Please tell me about all the benefits of fasting Ramadhan mentioned in the Quran and Hadeeth.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Allah has legislated for his servants the laws that are best for their religion and for their happiness in this worldly life and in the Hereafter. He has tested His Servants on the laws (He laid down for them) in worshipping Him and in dealing amongst themselves, so as to determine who is really worshipping his Lord from who is only after his own wishes and desires. Because, whoever accepts His Laws with good faith and confidence will meet success and prosperity; while whoever refuses to abide by these Laws or adjusts them according to his own wishes will be the loser in this world as well as in the Hereafter.

Some acts of worship are physical (done by the body), like the prayer, while others are financial, like giving Zakat. Some are both physical and financial, like Hajj. Some of these acts compel the soul to refrain from its wishes or what it is inclined to, like fasting. There is much wisdom in each of these acts, which is known to some people and unknown to some other people.

One of these acts is fasting; its wisdom and benefits are as follows:

1-      Obedience to Allah.  The Muslim is rewarded without limit for fasting, as narrated by Al-Bukhari from Sahal ibn Sa'ad Al-Sa'idi that the Prophet said: “There is a door in Heaven called Ar-Rayyan, by which only fasting people enter on the Resurrection Day. Nobody else enters by that door. A caller calls: 'Where are the fasting people?' Then they stand and enter. The gate is then closed; nobody else enters from it except them." That is the great honor and benefit one may expect and it should suffice him/her.

2-      All doors of Paradise are opened in Ramadan and all doors of Hell are closed, and the devils are chained as reported by Al-Bukhari. Also, (in Ramadan) there is the night of Decree (Laylat Al-Qadr), which is better than one thousand months (of our months). Al-Bukhari reported from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet said about this night's advantage and superiority:

"He who performs the prayer throughout the night of Al-Qadr, (with the intention) believing in its obligation and seeking Allah's reward, will get forgiveness for all his past sins; and he who fasts in Ramadan, believing in its obligation and seeking Allah's reward, will get forgiveness for all his past sins."

So we can see that Allah has made the month of fasting a yearly season where He honors His servants with giving them an opportunity to get rid of their sins and misdeeds as though with clean pages. But Allah has chosen this special gift for His servants who let all their organs fast refraining from all that Allah has forbidden. Those (Servants) who combined material and spiritual fasting deserve what others do not.  The Prophet said: "Whoever does not eschew false statements, acting according to them and ignorance, Allah has no need that he should abstain from his food and his drink."  [Al-Bukhari]"

3-      Fasting is a school of good behavior in many different ways where a believer gets a yearly training on many good habits, such as: suppressing his own desires; being patient and refraining from all things that are forbidden; getting trained on being honest and fearing Allah publicly and in private, for there is nobody who knows what the fasting person does except Allah.

4-      Fasting gives the person willpower and teaches him discipline and orderliness.

5-      Fasting develops in the Muslim the sense of kindness, brotherhood, unity and co-operation with others. It strengthens the ties between Muslims. This feeling of hunger and thirst encourages the fasting person to help others who have tasted the bitterness of poverty throughout the year.

6-      It reminds the fasting person of the Grace of Allah upon him when He gave him the power and ability of performing this devotion by which he gets great compensation that only fasting people deserve.

7-      It strengthens the unity of Muslims in worshipping Allah, through a unified effort for this purpose, in addition to other forms of worship, within this month where their attitude and behavior are the same.

8-      The healthy conditions a fasting person earns during his fasting days. Recent medical research has proven that fasting is the best way of getting rid of many illnesses that medication cannot cure.

So, here we see that fasting is a fruitful school for the Muslims and they get from it what non-Muslims are deprived of. It is a course where the Muslims graduate with a new faith that takes them to a better life and a strong desire to perform more good deeds.

We ask Allah to make us among those who fast and have their fasting accepted, gaining the greatest reward as we ask Him to end our lives in a good, blessed way.

Allah knows best.