Believers, fasting has been prescribed for you, just as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard yourselves against evil. 183 Fasting is only for a certain number of days. One who is sick or on a journey has to fast the same number of days at another time. Those who can afford a redemption should feed a poor person. Good deeds performed on one's own initiative will be rewarded. However, fasting is better and will be rewarded. Would that you knew this! 184 It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see this month shall fast throughout it; but he that is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days. God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; but [He desires] that you complete the number [of days required,] and that you extol God for His having guided you aright, and that you render your thanks [unto Him]. 185 And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided. 186 You are allowed to sleep with your wives on the nights of the fast: They are your dress as you are theirs. God is aware you were cheating yourselves, so He turned to you and pardoned you. So now you may have intercourse with them, and seek what God has ordained for you. Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appears clear from the dark line, then fast until the night falls; and abstain from your wives (when you have decided) to stay in the mosques for assiduous devotion. These are the bounds fixed by God, so keep well within them. So does God make His signs clear to men that they may take heed for themselves. 187 And do not unjustly devour the property of each other, nor take their cases to judges in order that you may wrongfully devour a portion of other peoples’ property on purpose. 188