions. We will not then counter abuse with similar abuse, and we do not enter into a slanging match. A person who is fasting is one engaged in worship, and a worshipper will not disrupt his devotion in order to reply to an insult or abusive language.
In Ramadan, God-fearing people’s manners are even more refined. However, some of us may be more edgy, becoming angry for the slightest reason and they show themselves unwilling to tolerate anyone. Such a person would not even serve people, although that may be required by his job, excusing himself by the fact that he is impatient as a result of fasting.
The question arises as to whether fasting causes all that. How could that be so when restraining oneself when angry and forgiving others are part of the qualities of God-fearing people. There must be a fault somewhere.
Hunger and thirst, when they become excessive, may make a person rather quick-tempered. But this does not apply to a government employee who shows his irritation as he comes into the office at 8 a.m. protesting that he is fasting. Nor is it right for a fasting person to justify his ill manners, by claiming that it is due to his being hungry, even in the morning.
The true reason for being ill-mannered in Ramadan is that some people find fasting an easy excuse to justify their otherwise inexcusable behavior, realizing that others will tolerate them for the sake of their being fasting. The fact is they try to make their fasting a favor they are doing to the community, as though they are fasting for our sake, not for God’s, when it is God who has imposed the duty of fasting and promised rich reward for keeping it properly. They give rein to themselves, behaving badly, because that would have been their natural behavior in Ramadan and at other times, should they think that they could get away with it.
But there may be other reasons that make fasting people more hot tempered. One of these is that some of them may be smokers, and as such, tobacco addicts. A person who smokes daily for a period of time is in reality an addict. When he has to abstain from smoking for several hours he begins to show withdrawal symptoms, which include irritation, hot temper, being edgy, headache, poor concentration, worry, poor memory and insomnia.
But all these withdrawal symptoms are temporary and begin to disappear within a week of quitting smoking. What must be remembered is that such symptoms are not produced by fasting, but they are the result of nicotine withdrawal. A person who is not addicted to anything will not suffer any such symptoms when fasting.
Another type of common addiction that causes some fasting people to be highly irritable is that of addiction to caffeine which is the stimulant substance in coffee, tea, cocoa and cola drinks. Sudden abstention from caffeine for long hours may cause drowsiness, lethargy, irritation and bad temper. Should such abstention last for 18 hours or longer, it may cause full headache, with the pulsating pain felt with every heartbeat. It is rarely the case that fasting lasts 18 hours, except in northern areas. Hence, it is advisable for a person used to caffeine to reduce his or her intake of coffee, tea, cocoa and cola drinks gradually before Ramadan, in preparation for fasting, and to have a drink of what he or she is used to at the time when taking their meal at dawn before starting the fast. In this way they will spare themselves much of the withdrawal symptoms during the fasting day.
Some people say that they feel low during the day of fasting. There may be various reasons for this feeling, such as having a measure of worry or apprehension that they may suffer as a result of having to wait till sunset before taking anything, even if they need it badly. Such a worry is altogether needless, because a fasting person may end his fast should he reach a stage when to continue fasting becomes very hard. He may also not fast if he is in pain or suffering an illness, particularly if he needs to have some medication to alleviate the pain or treat the illness. This is a concession God has laid down for any illness where fasting does not have a negative effect which either aggravates the unhealthy condition or slows down recovery. God has not placed any hardship on us in observing our worship. Should fasting cause harm as a result of the illness, then not to fast becomes obligatory, not a mere concession. Therefore, we should fast without worry, knowing that should fasting becomes too hard, we may resort to the concession God has given us, which means not to fast until we have recovered, and to compensate for this by fasting a similar number of days later, when we are in full health.
Normally, fasting is never too hard so as to cause a person to end his fast before time, except in unusual circumstances, such as in the case of one who is of weak constitution, then having been exposed to very hot weather, he is very thirsty, or one who misses out on his morning meal and needs to make an unusually hard physical effort.
It is very difficult to define what is “too hard” in such situations. The important factor is that of fearing God in our approach. God knows the reality of our feelings and intentions. As for children who are keen on following the adults in fasting, we must not be too hard on them, particularly when we observe that fasting is hurting them. Should we compel them to complete the fast till dusk in such circumstances, we may make them hate fasting, or push them into a cheating situation where they eat and drink secretly but pretend to be fasting.
Another reason for feeling low and devoid of energy in Ramadan is that some people spend many hours at night socializing and having much to eat. When dawn becomes close they have their pre-fasting meal and go to sleep. They may have only a few hours sleep before having to go to work. Thus, they start the day feeling tired. Their work, thus, becomes too tiring and a hard burden. But they must not forget that it is all due to lack of sleep, not fasting.