FASTING: THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH BOOSTER The tight control between anabolism and catabolism and their regulation ensures normal body functioning by the wisdom and power of Allah (SWT). For this reason, the Prophet (SAW) taught us to say, after every meal: “Glory be to Allah who feeds, quenches (hunger and thirst), metabolizes it and places for it an outlet”, and to say, when coming out of the toilet: “We seek your forgiveness; Glory be to Allah who removed from me waste and made me healthy.” During the 10-12 hour fasting, the stored form of food in the body is converted into utilizable form to supplement the decrease in the food intake into the body. For instance, excess glucose is stored in the form of glycogen in the liver. When glucose is depleted in the blood, glycogen is converted back to glucose and utilized for energy generation. If glycogen is depleted (hypoglyceamia), glucose could be manufactured from other food sources, apart from carbohydrates, in the body (gluconeogenesis). For example, fat stores could also be converted to glucose, and in the absence of fats, tissue proteins (as a last resort) could also be mobilized for energy required by the body in an instance of starvation. But deprivation during the normal hours of fasting under normal conditions could hardly lead to starvation. When adequate supply of food is restored, at the time of breaking fast, the alternative energy generating pathways are shut down, leaving the normal pathway (glycolysis) to predominate. Fasting could therefore be considered as a dietary regulatory mechanism by which the healthy status of the body is maintained and also prevent starvation. The fasting and breaking cycle for a certain period of time (e.g. 29/30 days of Ramadan) ensures adequate intake, transformation, utilization, excretion and regulation and also control of the disorders that are associated with an imbalance in the proportion of certain nutrients in the body. A Muslim health professional identified the verse “Eat and drink and do not be extravagant; for he does not like extravagance”, as a summary of all forms of medications revealed in the Holy Quran. This implies that some forms of disorder in the body system evolve from an unregulated food intake. Example, Bronze diabetes is associated with iron overload; Hyperlipidaemia is associated with excess lipid in the blood e.t.c. For this reason, it is recommended for Muslims to fast (apart from the obligatory fasting of Ramadan) at least three days of every month; or up to two days (Mondays and Thursdays) every week; or on alternate days, but never continuously throughout the year. The Prophet (SAW) discourages that by his words: “He has neither fasted; he that fasted the era, nor had he broken the fast.” Some group of patients could also tolerate the normal fasting hours without harm. For istance Insulin Dependent Diabetic (IDD) patients that are hitherto exempted from fasting. According to Saudi-based researchers from King Fahd Hospital and King Saudi University IDD patients who are reasonably stable can manage their diabetes well during Ramadan, and the control of blood sugar is not significantly different from that which they attain during other months of the year. The study concludes that IDD patients who wish to fast can be allowed to do so as long as they maintain their usual insulin dose and follow-up as in other months of the year. Fasting and Mental Health The ability of an individual to form harmonious relationship with others, and to participate in and contribute constructively to doing things in his social and physical environment defines the mental health of an individual. Mental disorders that relate to the ailments of the mind are of two categories: that of Illusion and Doubts and that of self-desire. In whatever form, ailments of the mind manifest as blameworthy attitudes such as pride, arrogance, deceit, and show-off or even Shirk. In this state a person becomes enslaved by the soul that commands evil, and act according to his ego and whims. This state of ailment is more difficult to treat than the physical ailments. Shaykh Ibn Ata’allah11 states: “The persistence of the joy of desire in the heart is a disease so difficult to treat.”
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 21:52:25 +0000
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