In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Empathizing with the hunger of the poor:
The fasting person voluntarily performs acts of worship and tastes hunger which the poor are obliged to taste against their will.
Though the fasting person feels hunger, it is a voluntary act carried out for a limited period of time in order to draw closer to Allah the Almighty. However, the deprived are obliged to taste hunger against their will and for long periods of time.
Restraining the self from foolishness:
Sawm restrains the fasting person from the foolishness of the self and its desires.
Furthermore, the fasting person experiences an urging tendency to avoid what is improper.
Do you think that the fasting person, who gives up on this account permissible acts, will commit sins, that is, prohibited ones” Is it possible that he should feast his eyes on women’s beauty in Ramadan” Is it possible that he should lie” You are ordered to abandon food and drink (which are permissible acts), then it is more than reasonable that you should give up haram (prohibited acts). It is as if Allah were strengthening your will during this month in order to make you abide by the Islamic laws.
Achieving piety:
Allay says:
(O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqun (the pious))
[Al-Baqarah, 183]
When matters get tougher (as they do nowadays), hardship takes root, things reach dead-end roads, barriers are put up and man gets desperate, piety which is strong enough will loosen up tightness, solve problems, break down barriers, and open dead-end roads.
Allah will provide a way out for him who has piety in afflictions, which makes him fall back on tawheed, on patience towards Divine pre-ordainment, on acceptance of fate and on adherence to his principles and righteousness, and by his doing so, Allah will turn his hardship into relief, his fear into security and his distress into ease.
Allah will provide a way out of alienation for him who, for fear of Allah, never lets a single figment of the mind find its way to his reason.
Ramadan is a training course for piety:
Allah has meant for us to be pious in this noble month (Ramadan) and to get used to the acts of worship.
You lower your gaze in Ramadan, but you should do so outside of Ramadan as well, but if you repent, Ramadan will be a good moment to start lowering your gaze.
Being able to lower your gaze for thirty days will prepare you to do so after Ramadan is over.
Being able to perform salah fajr at the mosque for thirty days will prepare you to do so after Ramadan is over.
Being able to perform salah isha’a in community for thirty days will prepare you to do so after Ramadan is over.
Being able to watch your mouth for thirty days in Ramadan will prepare you to do so after it is over.
Namely, Allah has meant for Ramadan to be a crash course for us through which we strengthen our will and feel the suffering of the poor.
According to the saying one can kill two birds with one stone, but when Allah the Almighty imposes an order, millions of purposes are achieved through it.
Who says that the only effect of Ramadan is to bring you closer to Allah” Practically wise, Ramadan is a kind of maintenance for your body, which you should go through once every year as all your systems will take a break (by performing sawm) from digesting food and by which all your energy will be rejuvenated.