OBSERVATIONS OF FASTING IN NATURE
By Syed Akbar Ali (e-mail: syedakbarali@hotmail.com)

(I am thankful to brother AK for pointing out this fact to me during a recent discussion).

Fasting is prescribed for us in the * month (singular) of ramadhan. Ramadhan means the month of extreme heat. This means that fasting should be in the month of the extreme heat in the summer.

* Please note that 1 month is = to exactly 30 days. (see calendars & time article)

This means that every climate zone in the world will observe fasting at about the same time every year because God has created the summer and winters at fixed periods of time every year. In the northern hemisphere, summer falls between May and September with the highest temperatures recorded between July and August.

In the Southern Hemisphere the summer falls somewhere between November till March (our Aussie brothers may know this better). In Malaysia which is almost on the Equator, there is no clear hottest month. The temperature is quite even with variations of two to four degrees only between July and December. Even rainfall is quite even except that the Southwest Monsoon blows between May till July/August.

The Northeast Monsoon blows between November till March. The warmest months can be August till September or even October. If fasting is prescribed for human beings, can it also be found in nature for other creatures ?. The answer is yes. Of course to our knowledge, animals are not told to fast but in extreme conditions of summer which occur regularly in nature, animals have no choice but to do with much less food and water.

While watching the National Geographic channel recently I observed the impact of dry summer conditions on just a not very large watering hole in Africa. First the watering hole becomes very small. Then ultimately it dries up or just exists as a little bit of mud.

Many fishes and crocodiles die. But nature has also made these animals survive. Some catfish dig themselves into the mud and go into hibernation. So do the crocodiles which dig huge mud caves and bury themselves inside. They may stay inside for a month or longer, baking in the heat. Then when the rains come, the pond fills up with water again and the catfish almost jump out of the dry mud. It was amazing.

The crocodiles also crawl out of their dried mud caves again. The whole pond is alive with animals and fishes again. This includes the smaller life forms like shrimps, bacteria, single celled creatures, water insects and others which appear almost miraculously once the rains fill up the pond. Throughout the summer heat nature has programmed them to survive with no water and food.

As for land animals there is much less to eat in the hot months of summer too. There is less grass at the hottest months for herbivorous animals. Lions and cheetahs also have less food to catch in the hottest summer months. And when they catch the gazelle and wildebeest, there is less meat on the gazelle and wildebeest to be eaten.

Therefore in the natural world, all animals have to do with less food in the month of ramadhan or the month of extreme heat. Perhaps this is why God has asked us to fast also in the month of ramadhan or extreme heat. We are also an animal species.

"There is not an animal on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but they are nations (UMMAH) just like you. Nothing have we omitted from the Book, and they shall be gathered to their Lord in the end." Surah 6:38.

Fasting is prescribed for us during the daylight hours. We know that the human body undergoes physiological differences during the daylight hours. The human skin for example synthesizes some vitamins in the sunlight. In the darkness of the night our body is programmed to get sleepy and during sleep a lot of toxins are cycled out of the blood system and removed as waste in the morning when we get up.

This is why when we go for medical check ups, medical science insists that we provide early morning urine samples for the urine tests. Medical science also insists that we fast at least eight to 10 hours from the previous night before providing blood and urine samples. In short medical science recognizes that the human body undergoes a different physiology between daylight and night time.

Again, fasting has been prescribed in the daylight hours. Therefore when Allah says if we only knew how good fasting is for us, this also means that the more daylight we have to fast in, then it is the better for us. Obviously the greatest amount of daylight in nature, and hence the greatest benefits from fasting in the daylight occurs in the month of ramadhan or the hot month.

It is therefore in accordance with the laws of Nature that the conditions God has imposed on animals that go with less food and water in the extreme summer months and have survived successfully would also be beneficial to the human beings.