O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard (against evil). 183 The Fast is to be observed for a fixed number of days. If, however, anyone of you be sick or on a journey, he should fast the same number of other days. As for those who can fast (but do not), the expiation of this shall be the feeding of one needy person for one fast day, and whoso does more than this with a willing heart does it for his own good. But if you understand the thing, it is better for you to observe the Fast. 184 The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed; a guide for the people, the most authoritative of all guidance and a criteria to discern right from wrong. Anyone of you who knows that the month of Ramadan has begun, he must start to fast. Those who are sick or on a journey have to fast the same number of days at another time. God does not impose any hardship upon you. He wants you to have comfort so that you may complete the fast, glorify God for His having given you guidance, and that, perhaps, you would give Him thanks. 185 And O dear Prophet (Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him), when My bondmen question you concerning Me, then surely I am close; I answer the prayer of the supplicant when he calls on Me, so they must obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may attain guidance. 186 It is made lawful to you to go into your wives on the night of the fast; they are an apparel for you and you are an apparel for them; Allah knew that you acted unfaithfully to yourselves, so He has turned to you (mercifully) and removed from you (this burden); so now be in contact with them and seek what Allah has ordained for you, and eat and drink until the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night at dawn, then complete the fast till night, and have not contact with them while you keep to the mosques; these are the limits of Allah, so do not go near them. Thus does Allah make clear His communications for men that they may guard (against evil). 187 And devour not your riches among yourselves in vanity, nor convey them unto the judges that ye may devour thereby a portion of other people's riches sinfully while ye know. 188