When Allah The Almighty enjoined fasting for thirty days upon them, which coincided with scorching heat, they were disturbed by it. Their scholars and chiefs gathered and made it in the spring, between winter and summer. This is the Nasee’ (postponement of restriction) which was prohibited by Allah The Almighty in the Quran. Then, they added to it ten days by way of expiation for putting it off, whereby their fasting became forty days. Then, one of their kings suffered from a disease and made a vow to Allah The Almighty that if he recovered, he would add a week to his fasting. Then he recovered and fasted them. In this way, fasting became forty-seven days. When he died, the succeeding king commanded three more days of fasting, thereby the days of fasting rose to fifty, distributed over the months of the year.
How do the Jews and the Christians fast in those days?
The Jews have two kinds of fasting:
The first is to observe a compulsory collective fast of four days according to the conditions, to be determined by the rabbis and chiefs:
- To fast a day in expiation for the general sin known as the Day of Atonement.
- To fast a day before the army fights a war with the enemy.
- To fast a day when the king or president dies.
- To fast a day to ward off an expected calamity to befall the people.
The other kind is to fast optionally (individually) sometimes in quest of repentance, and sometimes in avoidance of evil and harm.
As for fasting among the Christians, its days differ by the difference of churches (Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox), and the difference of generations, natures and countries.
The Christians agree, in all their churches, on fasting a day called "The Day of Christ”, before Easter.
These churches differ concerning fasting other days, like fasting one day for each of their feasts, such as the Day of the Cross, the Apostles, the Virgin, the Epiphany; and the forty days have been reduced, by some of them, to only forty hours.
What do they abstain from during fasting?
They abstain from food, drink and sexual intercourse, from midnight till noon. This applies to the elderly and weak persons, but the physically capable continue to abstain until an hour before sunset. They abstain only from meat and animal products of white color, such as egg white, butter and milk. It is permissible to cook and eat what is beyond that, provided it is cooked only with vegetable oil.
In the fasting before Easter, it is permissible to eat fish and all kinds of fruits, but nothing else.
It is notable that the religious among the late generations of the Jews and Christians differ and dispute over their fasting. The Jews forbid fasting on Sunday, and prefer to fast on Saturday, whereas the Christians, unlike them, prefer to fast on Sunday and forbid fasting on Saturday. The Jews in the past fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, thereupon the Christians opposed them and moved the fasting of those two days to Wednesday and Friday. This dispute would not have taken place between them had they not followed their inclinations and distorted the words from their right places. Allah The Great tells the truth when He Says (what means):
• {The Jews say "The Christians have nothing [true] to stand on," and the Christians say, "The Jews have nothing to stand on," although they [both] recite the Scripture. Thus, the polytheists speak the same as their words. But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.]} [Quran 2:113]
• {And if only the People of the Scripture had believed and feared Allah, We would have removed from them their misdeeds and admitted them to Gardens of Pleasure.} [Quran 5:65]
His Saying {that you may} in the noble verse of Chapter Al-Baqarah in which Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {that you may become righteous)} gives the meaning of justification. That is, He enjoined upon you the fasting of Ramadan so that you would fear Allah The Almighty in what He commanded you and forbade you to do, including the rulings of fasting.
It also gives the meaning of hope and expectation as regards the servant. Allah The Almighty is free from all of this. That is, Allah decreed fasting upon you just as He had decreed it upon those who were before you that you may fear your Lord and worship Him according to what He ordained for you.
Taqwa (herein translated as 'righteousness') is to make a protective barrier between one and what he dislikes. ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattaab, may Allah be pleased with him, illustrated it with a concrete representation. One day, he and ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas‘ood, may Allah be pleased with him, entered a swamp; thereupon he rolled up his garment and reclined against one of his legs, raised the other and said, "Taqwa is thus. So, beware, lest anyone may push you, thereupon you would slip."
'Taqwa' in the noble verse means to permanently observe (the commandments of) Allah, by keeping away from sins which He dislikes, acting upon what pleases Him, avoiding the distortions made by the Jews, and the interpretations put by the Christians and their allies concerning the rulings of fasting and other acts of worship.