By Sazzad Khandakar

July 26, 2013

It is the holy month of Ramadhan. Muslims all across the world engage themselves in dawn to dusk fasting as it was prescribed by God in the Holy Quran. In chapter 2, vs 184, God commands men to fast and mentions that it was prescribed for followers of previous prophets and their people as well.

God promises reformation of one’s soul through righteousness by virtue of fasting. It is not a coincidence that most prophets reported in the Holy books of the three major monotheistic religions, also practiced fasting as a way of attaining nearness to God.

The prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH) was reported to have spent days in isolation in a cave near Mecca with very little food. This was before he became a prophet. He was spending his time in the cave in total meditation, and supplication to God day and night. Based on all historical records, he kept this practice up for a significant number of years. At the age of forty, while he was meditating in that cave on one night, the arch angel Gabriel appeared before him and commanded him to read his very first revelation – Read, read in the name of thy Lord who created man from a clot of blood ( ch 96-2:6).

In modern time of science, technology and information overload, and sixteen hour long summer days, I am sure many non Muslims become amazed, curious, baffled, when they hear about Islamic practice of fasting. In other religions like Christianity, there is Lent. In Judaism, there is Passover. However, they are not day long total avoidance of food and water. In the Islamic fasting, one stays away from any consumption of food or drink of any kind during sunrise to sunset. It is definitely more intense in terms of physical stress that the body endures for the prescribed thirty consecutive days.

There are many scientific research and studies done in the recent few decades on benefits of fasting to the human body. From reducing obesity, to manage blood pressure, detoxification, improved cardio health, repair of the digestive system, just to name a few.

Apart from the obvious physical benefits, fasting can also shown to improve psychological condition including improvements in mood, mental clarity and improved control over emotional lapses.

However, there is an amazing connection with human evolution, and I do mean Darwin’s theory of evolution, and fasting – that lead to the human cognitive improvements to become self aware and in the case of prophets reach a stage in their consciousness to be able to communicate with God.

Scientists believe there were roughly 27 different species similar or related to humans during our evolutionary journey in about seven million years. All but one survived, and that’s us. Based on limited fossil evidence, one thing is certain that the physical brain size of the primates mattered significantly for their ultimate survival. And the larger the brain capacity it was, the longer some of these extinct species survived based on the carbon dates of the fossils. Scientists speculate that this growth in brain size evolved from natural scarcity of food and ultimately, starvation.

When an animal goes through starvation, amazing changes starts taking place in the body. The body detects deprivation and conserves all available energy, prepares for the worst. Instead of body cells deteriorating, certain proteins called sirtuins reduce cell growth, essentially stopping the aging process. There are many studies done on different household pets and animals that shows 35 to 40 per cent increased longevity by constricted diet. During this hunker-down mode, the body slows cell growth in all parts except for one, the brain.

In the brain, the cells start replicating themselves at a faster speed. Cells like nurotrophins generated by hypothalamus generate faster, which are building materials for newer brain cells. Research also shows that food deprivation increases a peptide called gherlin that converts synapses into cortical neurons. To balance this aggressive growth of neurons, the body restricts functions of other parts of the anatomy.

Simply put, the body slows down aging and increases cognitive awareness and intelligence.

Back to our topic of fasting and prophets. For the believers, God commands them to fast with a hint of special benefit in the Holy Quran, chapter 2:185. Is it a coincidence that prophets and godly people that claim to communicate with God were also commanded to fast?

It seems that apart from the spiritual predisposition of good souls who gets chosen by God as prophet, God also prepares them for a higher level of consciousness and superior intelligence that is achieved through rigorous physical training of fasting. One anecdotal evidence is the book of Holy Quran and how the prophet PBUH successfully managed to memorize, preserve and deliver the entire book in specific order, chapters, sequences. If we ignore the content for a moment, and purely focus on the amount of mnemonic efficiency and accuracy needed to maintain coherence, contextual flow of this large book – it certainly is an extraordinary feat. Similar conclusions can be drawn for Holy books ( in their original form ) of prophet Moses and prophet Jesus.

People who have been fasting can attest to that feeling that you get at the end of the long day, although probably not at the same level of intensity as the prophets of God did. But it is of clarity, clear thoughts, calm and peace. For Muslims, they fast for the sake of God and the goal is to attain spiritual uplifting and nearness of God. Fasting also curtails many normal day-to-day body functions and Islamic values require a constant vigilance of achieving an improved moral condition each day.

So, in this month of Ramadan, if you are fortunate enough to have a good health, let’s fast. Even if you are not motivated by religious belief, it is good for your body and mind.

Darwin said so.

References for this article are noted below

1) How dietary restriction catalyzed evolution of the Human brain. Medical Hypothesis, February 19, 2007

2) Last Ape standing by Chip Walter