Muhammad Mujahid Syed Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – “The Holy Qur'an says, ‘O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous!”' (Qur'an 2:183) The history of the civilizations bears testimony to the fact that all the world religions have prescribed and encouraged fasting. Fasting is not only abstention from all food, drink for an intended period of time, it's also a means to purify one's soul through abstaining from all evil thoughts and actions during the period of the fast,” said Syed Hasan Shah during his lecture regarding the importance of fasting in world religions. “Islam, as a final message to the mankind, has essence of all the Divine Guidance that was sent down through the Prophets (Peace Be Upon Them All) during the long history of the human race. God never left humans to go astray. For this God sent Prophets in each and every nation to preach monotheism, the Oneness of God. To be a believer it's necessary to believe in all the Prophets of Allah along with the prophethood of our Beloved Prophet, peace be upon him. “History shows that the religions before Islam emphasized on the need of fasting for a particular period. Not only the people of the Book (Jews, Christians and Muslim) but also Hindu religion put a stress on fasting. “At the onset of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world start fasting from dawn to dusk daily for 30 days as ordained in the Holy Qur'an. When one is fasting, he or she cannot eat and drink. Sexual passions have to be curtailed. To get near to God we are advised to perform additional prayers and read the Qur'an during fasting. The fasting's goal is not only to attain medical benefits but its real objective is to purify our soul and make us a better human being,” told Syed Hasan to a distinguished audience — mainly non-Muslim engineers of Saudi Binladin Company — at an Iftar-dinner of the Universal Peace Foundation at Spices Restaurant in Jeddah on Wednesday. The foundation, based in Riyadh, has a Jeddah chapter and they invited around 100 Hindu and Christian engineers along with Muslim, Arab and non-Arab engineers and other staff to the lecture. Everyone took part in the lecture enthusiastically. The comparative study of the religions and the importance of fasting was enlightening felt the guests, who hailed from Canada, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Syria. Engineers from the Faithful and Gould Co., a British company also took part in the lecture. Syed Hasan is a scholar in the comparative study of the religions and noted for his balanced tone, broad outlook and friendly gestures. Arsala Tooti Khan, a former lecturer Faculty of Engineering & Environmental Libraries, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, chaired the event. He welcomed the audience and shed light on the importance of the fasting in Islam and other religions. Arsala said that being a religion of peace Islam commands its followers to love the humanity. Syed Hasan thanked Muhammad Fazil Ahmad, President, Raziuddin Hamid, secretary and other members for making the program a success. The program began with the recitation of Qur'an by Qari Noor Muhammad. Muhammad Ejazuddin Ejaz recited a Naat.
