Post-Ramadan Advice
15 Rewards for Voluntary Fasting
We know that voluntary fasting is greatly rewarded by Allah (swt), but how many of us can name additional rewards and benefits that come with it? Dr. Omar Suleiman describes 15 rewards that are mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Chapters -
00:00 - Fasting in Winter and After Ramadan
00:53 - 15 Benefits of Fasting For Allah's Suitable People
12:55 - Fasting and Its Intercessors
15:23 - There is a special gate in Jannah for Fasting People
16:37 - Fasting in Allah's Name
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh everyone. I hope you all are well. Bismillah walhamdulillah wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi waman wala. So I know that we are all
getting into the habit of fasting biddenillahi ta'ala after Ramadan and subhanAllah there are two times in which you can really make this habit a 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 are trying to get the reward of fasting some days of shawwal in the winter because Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has made it that the days are short and the nights are long and that is why the companions used to call the winter the spoils of the believers because you have easy fasting,
easy qiyam biddenillahi ta'ala and the reward is just the same inshallah. So these are two timings in which a person can really pick up this habit and I wanted to capitalize on this particular
timing biddenillahi ta'ala and I wanted to compile 15 benefits, 15 rewards for nafil qiyam for voluntary fasting and inshallah ta'ala I'm going to try to run through these
in a way that hopefully you all can benefit from biddenillahi ta'ala and will encourage you to really keep on going inshallah ta'ala. So number one is that it's sunnah and that should be enough.
It is the way of our beloved prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the way of the righteous that came before us. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'an كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَىٰ ٱلَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
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
subhanahu wa ta'ala made it fard on the ummah, made it mandatory for the ummah just as he made it fard mandatory for the ummahs that came before so that you could have this bare minimum of piety
but as the ulama 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 siyam and their qiyam, their
fasting and their prayer and so you want to go to the next level and not just be amongst those who have taqwa but those who have ihsan, those who have excellence and the prophet salallahu alayhi
salam described to us Dawood alayhi salam and of the marks of his righteousness the prophet salallahu alayhi salam said that the best fasting is the fasting of Dawood alayhi salam
كان يصوم يوما ويفطر يوما 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 salallahu alayhi wasalam
used to fast Mondays and Thursdays and he used to fast the middle three days of the month that are known as ayyam albil, the white days because the moon is fullest on the 13th 14th and 15th
of every lunar month. Abu Hurairah radiallahu ta'ala anhu says اوصاني خليري صلى الله عليه وسلم بثلاث that my beloved one advised me with
three things salallahu alayhi wasalam he said بصيام ثلاثة ايام من كل شهر to fast three days of every month وركعتي الضحى and to pray the two rak'ahs of duha
وان اوتر قبل ان ارقد and for me to pray witr before i sleep so the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam used to advise the companions to increase their fasting some of the companions like
Abu Talha radiallahu anhu would fast every day even except for the two Eids and that is the exception otherwise the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said the best fasting is up to the fasting of Dawood alayhi wasalam of fasting alternate days and subhanAllah I've actually met people in my
own life that practice this may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala 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 salallahu alayhi wasalam 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 a beautiful narration because it's before you even start your fasting the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
said inna allahu wa malaikatahu yusalluna ala al mutasahireen that verily Allah and his angels pray upon those who eat suhoor those people of suhoor 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 du'a the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam mentioned that of the categories of people
that have their du'a answered he said the fasting person until they break their fast and in one narration the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said inna al-isa'imi
inda fitrihi la da'watan ma turat that verily the fasting person at the time of breaking their fast has a du'a 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 du'a 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 a time in which the rahmah the mercy of Allah is descending
and so the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam advised us to make du'a at that time travel is somewhat in your control but it's not something that you do for the sake of it fasting is a condition that you choose
when you want to choose and at that time your du'a is answered and particularly the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam 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
subhanahu wa ta'ala your day ends with an accepted du'a so it starts with Allah and the angels praying upon you and then it ends with you praying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with an accepted
prayer number four even your breath is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala now we want to be in a state in which everything that we do and that we say is rida is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and when the breath of the fasting person is described as being pleasing to Allah that's without dhikr even without the remembrance of Allah what then of the one who beautifies their breath with dhikr the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said
waladhi nafsu muhammadin salallahu alayhi wasalam biyadi la khulufu fami al-sa'imi atyabu inda Allahi yawm al-qiyamati min reeh al-misk he said salallahu alayhi wasalam i swear by the one
in whose hand is my soul the smell that comes from the mouth of a fasting person is more pleasant in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala 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 a lifetime of fasting a lifetime of pleasing him
the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam mentioned to us famously obviously that whoever fasts Ramadan and then follows it with six days of Shawwal it's as if they fasted the entire year and he gave us
the logic salallahu alayhi wasalam that you know fasting one month is like 10 months because the minimum of a good deed is times 10 and so adding six days to that is like fasting two months and
a person will have two months with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so 2 plus 10 gives them an entire year so in another narration the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said whoever fasts three days of
the month it's as if they have fasted an entire lifetime the logic of that that the scholars 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 inshallah that will yield you incredible rewards with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you meet Allah as if you fasted your entire life
so not only is your breath pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala imagine meeting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and your entire lifetime has a fasting tag on it so your entire lifetime
is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala number six fasting is good for your health there's the famous narration fast and you will be healthy now the hadith has a weakness in it in terms of
its chain but its meaning is sahih its meaning is certainly authentic that the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam anything he tells us to do is good for us in every single way and so a 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 salallahu alayhi wasalam 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 a benefit number
seven fasting disciplines your desires the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam when he said oh young people if you're able to get married then do so and if you're not able to get married
then he said a 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 subhana wa ta'ala rather than have them go towards that which is displeasing and leads us to destruction
so a person learns willpower and they learn to discipline their desires number eight fasting protects you from sin there is a reason why taqwa is mentioned as the yield of fasting
taqwa is an awareness of allah subhana wa ta'ala that prevents you from getting stuck in into sin or getting pricked by sin in fact the sahaba described it as a 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 a barrier between you and sin now fasting
in particular the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said 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 a sense of awareness of allah subhana wa ta'ala 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 salallahu alayhi wasalam mentioned as-salmu junna that fasting is an added shield and he said so if one of you is fasting
then do not use obscene language do not raise your voice and if someone approaches you in a way that is not good then say i'm fasting a person should say i'm fasting here subhanallah fasting
becomes a shield from the sins of the tongue because the tongue leads a 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 a protective barrier from that it's also a protective barrier a shield from your arrogance because when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is talking about how to respond to
someone that approaches you in a harmful way the messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam is giving you a 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 a shield from and so the scholars say it's a shield from your sins it's a protection from your sins number nine it's a shield from the
fire itself from the fire itself in terms of the reward that it yields the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said as-siyamu junnatu min al-nar ka junnati ahadikum min al-qital that fasting is a shield from the
hellfire just like you carry a shield in battle so it protects you from the sins that lead you to the fire and it protects you from the fire itself number 10 it puts a distance between you and the
hellfire this is subhanallah one of the most powerful ahadith in this regard qala salallahu alayhi wasalam man sama yawman fee sabeelillahi azzawajal ba'ad allahu wajhoo min jahannam
sab'een a'ama whoever fasts one day for the sake of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allah removes their face from the hellfire by 70 years he said in another narration sab'een a kharifah 70 falls
in another narration the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said by a khandaq the distance of which is a hundred years so a ditch is put between you and hellfire the distance of a hundred years and what
does allah tell us in the quran fa man zuhziha anil nari wa udkhila aljannah fa qad faas 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 a ditch between you and hellfire of a journey of a hundred years so what then of a person that fasts three days a month or fasts mondays and
thursdays and even more than that number 11 it is an intercessor for you on the day of judgment the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said al-siyamu wa al-qur'anu yashfa'ani lil'abdi yawm al-qiyamah
yaqulu al-siyam ay rabbi man'atuhu al-ta'am wa al-shahawati bil-nahar fashaffi'ni feehi the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam 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 oh my lord i prohibited him from food and from his desires during the day so allow me to intercede for him and the quran says
i stopped him from sleeping at night so let me be an intercessor for him and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows both of them to intercede on your behalf so it comes subhanallah in the form of a person
an intercessor when would you need an intercessor more than that day subhanallah in the form of a beautiful person and argues on your behalf with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the most merciful number
12 a special gate in jannah for you and i know we've spoken about this but i 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 sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said inna fil jannati baban yuqaadu lahu rayyan yadkhulu minhu assaimuna yawm al-qiyamati la yadkhulu ma'ahum ahadun ghayruhum
that there is a gate of paradise that is for the fasting people known as rayyan endless drinks waterfalls rivers for those that used to prohibit themselves from drinking during the day and the
prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said no one will enter into that gate of paradise except for those who distinguish themselves by fasting yuqaadu ayna saimun ayna saimun it will 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 siyam 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 from the rayyan but from all of the gates of paradise on the day of judgment allahumma ameen number 13 your deeds are presented to allah while he is pleased
with you the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that on mondays and thursdays the deeds are presented to allah and in the middle of the month and he said fa uhibbu an yu'rada amani wa ana saim i love that
my deeds are presented to allah while i am in a state of fasting subhanallah imagine as your deeds are going up to allah you're in the most blessed state that is known to him and allah is pleased
with your breath what then of the deeds that are ascending to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala while you're in a 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 as a sabr seek help with your patience and with your prayer and the word
sabr here is referring to fasting so fasting is literally called the practice of patience and what does allah say about the patient innama yuwaffas sabirun ajrahum bi ghayri hisab 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 subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the hadith qudsi about fasting
kullu amal ibn adama yudha'afu al hasanatu ashru amthaliha ila sab3mi'ati dha'if that every one of the good deeds of the child of adam is going to be rewarded by 10 up to 700
qala allahu azza wa jal illa assawm allah then said except for fasting fa innahu li wa ana ajzi bihi that verily fasting is for me and i reward accordingly so subhanallah fasting is a 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 sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
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 sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said 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 subhanahu wa ta'ala while he's displeased with us what about a person who remains
in that state of pleasing allah with this deed and looks forward to meeting allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with a meeting that has been described with joy by the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
what better way to break the fast of this dunya with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the akhirah what better way to meet allah subhanahu wa ta'ala 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 ta'ala just like in ramadan you know we look around and others are fasting try to get other people involved as well inshallah ta'ala and fast if you can
even if it's just three days a month and it's as if you fasted a lifetime jazakumullahu khaira wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
