The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever fasts Ramaḍān with faith and hoping for reward, his previous sins will be forgiven.” This hadith links fasting directly to forgiveness, but only when it is accompanied by two essential conditions. The first is faith: faith in Islam and faith in the obligation of fasting in Ramaḍān. The second is hoping for reward from Allāh ﷻ alone for fasting in the blessed month. When one performs an act of worship such as fasting, hoping in Allāh’s ﷻ reward, forgiveness, and raḥmah is not just recommended, but required. Hope is inseparable from faith, because just as we believe in Allah’s ﷻ names—the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful—we must also believe in and hope for the effects of those names upon us. A Muslim is not one who despairs. Despair is done by the disbelievers, as Prophet Yaʿqūb taught his sons when he warned them never to lose hope in the mercy of Allāh ﷻ.
Fasting itself is a subtle act of worship, hidden by its very nature. There is no visible act to be done or far destination to reach. Rather it is what one does not do. It is an act of restraint from those things which are absolutely essential and natural to humans, such as food and drink. When a person fasts, no one truly knows whether they have upheld their fast from dawn to sunset except Allāh ﷻ. Opportunities to eat or drink may secretly arise when no one else is present, yet the fasting person refrains. This restraint is rooted in a firm belief that Allāh ﷻ is watching, and it is for this reason that fasting carries such great rewards which come in many ways: salvation from Hellfire, entry into Paradise through a special gate reserved for those who fasted, and a reward granted directly by Allāh ﷻ without measure or specification by the angels. Along with all of this, taqwā is granted to the one who fasts. Among these rewards is what this hadith mentions: forgiveness from all past sins. As Allāh ﷻ is the Most Forgiving, He has made His forgiveness so accessible to attain in this month, that only someone worthy of a curse mentioned by the kind and merciful Prophet ﷺ would fail to attain it. May this be a means of increasing īmān, hope, reward and forgiveness upon all Muslims this Ramaḍān.
