Fasting is the key to a true, sincere, comprehensive and universal thanksgiving
One of the numerous purposes of fasting in the holy month of Ramadan concerning thanksgiving for the bounties of God Almighty is that there is a price for the food brought from the kitchen of a king by the servant carrying the trays of food. Obviously, it would be folly of an infinite degree to tip the servant but not to recognize the king who sent the food - an act which would mean disrespect for that gift of precious food. In the same way, God Almighty has spread for mankind His countless bounties of infinite variety on the face of the earth. These bounties require the payment of a price, which is thanksgiving. The apparent causes of those bounties, or those who bring them to us are like the food-carrying servant in the example above. We pay the servants, feel indebted to them, and sometimes thank them and thereby show them a degree of respect they have not merited. The true Giver of Bounties is infinitely more deserving of thanks for those bounties received than the causes or the means by which they come to us. One thanks Him by acknowledging one’s need for the bounties, and being fully appreciative of them and ascribing them directly to Him.
Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan is the key to a true, sincere, comprehensive and universal thanksgiving. Many people are unable to appreciate most of the bounties they enjoy since they suffer no hunger. A piece of dry bread, for example, means nothing as Divine bounty for those who are full, especially if they are rich, although it is, as even testified by his sense of taste, a very valuable bounty of God in the sight of a believer at the time of breaking his fast. Everyone, whether a king or the poorest of people, are favored, in the holy Ramadan, with a heart-felt thanksgiving by understanding the value of Divine bounties. Also, because of being forbidden to eat during daytime, a believer thinks: those bounties do not originally belong to me, and I am not free to regard them as mere food or drink. One Other owns them, and He grants them to me. So, I should wait for His permission to eat them. By thus acknowledging whatever he eats and drinks to be a gift of God, the believer thanks God tacitly. On account of this, fasting becomes a key to thanksgiving, which is a real human duty in many respects.
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