The Definition of Fasting in Islamic Law and an Explanation of Its Essence

The Shaykh : We say that fasting is the worship of Allah by abstaining from the things that break the fast, from the dawn until the sunset. This fasting is physical, bodily fasting, but there is a fasting that is the intended purpose of this physical, bodily fasting, which is fasting from the prohibitions of Allah. Indeed, this is the essence of fasting: that a person acquires, through his physical fasting, a spiritual fasting that restrains his self from the prohibitions of Allah. The evidence for this is the statement of Allah the Exalted: Thus, Allah explained the wisdom behind making fasting obligatory.