… Continued
The following are the decisive scientific proofs for the falsehood of this belief and conduct:
Verified scientific studies in physiology indicate the fact that the Islamic fast is very easy, during which the body is not exposed to any negative effects: on the contrary, the body receives many benefits which could not be gained without fasting. Islamic fasting is very easy upon the body. In confirmation of this, Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship.} [Quran 2:185] According to Ar-Raazi "No doubt, Allah The Almighty enjoins fasting in an easy and light manner, and for just a few days in the year. Moreover, He did not enjoin this short period of fasting upon the sick or the traveler."
This ease is apparent in the fact that it provides the body with all its nutritious needs. In this fasting, man abstains from food and drink for a limited time during the day, exactly from the break of dawn to the setting of the sun, and at night, he has the freedom to eat and drink. Thus, what fasting does is change the times in which one may consume food and drink, and not much more.
Allah The Almighty has deposited in man stored energies which suffice him, in case of abstention from food, from one to three months during which he may consume no food at all. Based on this, many international sanatoriums were founded to treat a lot of diseases by what is called medical fasting, during which the sick or medically fasting person is deprived of all kinds of food and drink except pure water.
The Islamic 12 to16-hour fast, a part of which, as long as 5 hours lies within the absorption period just after eating, and most of which, as long as 12-14 hours, after absorption, is very safe by all scientific measures. During this period, all mechanisms of absorption are activated, and metabolism is balanced, giving way to the creation of a mechanism by which glycogen is dissolved and fats are oxidized and dissolved, and protein is dissolved and new glucose is formed from it. The body suffers no imbalance in any of its functions. Fats are not oxidized so much as to procreate harmful cationic bodies, nor is there any negative nitrogen imbalance that could affect the metabolism of protein. The brain cells, red blood cells and nervous system depend only on glucose to obtain energy.
Medical starvation or medical fasting, therefore, goes beyond the activation of these mechanisms and may go as far as to lead to imbalance in the functions of some physical organs. This is why the Messenger of Allah forbade continuous fasting in order to be easy and to facilitate fasting for his Ummah (nation). Thus, the body cells work naturally while fasting, and obtain all their needs from the huge reserve in the body. The nutrition processes never stop. It is only the processes of digestion and absorption which stop.
Islamic fasting is considered a unique metabolism as it includes both stages of construction and deconstruction. After both meals of Iftaar (fast-breaking) and Suhoor (pre-dawn), the construction of the important complexes starts in the cells, and the reserved substances are renewed, which have been consumed to produce energy; and after the absorption of the Suhoor meal, the deconstruction starts, and the nutritious reserve of glycogen and fat is dissolved in order to provide the body with the necessary energy during movement and activity throughout the day of fasting. This is why the Messenger of Allah confirmed and exhorted us to take the Suhoor meal, in order to provide the body with constructive substances. This is also why he exhorted us to delay Suhoor and hasten to break the fast, in order to reduce the period of fasting so that it would not exceed the post absorption time as much as possible. Consequently, the Islamic fasting does not lead to difficulty nor harm the body, under any circumstances. On the contrary, fasting enhances the endurance of physical effort, and the competence of muscular performance.
Experiments have been conducted by a scientist in this respect, who said, in reference to the results, that the competence of muscular performance of people who are fasting in this interesting experiment improved by 20% with 30% of the subjects, and by 7% with 40%; and the heart rate has improved by 6%; and the product of multiplying the blood pressure by the pulse speed improved by 12%; and the feeling of shortness of breath by 9%; and the feeling of leg strain by 11%. This wonderful experiment renders false the concept that seems to be held by a lot people that fasting weakens physical effort and negatively affects activity and movement; thereupon they adhere to rest and stillness, and spend the greatest part of the day of fasting in sleep and idleness.
Who was it that told Muhammad about those facts about fasting? Who told him that in fasting there is prevention from psychological and physical diseases? Who informed him about the fact that fasting diminishes a lot of sexual desires and alleviates its urge, especially among the youth? Who told him that in fasting there are benefits and advantages to be received by the healthy and those who could fast from among the sick and legally excused? Who told him that fasting is very easy and causes no harm to the body and does not put one to difficulty, given that he was brought up in an environment in which the kind of fasting that was revealed to him was neither known nor practiced?
The one who informed him of all this was none other than Allah The Almighty who Says to His Messenger (what means): {But Allah bears witness to that which He has revealed to you. He has sent it down with His knowledge.} [Quran 4:166]
Thus, scientists in this age see that which was brought by Muhammad as the truth revealed from Allah The Almighty; Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And those who have been given knowledge see that what is revealed to you from your Lord is the truth, and it guides to the path of the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy.} [Quran 34:6]