15 Rewards for Voluntary Fasting Dr Omar Suleiman

so know that we are all getting into the habit of fasting after Ramadan and subhanallah there are two times in which you can really make this habit part of your life it is right after Ramadan and it is in the winter after Ramadan obviously because your body is used to it and inshallah you're trying to get the reward of fasting some days of shawwal in the winter because Allah has made it that the days are short and the nights are long and that's why the companions used to call the winter The Spoils of the Believers because you have easy fasting easy and the reward is just the same inshallah so these are two timings in which person can really pick up this habit and wanted to capitalize on this particular timing and wanted to compile 50 teen benefits 15 rewards foreign for voluntary fasting and inshallah I'm gonna try to run through these in way that hopefully you all can benefit from and will encourage you to really keep on going inshallah so number one and that should be enough it is the way of our beloved prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the way of the righteous that came before us when Allah says in the Quran fasting has been prescribed upon you the way it was prescribed on those who came before you so that you may gain God Consciousness piety taqwa and the beauty of that is that Allah made it thoroughed on the ummah made it mandatory for the ummah just as he made it farled mandatory for the ummas that came before so that you could have this bare minimum of piety but as the elements say the mark of the righteousness of the of the prophets that came before the prophets of those Nations and the best of those Nations was their saliam and their qian their fasting and their prayer and so you want to go to the next level and not just to be amongst those who have taqwa but those who have ehsan those who have excellence and the prophet salallahu described to us and of the marks of his righteousness the prophet salallahu said that the best fasting is the fasting of the wood is he used to fast one day and then break his fast the next day so he used to fast alternate days and our beloved messenger used to fast Mondays and Thursdays and he used to fast the middle three days of the month that are known as Yaman Beal the white days because the Moon is fullest on the 13th 14th and 15th of every lunar month that my beloved one advised me with three things to fast three days of every month and to pray the two rakas and for me to pray with her before sleep so the prophet saws used to advise the companions to increase their fasting some of the companions like who would fast every day even except for the two reads and that is the exception otherwise the prophet saws the best fasting is up to the fasting of devud fasting alternate days and subhanallah I've actually met people in my own life that practice practice this may Allah allow us to Aspire the way that these amazing people Aspire so that's the first benefit the first reward it's Sunnah you're following the way of the Prophet Saws and you're following the way of the prophets and the most righteous of the Nations that came before you all of whom had some level of prescribed fasting number two your day starts with Allah and the angels sending their prayers upon you and subhanallah this is beautiful narration because it's before you even start your fasting the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam said that verily Allah and his angels prey upon those who eat those people of sahur so imagine subhanallah you're starting your day and before you've even started your fast Allah and the angels are sending prayers upon you as you are eating to prepare yourself for the day of fasting so your day starts off with Allah and the angels praying upon you that's number two number three your day ends with an accepted durat the prophet salallahu mentioned that of the categories of people that have their Dua answered he said the fasting person until they break their fast and in one narration the prophet saws that verily the fasting person at the time of breaking their fast has durat that will not be rejected and there's so much Beauty in this narration subhanallah of them is that you know usually when you look at the times in which Dua is answered it has to do with things that are completely out of your control like the rain for example you can't control when it rains but it's time in which the rahma the mercy of Allah is descending and so the prophet saws advised us to make Dua at that time travel is somewhat in your control but it's not something that you do for the sake of it fasting is condition that you choose when you want to choose and at that time your dra is answered and particularly the prophet saws mentioned at the end of the day when you are most tired when you are most broken when you're most vulnerable and you've made that greatest sacrifice for the sake of Allah your day ends with an accepted Dua so it starts with Allah and the angels praying upon you and then it ends with with you praying to Allah with an accepted prayer number four even your breath is pleasing to Allah now we want to be in state in which everything that we do and that we say is pleasing to Allah and when the breath of the fasting person is described as being pleasing to Allah that's without Wicked even without the remembrance of Allah what then of the one who beautifies their breath with vikr the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam said he says swear by the one in whose hand is my soul the smell that comes from the mouth of fasting person is more pleasant in the sight of Allah on the day of judgment than the scent of musk so if your breath is pleasing to Allah what about the rest of you subhanallah number five you meet Allah with lifetime of fasting lifetime of pleasing him the prophet saws mentioned to us famously obviously that whoever fasted Ramadan and then follows it with six days of Shawan it's as if they fasted the entire year and he gave us the Logics that you know fasting one month is like 10 months because the minimum of good deed is times 10. and so adding six days to that is like fasting two months and person will have two months with Allah so two plus ten gives them an entire year so in another narration the prophet saws said whoever fast three days of the month canicus it's as if they have fasted an entire lifetime the logic of that that the scholar is mentioned here is that this is any three days any three days so you could choose to fast the three days in the middle of the month and that's the best or you could choose to fast Monday and Thursday and that is blessed and beautiful or you could choose to fast any three days of the month and that is something inshaallah that will yield you incredible rewards with Allah and you meet Allah as if you fasted your entire life so not only is your breath pleasing to Allah imagine meeting Allah and your entire lifetime has fasting tag on it so your entire lifetime is pleasing to Allah number six fasting is good for your health there's the famous narration fast and you will be healthy now the Hadith has weakness in it in terms of its chain but its meaning is sahir its meaning is certainly authentic that the prophet saws anything he tells us to do is good for us in every single way and so person who fasts also does what is good for their health and you think about the things that are coming out now about intermittent fasting and people that slow down their appetite and discipline their appetite and how you lose gratitude for blessings in front of you the blessing of your food in front of you as well as the blessing of your health when you're constantly in consumption mode and the prophet saws used to warn us against over consumption so when we fast we discipline our diets and inshallah our health improves as well and this is benefit number seven fasting disciplines your desires the prophet inside someone he said young people if you're able to get married then do so and if you're not able to get married then he said person should fast because if you fast it will certainly restrain your desires it will discipline your desires and so the scholars say that fasting teaches us the strength of willpower the strength of disciplining our desires and if we're able to discipline our desires then we're able to channel them in ways that are pleasing to Allah rather than have them go towards that which is displeasing and leads us to destruction so person learns willpower and they learn to discipline their desires number eight fasting protects you from sin there is reason why taqwa is mentioned as the yield of fasting taqwa is an awareness of Allah that prevents you from getting stuck in into sin or getting pricked by sin in fact the sahaba described it as person walking between thorns and making sure that they're not pricked taqwa comes from the word which means armor so some people's taqwa is thin sometimes it's thick but it puts barrier between you and sin now fasting in particular the prophet saws fasting is an added layer of protection so if you think of it it's an added coat of armor taqwa is instinctive it's something that gives you sense of awareness of Allah whether you have an extra layer of armor on or not fasting is that extra layer of armor that allows you to become so protected from that sin that even when the armor is not there the taqwa will protect you instead and in one narration the prophet saws mentioned that fasting is an added Shield so if one of you is obscene language do not raise your voice and if someone approaches you in way that is not good then say I'm fasting person should say I'm fasting here subhanallah fasting becomes shield from the sins of the tongue because the tongue leads person to Hellfire more than anything else so when fasting makes you more aware of what you are saying the sins of the tongue then it's protective barrier from that it's also protective barrier shield from your arrogance because when the prophet saws is talking about how to respond to someone that approaches you in harmful way the messenger saw some is giving you protective barrier from your arrogance and so if it protects you from the sins of the tongue and it protects you from the sins of the ego what is fasting not shield from and so the scholars say it's shield from your sins it's protection from your sins number nine it's shield from the fire itself from the fire itself in terms of the reward that it yields the prophet saws that fasting is shield from the Hellfire just like you carry shield in battle so protects you from the sins that lead you to the fire and it protects you from the fire itself number 10 it puts distance between you and the Hellfire this is subhanallah one of the most powerful Hadith in this regardless whoever fast one day for the sake of Allah Allah removes their face from the Hellfire by 70 years he said another narration 70 Falls and another narration the prophet saws the distance of which is hundred years so ditch is put between you and hellfire the distance of hundred years and what does Allah tell us in the Quran whoever is dragged away from the Hellfire and entered into Paradise that person has succeeded imagine every single time you fast every day you fast ditch between you and hellfire of journey of 100 years so what then of person that fasts three days month or fast Mondays and Thursdays and even more than that number 11 it is an intercessor for you on the day of judgment the prophet saws the prophet saws said that fasting and the Quran are intercessors for the servant of Allah for the slave of Allah on the day of judgment fasting says my Lord prohibited him from food and from his desires during the day so allow me to intercede for him and the Quran says stopped him from sleeping at night so let me be an intercessor for him and Allah allows both of them to intercede on your behalf so it comes subhanallah in the form of person an intern processor when would you need an intercessor more than that day subhanallah in the form of beautiful person and argues on your behalf with Allah the most merciful number 12 special gate in Jannah for you and know we've spoken about this but want you to pay attention to the narration and specific here and look at how beautiful it is particularly for the fasting person the prophet saws that there is gate of paradise that is for the fasting people known as endless drinks waterfalls Rivers for those that used to prohibit themselves from drinking during the day and the prophet saws said no one will enter into that gate of paradise except for those who distinguish themselves by fasting it'll be called out on the day of judgment where are the fasting people where are the fasting people and then they will be escorted to this gate they will enter into it and no one will enter after them these are not the people of just Ramadan these are the people that were distinguished by their distinguished by their fasting both in terms of quantity as well as quality may Allah make us amongst them and may Allah allow us to be called not just but from all of the gates of paradise on the day of judgment number 13 your Deeds are presented to Allah while he is pleased with you the prophet saws said that on Mondays and Thursdays the Deeds are presented to Allah and in the middle of the month and he said love that my Deeds are presented to Allah while am in state of fasting subhanallah imagine as your Deeds are going up to Allah you're in the Most Blessed states that is known to him and Allah is pleased with your breath what then of the Deeds that are ascending to Allah while you're in state of fasting so that's number 13. number 14 this is the deed that Allah rewards more than 700 times and before we get to the specific narration here you know Allah refers to fasting in the Quran seek help with your patience and with your prayer and the word saber here is referring to fasting so fasting is literally called the practice of patience and what does Allah say about the patients verily Allah will reward the patient without any calculation without any restriction the reward for the patient is vast and it is expansive and Allah says in the Hadith about fasting that everyone one of the Good Deeds of the child of Adam is going to be rewarded by 10 up to 700. Allah then said except for fasting that verily fasting is for me and reward accordingly so subhanallah fasting is special deed that is rewarded Beyond 700 times Allah says this one is for me to specifically reward you on the day of judgment lastly the Hadith of the Prophet saws you break your fast with Allah for the you know subhanallah if you think about this benefit it's greater than all the other benefits you break your fast with Allah number 15. for the fasting person the prophet saws is two Joys The Joy when you break your Fast and The Joy when you meet your Lord with that fast what better than to meet Allah with the deed that is so pleasing to him that he has not even Quantified it for you yet and we are so afraid of meeting Allah while he's displeased with us what about person who remains in that state of pleasing Allah with this deed and looks forward to meeting Allah with meeting that has been described with Joy by the prophet saws what better way to break the fast of this Dunya with Allah what better way to meet Allah so these are 15 benefits tremendous rewards dear brothers and sisters hold fast to this habit of fasting and encourage others to do so as well inshallah Allah just like in Ramadan you know we look around and others are fasting try to get other people involved as well inshallah and fast if you can even if it's just three days month and it's as if he fasted lifetime