Ramadan Mubarak!
"Unlike prayers, charity, and pilgrimage, fasting is an invisible act. Only Allah and the person who is fasting know whether he or she is fasting or not. One may quietly eat or drink something and no one will notice and no one can find out. However, the fasting person has made this commitment for the sake of Allah and he or she wants to guard the purity of his or her fast for the sake of Allah. Fasting thus teaches sincerity, and it helps a person learn to live by the principles of his or her faith regardless whether others know or do not know. This is the very purpose and essence of taqwa (God-consciousness)."
I love this little note. While fasting is often seen as something that involves community-building, it is truly a personal act. At the end of the day, all that matters is your individual relationship with Allah (swt), regardless of what other people see or think of you. The key point is that sincerity derives from living by your values, regardless of your surroundings. As we are inevitably bound to sway (however subtle) with the movement of others, perhaps faith is ultimately best expressed when you are in solitude.
Because of fasting being an "invisible" act, it is a perfect time for personal reflection and contemplation of your beliefs. In this quiet, answers or questions will rise to the surface. In this regard, you then have the ultimate power to choose how to manifest those beliefs in your everyday life and principles. In this spiritually charged time, Ramadan can serve to awaken the soul, or keep it in the same condition. It is for each person to decide how much they want to search inward. Through the tough way but now I truly understand that consistency and good intention, however small the acts, can reap great rewards, inshAllah.
