Abdul Muqit Chowdhury :
Islam, proclaimed as ‘Deen’, is the complete code of life. It includes all human instincts. Thus carnal desires are also within its injunctions. It has been legal through marriage only. We know about conjugal life from the Holy Quran.
We should have a clear conception of the prohibited activities during the fasting hours. The related verse prohibits eating, drinking and gratifying sexual appetite during fasting time, while these are allowed after breaking the fast till having meal of Sehri for the next day’s fasting :
“Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is the approach to your wives. They are your garments and ye are their garments. God knoweth what ye used to do secretly among yourselves: but He turned to you and forgave you; so now associate with them, and seek what God hath ordained for you, and eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread; ….. ” (Sura Baqara 2:187, The Holy Quran : Translation and Commentary by Allama Yusuf Ali)
Allama Yusuf Ali comments in this conext: “Men and women are each other’s garments: i.e, they are for mutual support, mutual comfort and mutual protection, fitting into each other as a garment fits the body. A garment also is both for show and concealment. The question of sex is always delicate to handle, here we are told that even in such matters, a clear, open and honest course is better than fraud or self-deception. The sex instinct is classed with eating and drinking, an animality to be restrained, but not to be ashamed of. The three things are prohibited during the fast by day, but permitted after the fast is broken at night till the next fast commences.”
That is “until the white thread” as mentioned in the Holy Quran.
He comments on “so now associate with them, and seek what God hath ordained for you” with the following explanation: “There is difference of opinion as to the exact meaning of this. I would connect this as a parallel clause with the clause “eat and drink”, which follows, all three being governed by “until the white thread” etc. That is, all three things must stop when the fast begins again in the early morning. Or it may mean: What is permitted is well enough, but seek the higher things ordained for you.”
He adds: Those in touch with Nature know the beautiful effects of early down. First appear thin white indefinable streaks of light in the east; then a dark zone supervenes; followed by a beautiful pinkish white zone clearly defined from the dark. This is the true dawn ; after that the fast begins.”
He also focuses on the last time of fasting: “Till the night appears : From the actual practice of the Holy Apostle, this is rightly interpreted to mean: Till sunset.”
Islam, proclaimed as ‘Deen’, is the complete code of life. It includes all human instincts. Thus carnal desires are also within its injunctions. It has been legal through marriage only. We know about conjugal life from the Holy Quran.
We should have a clear conception of the prohibited activities during the fasting hours. The related verse prohibits eating, drinking and gratifying sexual appetite during fasting time, while these are allowed after breaking the fast till having meal of Sehri for the next day’s fasting :
“Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is the approach to your wives. They are your garments and ye are their garments. God knoweth what ye used to do secretly among yourselves: but He turned to you and forgave you; so now associate with them, and seek what God hath ordained for you, and eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread; ….. ” (Sura Baqara 2:187, The Holy Quran : Translation and Commentary by Allama Yusuf Ali)
Allama Yusuf Ali comments in this conext: “Men and women are each other’s garments: i.e, they are for mutual support, mutual comfort and mutual protection, fitting into each other as a garment fits the body. A garment also is both for show and concealment. The question of sex is always delicate to handle, here we are told that even in such matters, a clear, open and honest course is better than fraud or self-deception. The sex instinct is classed with eating and drinking, an animality to be restrained, but not to be ashamed of. The three things are prohibited during the fast by day, but permitted after the fast is broken at night till the next fast commences.”
That is “until the white thread” as mentioned in the Holy Quran.
He comments on “so now associate with them, and seek what God hath ordained for you” with the following explanation: “There is difference of opinion as to the exact meaning of this. I would connect this as a parallel clause with the clause “eat and drink”, which follows, all three being governed by “until the white thread” etc. That is, all three things must stop when the fast begins again in the early morning. Or it may mean: What is permitted is well enough, but seek the higher things ordained for you.”
He adds: Those in touch with Nature know the beautiful effects of early down. First appear thin white indefinable streaks of light in the east; then a dark zone supervenes; followed by a beautiful pinkish white zone clearly defined from the dark. This is the true dawn ; after that the fast begins.”
He also focuses on the last time of fasting: “Till the night appears : From the actual practice of the Holy Apostle, this is rightly interpreted to mean: Till sunset.”
