Allah The Almighty legislated fasting as a mercy for His slaves as He is free of need and He provides them with sustenance. Allah The Almighty is the One who provided for people even before the creation and guarantees their sustenance whether they believe or disbelieve.
He never intended to expose them to difficulty or hardship by experiencing hunger and thirst; on the contrary, He is Kind and Merciful towards them.He merely wanted them to perform an act of worship that disciplines the soul, strengthens it to resist its desires and deters it from its deviation. Thus, the believer would be a master of his own soul, not a slave of it and he would be elevated from the rank of animals to the rank of the steadfast affirmers of truth and angels.
The slave abandons his food, drink and sexual desire for the sake of Allah The Almighty as if he seeks nothing from this world except to gain the satisfaction of Allah The Almighty and to hasten to good deeds saying (what means): {and I hastened to You, my Lord, that You be pleased."} [Quran 20:48] .
Some of the greatest benefits of fasting are drawing closer to Allah The Almighty and attaining piety that is not attained through anything other than fasting. Eliminating the desires of the soul, being active for performing acts of worship and feeling for the needy and the poor, so that the heart of the fasting person would empathize with them and he would praise Allah The Almighty, be ascetic and seek what is with Allah The Almighty.
The greatest benefit of fasting is witnessing the wisdom of Allah The Almighty and His legislation, as well as testifying to the status and truthfulness of the Messenger of Allah, , since a pretender would not order people to do something that makes matters difficult for them and restricts their desires. Moreover, fasting shows the great miracle of religion and its visionary outlook as following it reforms people's lives and their Hereafter despite the hardship undergone by their bodies – and this proves that this is from Allah The Almighty.
Due to this and many other things, the Prophet, , reported from His Lord that He said: "Every act of the son of Aadam is for him, except fasting. It is (exclusively) for Me and I (alone) will reward it." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] This is the wording of Al-Bukhari. Let us contemplate the meanings of this Qudsi Hadeeth (sacred narration) in the following lines:
For the sake of Allah The Almighty
All the pillars of Islam are legislated as a relief for the slave for the sake of Allah The Almighty, for instance, the two testimonies of faith relieve the slave from Shirk (polytheism), quarreling partners as well as from deviant methodologies and its bad consequences. Prayer is considered a relief for the slave as it saves him from asking anyone other than Allah The Almighty. Giving Zakah (obligatory charity) saves the slave from the envy of the poor and it guarantees support for the rich in case they become needy. Likewise, Hajj is considered a venue where one witnesses the state of mass humility and the honor of the lordship of Allah the Almighty. Thus, all these acts of obedience are considered acts that show servitude, with the exception of fasting, which is undergoing hardship for the slave to satisfy Allah The Almighty as it entails abandonment of the most important basic needs of man such as sexual desire, food and drink. It is an act of worship done out of exaltation and elevation.
Was never done for anyone but Allah
Fasting is the only act of worship that is never performed for the sake of anyone but Allah The Almighty. People might worship some creature, claim that it is the creator, prostrate and bow to it, collect money through solidarity funds for its sake, perform pilgrimage or show humility when they go to kings to increase their arrogance and tyranny, but fasting is completely different as it has never been performed except for the sake of Allah The Almighty. Worshippers of falsehood never perform a secret act of worship in the absence of the one they worship. By Allah, this can never happen and even if it were to happen the false deity would get tired and exhausted because of monitoring his fasting slaves. The only exception to this is Allah The Knower of the unseen. Not absent from Him is an atom's weight within the heavens or within the earth.
Elevation of ranks
Fasting elevates the rank of the slave as he fasts and performs acts of obedience for one whole month, so how can he commit sins and be of a lower rank for the rest of the year?