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 Days numbered and few; then whosoever among you is sick or journeying, for him the like number of other days. And for those who can keep it with hardship the ransom is the feeding of a poor person; and whosoever voluntarily doth good, it will be better for him; and that ye fast will be better for you, if ye only knew. 184 The month of Ramadhan: therein was sent down the Qur'an as a guidance unto mankind and with evidences; one of the Books of guidance and the distinction. So whosoever of you witnesseth the month, he shall fast it, and whosoever is sick or journeying, for him the like number of other days. Allah intendeth for you ease, and intendeth not for you hardship; so ye shall fulfil the number and shall magnify Allah for His having guided you, and haply ye may give thanks. 185 And when My servants question thee concerning Me, then surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he crieth unto Me. So let them hear My call and let them trust in Me, in order that they may be led aright. 186 IT IS lawful for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding the [day's] fast: they are as a garment for you, and you are as a garment for them. God is aware that you would have deprived yourselves of this right, and so He has turned unto you in His mercy and removed this hardship from you. Now, then, you may lie with them skin to skin, and avail yourselves of that which God has ordained for you, and eat and drink until you can discern the white streak of dawn against the blackness of night, and then resume fasting until nightfall; but do not lie with them skin to skin when you are about to abide in meditation in houses of worship. These are the bounds set by God: do not, then, offend against them - [for] it is thus that God makes clear His messages unto mankind, so that they might remain conscious of Him. 187 And do not consume each other's wealth in vain, nor offer it to men in authority with intent of usurping unlawfully and knowingly a part of the wealth of others. 188