One of the brothers shared something with me recently.
He said fasting is about undoing your doing. That when you stop eating, stop chasing comfort, stop feeding routine, you are reflecting something higher. That during those fasting hours, Allah is showing you that you do not actually need what you thought you needed.
At first, it sounded mystical.
Then I realised it was more uncomfortable than mystical.
Because if Ramadan can run on less sleep, less food, less stimulation, and yet more clarity, then maybe the problem was never lack of energy.
Maybe it was misplaced reliance.
This piece is not about becoming godlike.
It is about confronting what you secretly depend on.
And Ramadan does not whisper that lesson.
It exposes it.
You Think Ramadan Makes You Weak. It Actually Reveals Your Illusion.
All year you say you are tired.
You say work drains you.
You say responsibility exhausts you.
You say you need proper breakfast, full sleep, coffee, supplements, and strict routines just to function.
Then Ramadan arrives.
You wake before Fajr.
You eat lightly.
You pray.
You fast twelve to fourteen hours.
You pray Tarawih at night.
You sleep less.
You give more.
And somehow… you are still functioning.
What happened?
Did your biology change?
No.
What changed is what you were relying on.
Ramadan Does Not Reduce Your Energy. It Redefines Your Source.
Allah says:
“O mankind, you are the ones in need of Allah, and Allah is Free of need, the Praiseworthy.”
Surah Fatir 35:15
For eleven months, many of us live as if we are powered by systems.
Sleep systems.
Nutrition systems.
Productivity systems.
Career systems.
Ramadan quietly interrupts that narrative.
You skip breakfast.
You feel hunger.
You still function.
You sleep less.
You still show up.
You eat a date and water.
It carries you through the night.
That is not because food does not matter.
It is because your true Sustainer was never food.
It was Allah.
Islam Never Told You to Detach from Responsibility
Let us be clear.
Islam does not tell you to abandon work.
It does not tell you to escape society.
It does not glorify laziness.
Islam never calls you to detach from responsibility.
It calls you to detach from obsession.
Work is not the problem.
Money is not the problem.
Routine is not the problem.
Believing they are your source of survival is the problem.
Ramadan dismantles that illusion.
Fasting Is Undoing Illusions
Some say fasting is about becoming more spiritual.
That is true.
But it is also something sharper.
Fasting is undoing illusions.
It undoes the illusion that comfort equals stability.
It undoes the illusion that productivity equals worth.
It undoes the illusion that control equals security.
You thought:
If I do not eat, I cannot function.
If I sleep less, I will collapse.
If I slow down, my business will suffer.
Ramadan exposes the exaggeration.
You are more resilient than your appetite claims.
And more importantly, you were never sustaining yourself in the first place.
Ramadan and Productivity: The Fear That Is Not Real
Many professionals quietly fear Ramadan.
Will my performance drop?
Will my boss think I am slower?
Will my business suffer?
Yet year after year, Muslims fast and continue to build, manage, lead, and execute.
The difference is not physical.
It is spiritual alignment.
When discipline is tied only to dunya, it drains.
When discipline is tied to Allah, it energises.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, though there is good in both.”
Muslim
Strength in Islam is not just muscle.
It is reliance.
Ramadan retrains that reliance.
You Were Always Dependent. Ramadan Just Makes You Feel It.
Fasting does not make you independent like Allah.
That would contradict Islamic theology.
Allah alone is Al Ghani, the One completely free of need.
We remain dependent.
But Ramadan forces that reality into your bloodstream.
You feel hunger.
You feel weakness.
And you realise:
Even this hunger is sustained by Him.
Even this energy is sustained by Him.
Even this discipline is a gift.
Your strength was always borrowed.
Ramadan simply exposes that truth.
The Real Rewiring of Ramadan
We spend eleven months believing we are powered by:
Calories
Schedules
Targets
Deadlines
Notifications
Ramadan reveals we are powered by:
Mercy
Barakah
Submission
Alignment
That is why someone can wake before Fajr, fast all day, pray twenty rakah at night, and still show up the next morning with clarity.
Not because they became superhuman.
Because they stopped worshipping comfort.
Ramadan is not slowing you down.
It is exposing what you secretly depended on.
And once you see that, you never approach life the same way again.
Final Reflection
Ramadan does not remove your need for food.
It removes your illusion of control.
It does not eliminate responsibility.
It purifies intention.
It does not make you godlike.
It humbles the ego that thought it was self sufficient.
And that is why Ramadan feels heavy at first.
It is dismantling what you thought was holding you up.
More Read!
- Ramadan Is Coming. And Somehow… You Already Feel Tired
- 10 Spiritual Things You Should Do During Ramadan
