“O you who believe! Observing As-Sawm (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqoon (the pious)”

[Al-Baqarah 2:183]

Fasting is a means of attaining taqwa (piety, being conscious of Allah), and taqwa is to perform that which Allah (SWT) has enjoined and avoid that which He has forbidden.

“Taqwa is not by fasting the day and not by praying the night. And it is not by mixing between the two of them. But taqwa is leaving what Allah has prohibited and by performing what Allah has made obligatory…”

[Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz]

Taqwa comes from the root word ‘waqiya’, which means to protect. It is a protection from the anger of Allah (SWT) and His punishment. This is why taqwa is used to describe the performing of actions that please Allah (SWT), and abstaining from those actions that displease Him. Therefore being conscious of Allah (SWT) in all our actions and in all of our affairs is its essence. What then can be said for those that reduce Islam to a religion like all others when it is a Deen i.e. a way of life? Would they claim taqwa for doing no more than personal worship – prayer, fasting and giving to charity? Does a believer have taqwa if he witnesses the knots of Islam being undone one by one but does nothing?

The Ummah has faced all types of attacks. Our authority has been removed, our lands invaded, our resources usurped, our innocent brothers and sisters murdered, and our togetherness torn apart by sectarian conflict initiated by the West. Taqwa requires that the believer calls on his Ummah to stop this violation and bloodshed and make her aware of the disbelievers’ plans to destroy us! The Deen of Allah is being distorted in the minds of the Muslims by those who wish for us to accept the impurities of kufr and secularism in the Muslim lands. Taqwa necessitates that we advise the Muslims to reject it, speak against it and hold those that promote it to account! The enemies of Allah (SWT) spend their wealth to hinder men from the path of truth, funding the media to spread lies about Islam and portraying themselves as saviours. Taqwa obliges the Muslim to expose their hypocrisy and warn the Ummah from taking them as helpers and allies.

But despite all of this, to this day we remain standing and are holding firm to Allah’s Deen by His Will. May Allah (SWT) make us from among the Muttaqeen who realise the true meaning of taqwa and are worthy of receiving His promise:

“And whoever fears Allah, and keeps his duty to Him, He will forgive his sins from him and will enlarge his reward.”

[At-Talaq 65:5]