Omar Suleiman

No food or water, no bread, no nothing.

You don't eat or drink, even if you live in Texas.

where you get these long hot days in the summer.

And of course Islam is on a lunar calendar, so it moves every year about 10 days earlier.

During that time, you restrict the intake to the body so that you can focus on the intake of the soul.

So instead of being focused on consumption, constant consumption, you are consuming words of remembrance, words of prayer.

You're to be hyper-conscious of not doing anything that would spiritually validate your fast, just as you would physically.

So just like you won't eat or drink, you certainly won't engage in sin, though you shouldn't engage in sins throughout the year.

You're not going to speak words of evil.

You're not going to gossip or slander.

You try to fast with your eyes, not look at things that are not praiseworthy.

So you try to engage in a wholesome act of disciplining yourself with the consciousness of God, but then channel that into engaging the soul instead, exercising the soul instead.

And what you'll find with Muslims and this act of God consciousness where they reduce the consumption is they become far more grateful for the blessings of God because throughout our lives, we just take sips of water, we eat what we can, we snack.

When you're abstaining from that, you become so much more grateful for that sip of water, so much more grateful for that bite of food.

so much more aware of the one who provided those blessings to you, so much more aware of those that don't have the same access to those blessings that you have.

So you also develop a sense of empathy for the poor that don't have access to those blessings on a regular basis that can't help but fast.

And on top of that, again, spiritually, you are engaged in extra reading.

At that time, people are listening to more lectures.

People are engaged in extra acts of devotion, extra acts of charity.

Muslims are most charitable in the month of Ramadan.