On Fasting: Meanings and Messages from the Month of Ramadan (Risale-i Nur Collection)

The Creator says, 'Fasting is Mine'. And by fasting, here, we mean the wider practice of self-denial that is practised Ramadan, when we deny our lower self - our nafs - the freedom to derive certain sensual pleasures wherever and whenever it desires. Fasting is loved by the Creator more than any other form of worship in Islam.Fasting in Ramadan is thus the key to true, sincere, comprehensive, and universal gratitude. This is because at other times fo the year, most people who are relatively well-off do not realize the value of bounties they receive, since they do not experience real hunger or true need. Those whose stomachs are full - especially if they are rich - do not understand the bounty there is in a single piece of dry bread. When the time to break the fast arrives, however, a believer's taste buds testify that dry bread is one of God's most precious and valuable bounties. During Ramadan, everyone, from king to beggar, experiences a kind of gratitude through understanding the true worth of those bounties.