Abstinence is the fourth Pillar of Islam. This is usually thought of as fasting, but much more is involved than abstinence from food and drink. Whereas Prayer can be regarded as being concerned mainly, but not exclusively, with thought and consciousness, and Charity with feeling and conscience, Abstinence is concerned mainly but not exclusively with action, self-control and will.

There are three kinds of Abstinence:- The Obligatory or Formal, the Voluntary and the General.

Formal or Obligatory Fasting takes place during the month of Ramadhan.

The Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said:

Fasting consists of abstinence from food and drink from before dawn to after dusk. But it has to be accompanied by all kinds of other abstinence. Negative thoughts, motives and actions are to be controlled. Evil, uncharitable, destructive thoughts both towards others and about oneself are to be set aside and good ones cultivated. Anger, hate, greed, lying, backbiting, looking at or thinking about things which are evil or distract from good ones and the remembrance of Allah, unnecessary and frivolous conversations, arguments and quarreling are to be countered. Purchase or indulgences in luxuries are to be avoided. Fasting is to be carried out while working and discharging other duties in a normal manner. Those who retire and become inactive during the period of fasting are merely trying to negate it.

Thus the period of fasting is also a period of constant awareness and vigilance. It is period in which the individual is struggling with the automatisms of the mind, its tendency to rationalize, to forgetfulness, to find excuses why abstinence should not be carried out, or distracting attention from resolutions. Abstinence has to be carried out to understand the reality of these experiences. By overcoming them a person reaches a threshold not available to others. Certainly, it is only such people who understand what a mechanical thing the mind is. The ideas and opinions which flow from it are not under a person's control. They occur by owing to stimuli and processes we are not normally aware of. The person learns to develop psychological techniques to deal with his own mind. He learns about it, takes its nature into consideration, and can now use it and overcome its limitations. When he has done this he has also created in himself a centre of control which is apart from the mind he is controlling. This centre or "I" is no longer identified with the mind, and the mind becomes an instrument only.

Voluntary abstinence refers to fasting and other abstinences at other times. General abstinences should always be practiced. The Formal should be considered as an example of the General, having been made into a permanent institution so that it will always act as a reminder.

General abstinences are such things as the avoidance of alcohol, drugs, swine flesh, gambling, superstitions, the control of anger, greed, pride, excesses and extremes of all kinds, vanity, lust, gluttony and laziness. It is recommended by the Prophet, for instance, that at meal times the stomach should be filled 1/3 with food, 1/3 with water and left 1/3 empty. Laziness is counteracted by rising early before dawn to pray or studying long into the night. The wastage of wealth in frivolities, show, useless objects and activities and ostentation is forbidden. The following are some of the verses on which the notion of General abstinence is based:-

Islam is not against wealth, but against seven things:- (1) Acquiring it by methods which cause harm; (2) Using it to cause harm; (3) Greed, forming obsessions or attachments to it so that greater, more lasting and spiritual benefits are sacrificed for short term material gains; (4) hoarding it, thereby making it useless and depriving others; (5) wasting it; (6) using it frivolously, diminishing its usefulness, for ostentation or hiding it to deceive; (7) destroying it.

Poverty has a special meaning in Islam. The Prophet Muhammad himself had very few possessions, as indeed, did Jesus, Buddha, Moses and other Prophets. But this is not necessarily required of all Muslims. It does not mean not having things which one needs, or those that may be useful or even enjoyable. What it does mean is that people should not be possessed and controlled by them. Possessions include wealth, power, prestige, opinions, pride; habits of thought, feeling and action; desires, fixations and all attachments. They should be free and unhampered physically, mentally and spiritually. There should be moderation in ones wants and demands from the environment, other people and even from oneself. Knowledge, talents, faculties, mental capacity and physical and psychological energy may also be regarded as property which ought to be used for maximum benefit. This means abstinence from the kind of things that are frivolous and striving for what has greater value. We have a limited time on earth, limited energy and our brains have limited capacity though we use only a small part of it. Most people clutter up their brain with things which are quite useless.

Abstinence and charity are connected. More should be given than received so that a kind of vacuum is created. This vacuum will then be filled by the Spirit. The Spirit cannot enter a vessel that is full. It is perfectly possible, though rare, to be outwardly rich but inwardly or spiritually poor. When Jesus taught that it is more difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24), he did not say that it was impossible, but obviously meant poverty in spirit (Matthew 5:3). Abraham was no poor man in the material sense, and yet he is a model for Jews, Christians as well as Muslims.

Islam does not require complete sexual abstinence or celibacy, and discourages it because the sexual impulse is strong, has a function in life, can be beneficially employed as in forming families, and its repression causes many psychological perversions with bad social effects. However sexual abstinence (a) is required during the period of fasting, (b) is allowed for short periods as long as there is agreement with the spouse. (c) is compulsory outside marriage.

Like everything else in Islam, abstinence has psychological, social, as well as physiological value.

1. Spiritual benefits:- In order to understand this it is necessary to keep in mind the fact that human beings have been made with a certain nature which has (a) certain limitations, (b) but also certain potentialities, and (c) that they have been corrupted owing to attachments, greed, lust etc.

(a) It makes a person aware of himself, of the fact that he has limitations and that he is dependent on the bounty of Allah and on external resources and conditions. This creates humility, which is a pre-requisite for learning and development.

(b) It enables a person to practice and achieve a measure of detachment from worldly things, to empty himself so that he may be filled.

(c) It a means of healing in so far as it removes the sources of spiritual malfunctions.

(d) It teaches self-control, how to manipulate oneself.

(e) It teaches compassion for other.

Through fasting the individual learns what it is like to be poor. He develops empathy. He also learns gratitude. The provisions he is dependent on are a gift rather than a right, since they arise from the nature of the world and the work of others. Gratitude produces optimism, hope and cheerfulness as opposed to misery, depression and anger, the feeling that one has been deprived or hard done by. It causes the individual to identify himself with something higher than himself from which point he can control and use himself. The month of Ramadan is said to be the period during which the Quran was revealed (or descended from a higher source). It, therefore, has a particular significance in the consciousness of Muslims, i.e. detachment from worldly things is a condition for receiving spiritual enlightenment.

Greed, lust, vanity and pride may be defined as addictions or obsession. They are similar to the addictions to drugs. They can be regarded as secondary and quite unnatural and unnecessary instincts or urges that have no beneficial function. There is a natural need for food, which is useful, and there is an unnatural desire for food, which is harmful in that it may lead to over eating or unbalanced eating. The actions of a person are not then controlled by reason. He is willing to sacrifice essentials for non-essentials, that which is beneficial for what may harm him or others. It does not refer to real needs or to desires that take into consideration proper priorities. Abstinence improves people by ensuring that factors which interfere with their proper functioning and the consequences of over-indulgence are removed.

Greed causes a person to be controlled by the things he desires and also leads to gullibility, which makes him into a victim. That is, it creates false hope. It also produces fantasy and confusion because of the fascination with things that have no value. It produces suspicion that others with similar greed will deprive one. It is, therefore, also connected with hate and violence against those who deprive one, are regarded as depriving one or are suspected of plotting to deprive one. Greed, therefore, reverses faith, love and hope.

People suffer not only when they are deprived of the basic necessities of life, but also when they have desires beyond their needs. It creates anxiety, tension and unhappiness. The faculties are constantly occupied and strained, to the exclusion of all other things, in pursuit of the objects of desire. The individual suffers great frustrations when things do not go according to his wishes. The more he has the more is there to lose, maintain and to protect. He is tied down to them physically and mentally. Contentment and inner peace are inversely proportional to the amount of worldly desire. This is why some religions teach desirelessness. Islam does not do this - if there are no desires then there are no motives to do anything, no efforts can be made and no goals can be achieved. Islam requires the cultivation of useful desires and the channeling of all desire into useful directions, rather than futile or self-destructive ones. However, the efficacy of desirelessness in preventing the mind from being focused and caught by the object of desire, is not being questioned, it should be pointed out that this form of release appears to contradict the purpose of creation. The term Vicegerent requires man to fulfil a purpose. Indeed, the pursuit of desirelessness is itself a desire. What these systems probably mean is the removal of greed and attachments. This allows one to take control rather than be controlled.

Whereas the behaviour of animals is governed by inbuilt instincts, human beings are distinguished from animals in their consciousness, conscience and will - their ability for abstract thought, empathy and sympathy, and control over their behaviour. And this capability should be increased. It must, however, be admitted that not many people behave in this way, and those who do, do so only very infrequently. Minerals, plants and animals have no desires beyond needs, though some domesticated animals have also acquired greed. But this may merely be a case of human beings creating an environment for them which removes the balance between exercise and nutrition. Human beings have a mind in which association of ideas takes place. The result is that the basic desires are diverted also to other things. The advantage of this is that they can strive for values higher than those available to animals. The disadvantage is that these values may be false and even harmful. Still further up the scale it is also possible for human beings to behave more objectively, not just according to how they are personally affected. Most of the great achievements depend just on this, but it happens very rarely indeed. Fortunately the results of such behaviour accumulate and cause social development. But this social development leaves the individuals almost in their original state. We say "almost", because these changes do produce a pressure on individuals to adapt, to make certain efforts that may cause their growth or deterioration. For instance, social changes have made education necessary. They have also caused disruptions that lead to increasing neurosis. Education, apart from teaching new knowledge and forms of skill and behaviour ought also to increase the capacity for self-manipulation including restraint of arbitrary and random impulses. All skills, whether, physical, mental or spiritual ultimately consist of control over oneself.

Abstinence is practiced in order to develop the higher faculties and their control over the lower ones. This is why it is called an Ascent. However, Islam frowns on extreme austerities, since these may harm the individual irreversibly. The desires themselves, having lost a goal or direction, may find new channels and goals in unexpected directions. In the unwary this may lead to all kinds of perversions. This requires care and vigilance. Here a contrast between Christianity and Islam should be noted:-

In Islam marriage is half of religion. The importance of the sublimation of the sexual energy (its intensity, creativity and unifying force) for spiritual development is certainly recognised. Sexuality is to be strictly confined within the marriage (where it is given full freedom) in order to produce love between spouses and between parents and children and by extension to the whole community which is a network of families. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) was himself married and set an example.

Jesus (saw) was unmarried and did not provide an example for marriage. This led to a teaching of contempt for the flesh, celibacy and monasticism, and the suppression of sexuality. This was responsible for the arising of perversions such as sadism, masochism, fanaticism, the great cruelties of the inquisition, the need to persecute all who challenged and, therefore, threatened precarious doctrines, all kinds of sexual perversions and fetishes. Later, it led to the swing of the pendulum to the opposite pole - unrestrained sexual self-indulgence divorced almost entirely from its purposes, sense of responsibility or personal dignity, as one finds in the West today. It has led to a great number of social and psychological problems, which we will not go into here.

General abstinence from luxuries and vanities has good economic consequences. A great amount of the resources of the world as well as human attention, energy and labour are usually wasted in the production and distribution of goods and services which have no real value. This means that it is diverted from the production and distribution of things that do have value. It distorts the whole economy. It increases the prices of that which the poor need, thereby creating even greater deprivation. These tendencies are counteracted.

 3. Physical benefits:- There are benefits to physical health. It rests the physiological system, removes poisons and re-invigorates it. It prevents the formation of fat, which obstructs the proper functioning of organs. Human beings can live much more efficiently on a much smaller quantity of food than they consume, especially in the West, if the diet i balanced. The amount of nutrition and energy in the food is far greater than is normally extracted by an inefficient digestive process. The surplus is not just wasted, but obstructs digestion, produces poisons and all kinds of disorders. Fasting allows the physiological system to adjust to a more reasonable intake of food. Diseases usually get a foothold in the over-indulgent. The human body and mind are designed for activity and to solve problems. Their tendency, when there are no stimuli, is to run down and go to sleep. Alertness is produced only when there is need. Fasting creates such needs. The brain becomes sharper. Resistance to disease increases. Experiments with rats and other animals show that those which are not excessively fed are much more active, intelligent and live much longer. It has been discovered that people who suffered from diseases of the heart, liver and other metabolic and organic disorders recovered after a period of fasting. The immune system which fights infectious diseases was also improved. People who have gone on hunger strikes in support of some cause discovered, at the end of it, that various diseases, from which they would have died early, had disappeared.

The physiological system was developed over a long evolutionary period in such a way that there was a balance between the kind of activities it had to carry out and the benefits it acquired, that is, between input and output. This balance has been severely upset by the creation of technology. The cultivation of the soil and production of food by the use of machinery now consumes far less human energy than he gains by eating the food; working in desk bound conditions in offices and traveling in cars has lessened the demands on physical activity. This imbalance has resulted in many organic and psychological diseases. To maintain health people have to deliberately diet and exercise, but this turns out to add to the costs while wasting energy which could have been more usefully employed. By far the most common cause of disease is stress and anxiety, and this is normally caused by attachment to something. For example, if someone smashes your car then, objectively speaking, the damage is done to the car not to you. But the owner suffers great distress because of his subjective attachment. Abstinence allows the development of such detachment.

The digestion and utilization of food does not only depend on the balance between the various needed nutrients, but the body can also manufacture many of these provided it is functioning correctly and this depends on the way of life. The processes P that the food undergoes depends on the food F and the transforming materials T present in the body formed by previous processing. This includes processing with air A. Air does not consist only of oxygen, but also other elements, pollen, bacteria etc. Like food, air can contain nutritional, catalytic or poisonous ingredients. Air intake and processing depends on the environment and the manner of breathing which depends on emotional conditions. The processing is also carried out by the use of hormones from the endocrine glands, the output and utilization of which is affected by emotions. Emotions are affected by thought and vice versa. The processing of food is also affected by the light and other radiation (e.g. vitamin production in the skin), by impressions or input I, directly and through the sense organs. These impulses affect the nervous system, which affects the endocrine glands and muscles. The events going on in the nervous system including the brain affect the rest of the human body and mind. Therefore, I, including memory and knowledge, and the results of thinking, motives and action, the output O, will affect the digestion and utilization of food, and this in its turn will affect the thinking, motivation and actions of the person. These will affect, and are affected by, the environment. The impressions or input I as well as the output O can also be nutritious, catalytic or poisonous.

It is not difficult to see that the problems of the world are increasing due to:- (i) The increase of the population (ii) The increase in the material desires per person. (iii) The exhaustion of the resources of the earth. (iv) The pollution created by industry. (v) The imbalance in the ecological system. (vi) The concentration of power and the increasing rigidity of organisation. (vii) The diminishing self-control and self-discipline.

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