What do the Bahá'í Faith and Islam say about fasting?

There is something remarkable about two traditions, born in the same desert lineage, both insisting that the deliberate emptying of the body is among the most serious things a human being can do. The Bahá'í and Islamic teachings on fasting share a daily rhythm — no food or drink from sunrise to sunset — but they reach beyond the physical act toward the same destination: a self that is softer, sharper, and more genuinely present before God. What these passages reveal, taken together, is that fasting is never merely about hunger; it is a technology for attention, a way of making the inner life temporarily louder than everything else.

Drawn from 17 passages across Baha'i, Islam

Is fasting a binding obligation, and who commands it?

Both traditions frame fasting not as optional devotion but as a divine command — something decreed, not merely suggested. The Bahá'í writings make the point with striking directness: obligatory prayer and fasting hold an exalted station in the sight of God.

Baha'i

Fasting is divinely decreed for all who profess faith.

Abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise until sunset. Beware lest lust withhold you from this favor which hath been decreed in the book. God hath ordained unto him who professeth faith in God to bathe every day.

Baha'i

Fasting holds exalted divine standing as a sacred obligation.

In truth, I say that obligatory prayer and fasting occupy an exalted station in the sight of God. It is, however, in a state of health that their fulfilment is required.

Baha'i

Obligatory observances are explicitly binding, not discretionary.

The Obligatory Prayers have been set down by the Pen of the Most High and have been mentioned in the Persian Questions and Answers, which supplementeth the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. They are clearly binding, and without a doubt.

What inner transformation does fasting produce in the soul?

Fasting, in both traditions, is understood as something that cracks the self open — the heart softens, the spirit sharpens, and ordinary noise falls away. Rumi's image of the empty instrument singing is one of the most vivid expressions of this idea anywhere in world literature.

Baha'i

Fasting awakens the heart and deepens spiritual awareness.

Fasting is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases. This is produced by the fact that man's thoughts will be confined to the commemoration of God.

Baha'i

Fasting purifies the soul as well as the body.

It is a time of cleansing outwardly and inwardly — polishing both the lamp and the niche it stands in. A spring house cleaning time out and in.

Islam

Emptiness from fasting makes the soul resonant and alive.

What a hidden sweetness there is in the emptiness of the stomach — man is like a lute, nothing more or less. Just as a lute full of food, for example, produces no sound, no high note and no low note: if the brain and belly burn from fasting, out of that burning a lament will arise.

Islam

Ramadan closes the mouth and opens the inner eye.

Ramadan has come and the feast is with us; the lock has come and the key is with us. The mouth was shut and the eye was opened, and that light which the eye saw is with us. Ramadan has come in service to the heart, and the one who created the heart is with us.

What are the exact hours and calendar structure of the fast?

Both traditions are precise: the fast runs from before sunrise to sunset, and the calendar period is fixed. The Bahá'í fast mirrors the Islamic Ramadan structure in its daily rhythm, even as it occupies a different month entirely.

Baha'i

Fast runs from sunrise to sunset with defined exemptions.

In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas the rules for fasting are as follows: Eating and drinking should cease before the rising of the sun and until the setting thereof. The traveller, the sick, pregnant women and nursing mothers are exempt.

Islam

Ramadan is a month of fasting, giving, and night prayer.

The crescent moon has appeared for the month of fasting — the month of almsgiving and the month of night-vigil. The wise man fasted in the name of the divine attributes, and broke his fast as pure essence in the abode of peace.

Why does fasting connect the believer to a sacred historical moment?

This is the aspect that surprises most: fasting is not merely personal discipline but a form of commemoration, linking the practitioner to a specific moment in sacred history. The Bahá'í writings are particularly explicit about this dimension.

Baha'i

Fasting imitates the Manifestation's days of divine teaching.

As during those days the Manifestation of the Sun of Reality, through Divine inspiration, is engaged in instructing and educating the people, the observers of the fast should, in imitation of this action, confine their inner thoughts to spiritual matters.

Baha'i

The fast re-enacts the Manifestation's own spiritual activity.

As during those days — the period of fasting which the followers afterward observe — the Manifestation of the Sun of Reality, through Divine inspiration, is engaged in instructing and educating the people, the observers of the fast should, in imitation of this action, confine their inner thoughts to spiritual matters.

Baha'i

The Fast commemorates a sacred season of divine teaching.

Since 'Abdu'l-Bahá made me understand why at this particular time we are commanded to keep the Fast, it has become a living, exhilarating ordinance to me and I long for it. He showed me that it celebrates the time the Great Ones have set aside for teaching.

What is the relationship between fasting and spiritual wakefulness?

Across both traditions, fasting is described as producing a state of alertness — a heightened readiness against spiritual tests. The body's hunger becomes, paradoxically, a form of protection.

Baha'i

Fasting produces mindfulness and guards against spiritual tests.

Prayer and fasting is the cause of awakening and mindfulness and conducive to protection and preservation from tests.