Fasting is for Me and I reward for it

Question 13: What is the meaning of Allah’s saying, “Fasting is for Me and I reward for it” [Al-Kafi 4 page 63 narration 6.]

Answer: The reading, “I reward for it,” is incorrect as He swt rewards His servants for all worship, and there is no specificity for fasting as this incorrect reading suggests.

The corrected reading is “I am the reward for it,” which is by using one different letter [of the arabic word], and what is meant by fasting is the fasting of Mary pbuh and more:

“I have vowed a fast unto the Merciful, and may not speak this day to any human.” [The Quran 19:26]

This means that a person would be isolated from creatures, enjoying the company of Allah swt; rather, this is the beginning and the end, the outcome being that Allah is the reward for fasting; that is, the fasting from the “I”, and this is when the servant walks on the right path, and he knows, and believes, and sees that his given existence and remaining is due to the defect of void and darkness which is mixed with light. And this is the guilt that never parts from the servant. And it is his past, his present, and his future, so if the servant abstains from the “I” and sincerely asks for the removal of the page of darkness and void, and Allah responds to his dua, then nothing remains but Allah, the One, the Conqueror, and the earth is brightened by the light of its Lord, and the book was brought, and it was said, Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Ahmed Alhasan
The Allegories – volume 1