Reclaim Your Heart

Know why you’re fasting:
Many people fast as a ritual, without truly understanding
its meaning. Others reduce it to a simple exercise in
empathy with the poor. While this is a beautiful
consequence of fasting, it is not the main purpose defined
by Allah. Allah says in the Qur’an: “Fasting is prescribed
for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you
may attain taqwa (God-consciousness).” (Qur’an, 
2:183
)
By controlling and restraining our physical needs, we gain
strength for the greater battle: controlling and restraining
our nafs (our soul’s desire). When fasting, every hunger
pang reminds us of God—the one for whom we have made
this sacrifice. By constantly remembering Allah and
sacrificing for Him, we are made more aware of His
presence, and in that way we increase our taqwa (fear and
consciousness of Him). The same thing that prevents us
from the sin of sneaking in food while no one else is
watching trains us to avoid other sins while no one else is
watching. That is taqwa.