The teachings of Islam give certain allowances if a certain commandment is beyond human power or extremely difficult to abide by. In this connection, I would like to know if there is any concession in fast for such students who find it difficult to study properly if they are keeping fast? Are there such students? First of all, this has to be established. Meeting so many students, is it no better? No, no, you are framing the question, you should know.
I think there may be students who find it difficult, especially during the examination days. Yes. You know, if the general principle applicable to every such situation is this, laa yuqallifu laahu nafsan illa wusaha, this is why those laborers who have to work very hard for earning their bread, otherwise there wouldn’t be any source of livelihood for them. During the extreme summer days, in Pakistan, in India for instance, in other hot countries, they are permitted to postpone their fasting till such times as there will not be too much for them.
So, hardship as I explained in my Jumma sermon on this subject, is not the object or the goal of fasting or any other worship. The goal is purification and ultimate creation of love and a sense of submission to the will of God. So that should be achieved and no such worship should be undertaken as is beyond one’s capabilities at a time. So that general law would cover, but that should not give ground for excuses, that should not create ground for lame excuses. In fact, such decisions can only be rightly or wrongly taken by the person’s concerned. Even the parents cannot take such decisions, because each child is built differently and each child knows his own capabilities better than the parents do.
So if a child can keep the fast and read alright without a substantial loss, then he should continue fasting. I never found it at all interfering with the studies at all in any way or any other activities. Children are strongly built human beings, even stronger in many regards. Physical exercise is also possible during fasting, quite extensively too. When I was a student here, I used to play squash in the evenings and it’s a tough game. And I remember during the Ramadan, I used to play sometimes two hours, for two hours or three hours continuously and that didn’t kill me, it was alright.
So why do you expect small things from your children, why don’t you make them fragile and small-minded about these things, try to make them courageous and infuse confidence into them. And I think this is just a lame excuse. As far as the children are concerned, a majority of course among them would be capable of fasting as well as studying, with some hardships, yes, but why not? Everybody else has to go through some hardships for the sake of earning some better qualities. So that is a part of life. I used to play tennis more often in the age of 17, even in Ramadan.
So you know, old age is in some way similar to childhood, but in this regard, it is harder on older people, much harder than children. I walk about 3 miles, hand-walking, in order, 3 miles a day after 17. But you appear to be 70 to them, even now, so you better tell your age. 85. Imagine now, imagine, 85. And there was one gentleman in Sindh, who is still with the Geshe-Wala alive, a few years ago, there was a debate about his age, and he thought he was about 125 years old. He remembered the days of Ghadar and all this. So his grandson was, you know, in fact he is called his grandson, but he is not his grandson, he was the younger brother of Chaudhary Muhammad Ali’s grandfather.
So he is called a grandfather as well, but not much difference between the ages of the two. So he is almost like a grandson, real. He is about 70. So whose grandson is 70, he should be, imagine, Chaudhary Muhammad Ali Sahib told me, after many calculations, that the minimum age should be about 115. So at that age, he walked from Nassabad to Kunri, which is six miles, and walked back as well.
Simple plain farmer, with a very simple life he has led, but he walked straight as well. And whenever he went for long distances, he always took his shoes off and put them here, you know, like this. Then he was dizzy. Yes, that’s the difference, you know. That would add another three miles to you. And here there are youth, among them, one of them, at least I remember, who walked with me during the morning walks for five miles and decided never to come again. He said it’s sufficient for one year. And Muzzaf has been walking five miles daily, six miles even daily, at the age of 85, with the grace of Allah.
