The Meaning of Fasting Linguistically and Legislatively (In the Quran and Sunnah)

Excerpts from the ‘Jurisprudence of Worship’
By Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih ibn Uthaymeen رحمه الله تعالى

Question: Oh Noble Shaykh, what is the meaning of fasting linguistically and legislatively i.e. in the Quran and Sunnah.

Answer:
Fasting linguistically means to withhold, or to abstain.
And from the speech of Allāh سبحانه وتعالى:
فَكُلِي وَٱشۡرَبِي وَقَرِّي عَيۡنٗاۖ فَإِمَّا تَرَيِنَّ مِنَ ٱلۡبَشَرِ أَحَدٗا فَقُولِيٓ إِنِّي نَذَرۡتُ لِلرَّحۡمَٰنِ صَوۡمٗا فَلَنۡ أُكَلِّمَ ٱلۡيَوۡمَ إِنسِيّٗا¹
“So eat and drink and be glad, and if you see any human being, say: ‘Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allāh) so I shall not speak to any human being this day.²
In other words, (Maryam عليها سلام) vowed to abstain from speaking, so she said, “I will not speak to any human being this day.”

And from the speech of a poet:
١) خيل صيام و خيل غير صائمة
٢) تحت العجاج وأخرى تعلك اللُّجما
1) The fasting horse and non fasting horse.
2) One under dust-(meaning in the battlefield) and the other is tied down by reins.
(In other words, one horse is fasting due to being withheld and restricted in it’s movement due to being tied down by it’s reins. While, the other horse is not fasting- free to move about as it is rode on top of into the battlefield).
As for legislatively: it is worship to Allāh تعالى by abstaining and withholding one’s self from that which invalidates the fast from the second-true dawn (Al Fajr Ath-Thani) until the sunset (Al-Maghrib).

¹Al-Quran [Surah Maryam, Ayah 26]
²Noble Quran- Surah Maryam Ayat 26 [Muhsin Khan and Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali]

Translated by: Abu Uwāis, Muhammad Abdullahi Elmi