Dr. Zakir: Saum is an Arabic word which is singular, Siyam is plural Saum or Siyam in Arabic is derived from the word ‘Sama’ which means to abstain or to restrain from the normal things whether it be eating, drinking or talking and a person who observes Saum or abstains from these things is called as a ‘Sayim’. And this word is used in the Quran in Surah Maryam ch. no. 19 verse no. 26 when the angel speaks to Mary, may Allah be pleased with her, who is the mother of Jesus Christ (pbuh) and this word is used. And if you read this verse says that I have vowed to fast to Allah but here the meaning of the word Saum, fast doesn’t mean refraining from eating or drinking. It means refraining from speaking because when you go to the context,
When you read one verse before in the Quran Surah Maryam ch. no. 19 verse no. 25 it says that Allah (swt) says to Mary, may Allah be pleased with her, that shake the palm tree towards yourself and the ripe dates will fall.
And the next verse Surah Maryam ch. 19 verse 21 says that eat and drink from them and then it says that when you meet any human being tell them I vowed to fast for Allah. And I will not speak to any human being.
So because here it says about speaking the word Saum is used here means that to abstain from speaking but the word Saum in Islamic terminology, in the Islamic Shariah, it means a person who does an act of worship and with the intention he does it for the sake of Allah and he or she abstains from eating drinking or nourishment as well as from sexual intercourse or from lustful semen ejaculation. In short the word Saum in Islam means a person who abstains from the fast-breakers.
And the fast-breakers, the things that break the fast are food whether taking by mouth or by nose or drink any kind of drink whether it be water, milk, fruit juice, any drink taken from mouth or nose or any nourishment for the body taken from any source. As well as abstaining from a sexual intercourse. In short it means abstaining the stomach and the private part. This is what it means Islamically and this is the basic meaning but if you go ahead with the broader meaning it does not mean only abstaining the stomach and the sexual part from the things that break the fast, it even means that along with the fasting of the stomach and the sexual parts there is fasting of the tongue, of the eyes, of the ears and the other limbs of the body. That’s the reason when we use the word Saum.
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) said,It’s mentioned in
Sahih Bukhari Vol. no. 3 in the Book of Fasting Hadith no. 1903, our beloved Prophet said that
“A person who does not abstain, does not leave false action and false speech, obscenity etc. Allah does not require of him to abstain from food and drink.”
That means beside abstaining from food and drink you also have to abstain from false speech, false action etc. and this message is further repeated by beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws),
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) said in a Sahih Hadith of
Sahih Targheeb Vol. no. 1 Hadith no. 1068, our beloved Prophet said that
“A person while fasting, when he abstains from food and drink, he should also abstain from false speech, from obscene language and if a person gets angry and if he argues with him or fights with him, he should say “I am fasting, I am fasting”
So if we look at it when a person fasts there are basically 3 things that you should abstain from.
No. 1 is the stomach and the private parts; they should abstain from things that break fast i.e. food, drink, and sexual act.
The second is that the other parts of the body the tongue, the eyes, the ears, the limbs even they should fast. Fasting of the tongue means a person should abstain from backbiting, should abstain from slandering, from telling a lie, should abstain from gossiping, abstain from rumor mongering, abstain from vulgarity. Fasting of the eyes means he should abstain from looking at things which are unlawful like when he sees a na-mehram, he should lower his gaze, he should not watch unislamic movies or unislamic things.
Fasting of the ears means you should abstain from hearing things which are Haraam, which are prohibited like abstaining from listening to music, abstain from listening to songs which are unislamic. So this is the way how the other parts of the body also fast. And the third thing is the fasting of the heart and the mind. They should abstain from things which take away person from the worship of Allah, from the Dhikr of Allah. So this overall is the meaning of the word Saum.
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