Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’ān; Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad (1980)
you is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days; and [in such cases] it is incumbent upon those who can afford it to make sacrifice by feeding a needy person.156
And whoever does more good than he is bound to do 157 does good unto himself thereby; for to fast is to do good unto yourselves – if you but knew it.
(185) It was the month of Ramaḍān in which the Qurʾān was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see 158 this month shall fast throughout it; but he that is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days. God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; but [He desires] that you complete the number [of days required], and that you extol God for His having guided you aright, and that you render your thanks [unto Him].
(186) And if My servants ask thee about Me – behold, I am near; I respond to the call of him who calls, whenever he calls unto Me: let them, then, respond unto Me, and believe in Me, so that they might follow the right way.
(187) It is lawful for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding the [day’s] fast: they are as a garment for you, and you are as a garment for them. God is aware that you would have deprived yourselves of this right,159 and so He has turned unto you in His mercy and removed this hardship from you. Now,
purification, a threefold purpose: (1) to commemorate the beginning of the Qurʾanic revelation, which took place in the month of Ramaḍān about thirteen years before the Prophet’s exodus to Medina; (2) to provide an exacting exercise of self-discipline; and (3) to make everyone realize, through his or her own experience, how it feels to be hungry and thirsty, and thus to gain a true appreciation of the needs of the poor.
156 This phrase has been subject to a number of conflicting and sometimes highly laboured interpretations. My rendering is based on the primary meaning of alladhīna yuṭīqūnahu (“those who are capable of it” or “are able to do it” or “can afford it”), with the pronoun hu relating to the act of “feeding a needy person”.
157 Some commentators are of the opinion that this refers to a voluntary feeding of more than one needy person, or to feeding the needy for more than the number of days required by the above ordinance. Since, however, the remaining part of the sentence speaks of the benefits of fasting as such, it is more probable that “doing more good than one is bound to do refers, in this context, to supererogatory fasting (such as the Prophet sometimes undertook) apart from the obligatory one during the month of Ramaḍān.
158 Lit., “witnesses” or “is present in”.
159 Lit., “deceived” of “defrauded yourselves [in this respect]”: an allusion to the idea prevalent among the early Muslims, before the revelation of this verse, that during the period of fasting all sexual intercourse should be avoided, even at night-time, when eating and drinking are allowed (Rāzī). The above verse removed this misconception.
