Fasting in Animals
Fasting of Ground Squirrels |
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There
are many types of squirrels in the world. Some live in
trees, while others live in underground burrows. The ground
squirrels fast for days at a time in winter. Squirrels are
vegetarian animals. Squirrels that live in places with cold
winters are very active in the autumn. They gather nuts,
pinecones, and seeds and hide them in various places to eat
during the winter.
While tree squirrels do not hibernate, ground squirrels
do. Their length of hibernation depends on where they live.
In some areas they may remain dormant as long as eight
months of the year. During hibernation, they are in a state
of near suspended animation. Their heart rate slows to only
a fraction of its normal rate, and they might breathe only
once every couple of minutes. However, they wake up for a
short period every four or five days to eat from their
stored food.
When the warm weather begins in spring, the squirrels
become fully awake and active. They happily seek fresh
provision that Allah has provided them. |
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The
aquatic environment introduces to us various patterns of
fish species that fast. Here we present the fasting of the
red salmon whose natural fasting is considered one of
Allah's signs and an image of the wondrous biological
diversity. In the early stages of life, these species
inhabit fresh water. Before long they migrate to salt water
in the seas and oceans.
Characteristically, red salmon spend one part of their
life, extending from about four to seven years, in the high
seas. When they are about to mature sexually and prepare to
reproduce, they gather together in the ocean via an arduous
journey of from four to five thousand kilometers.
Afterwards, each species heads for its native land, and they
continue their journey to reach the mouth of the river in
which they were hatched.
Wonderfully, these fish start their fasting as soon as
they leave salt water swimming to fresh water. This journey
lasts for several months. Obviously, they make use of the
sensitive feeling generated by the long period of fasting to
recognize the proper location. Each fish swims upstream in
the river in which it was hatched to reproduce in the same
place from which it originated. When they are guided to the
fitting place, the salmon start to dig holes for eggs.
Generally speaking, both parents share in this work. The
females lay eggs, then the males cover them with their sperm
to fertilize them externally, as is the case with most great
fish.
Following this process, the females are motivated by
instinct to cover the eggs with an appropriate layer of soil
from the riverbed. They stay behind the eggs until they
incubate and the young red salmon come out of their holes
and shake off their dust. Both parents cast a final look on
the young and realize that they have successfully concluded
their mission. Then they pass away in a state of fasting in
the same location, leaving behind a new generation of the
young that prepare themselves for another cycle of suffering
that is experienced by all creatures. When those young grow
up and become sexually mature, they will start their fasting
and then pass away in a state of fasting in their and their
fathers' birthplace. |
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Snails
are small, snail-like gastropod mollusks. Some live in
water, others on land. They have a slow-moving elongated
body with a shell to protect them from danger. Ground
snails prefer damp areas. They bury themselves under the
surface layer of the earth during broad daylight and become
active at night and on cloudy days. They do so to avoid the
heat and light of the sun so that their skin won't dry.
Snails get their nutrition from plants and from organic
substances in the soil. They are so greedy while eating that
their bodies acquire extra fat.
Where winters are cold, snails hibernate like many other
animals, fasting through the cold weather. But they also
fast in hot weather.
Almighty Allah has provided theses creatures with the
ability to secrete a mucus cover for themselves to protect
their bodies from drying out. During hot, dry periods,
snails are threatened with dehydration. So they seal
themselves off with a parchment like membrane, and often
attach themselves to tree trunks, fences or walls. During
this time they fast until cooler, wetter weather comes. Both
males and females do this.
When the cooler weather comes, snails come out of their
shelters to seek their nutrition, declaring the end of their
fast. At that time they have lost their extra fat and
returned to their vitality.
Almighty Allah gives His slaves many examples of the
variety of life and proofs of the oneness of the Creator. |
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The
echidna, or spiny anteater, is one of several nocturnal,
burrowing, egg-laying mammals. It lives in Australia,
Tasmania, and New Guinea. It is toothless and covered with
spines. It has a slender snout and an extensible sticky
tongue used for catching insects, such as ants and termites.
The spiny anteater prefers to live on mountains and high
places over 200 meters above sea level. It likes to stay in
uninhabited places and shadowed forests. This is due to its
feeding habits, for it feeds on ants. When the spiny
anteater extends its long sticky tongue inside an ant
tunnel, hundreds of ants cling to it, forming a delicious
meal for the anteater.
It is an aspect of Allah's Wisdom that is manifest in His
creation that the anteater has thick skin to protect it from
the ants' stings. Another interesting phenomenon is that the
anteater mixes the insects with dust, sand and dry herbs,
which help to digest the insects.
The anteater can abstain from food for a period that may
exceed a whole month without it having the least effect on
its vitality. Lack of food does not weaken it. The secret
behind this may be that the anteater eats greedily, filling
its body with extra fat that burdens it. When food decreases
due to an increase in their numbers or during their
migration, anteater's involuntarily fast. Hence they lose
extra weight and restore their activity. This is one of the
manifestations of Allah's Power and Wisdom in His Creation. |
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Plover
is one of wading and migrating birds. Canada is its homeland
and it usually emigrates from Canada to America doing a long
and arduous journey. Actually, flocks of plover cover this
journey incessantly; the thing which makes this journey of
more than 3000 miles more difficult, in addition to passing
through the Pacific Ocean; this makes the journey more
arduous. Naturally, men or animals, when traveling long
distances, are obliged to take a rest and get their breath
back. Moreover, they can have some food and drink or light
meals fitting to such circumstances. In contrast to that, we
find these birds enter some kind of obligatory and incessant
fasting by Day and Night, for they have no way but
continuing the journey incessantly along with fasting. This
reminds us of the saying of a Muslim leader to his soldiers
when they got in confrontation with the enemy: "The enemy is
before you and the sea is behind you (meaning that they have
no way but to confront the enemy seriously until they
achieve victory; otherwise they will be defeated or drowned
in the sea to the last man)." Likewise, these birds have
no way but to gird their loins for continuing the journey
because if they intend to take rest they will inevitably
perish in the Ocean's water. So, we see these birds
beseeching Allah's help to grant them success to continue
the journey as if they look at their images on the surface
of water from the horizon thinking that they are birds
overtaken by drowning. Accordingly, they think that their
case is better off and are motivated by this scene to fly
higher than the surface of water. Actually, they continue
fasting and flying for thirteen days which means that they
observe non-stop fasting. Thus, although Allah, Most High,
has predestined this arduous journey on these birds, He
provides them with the necessary energy that will enable
them to carry out this hard mission.
No doubt, these birds' form of fasting gives us great
indications on the Omnipotence of Allah, Exalted and
Glorified be He. It, moreover, adds another dimension of the
forms of fasting adopted by people and living species. In
another location we have previously mentioned that eels
observe fasting for two or three years whether it be the
first fasting which is the fasting of the young or the
latter fasting which is the fasting of the old. Likewise,
plover observes fasting but while flying in the sky. The
moment it reaches its resting location, it reposes for some
time and then proceeds to have food delightfully in larger
amounts than its needs to save some food in the form of
fatty substances, taking into consideration the returning
journey in the same road. |
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Penguin
is one of the sea birds that live in the cold regions. In
fact, there are 17 species of these birds in the entire
world. Only one of these species inhabits the North Pole
territories while the remaining species are distributed
widely in the Southern Hemisphere, extending along South
Australia, Africa and America. These species differ
totally in their way of laying and hatching eggs. As for
those living in the Southern Hemisphere, they spend the
winter therein. With the coming of spring, they return in
groups to their native land in the North Pole, covering (a
distance of) hundreds of miles until they reach their
destination and proper location for reproduction. Upon
arriving there, they start immediately building their nests
out of stone pieces. Following three weeks from their
arrival, they will have completed building these nests and
the process of procreation. In the usual course of things,
the female lays two white eggs mixed with blue color. The
male penguin undertakes the task of brooding eggs instead of
the female penguin, which is engrossed in seeking food in
the deep-water seas. On the other hand, the male penguin
goes on in a state of fasting for two weeks until the chicks
(the young penguins) develop. When this happens, the male
penguin rushes at maximum speed into the sea to drink some
of the seawater and to eat from Allah's provisions. It eats
this food in a state of merriment whereas the female penguin
(the mother) comes back in order to feed the flourishing
young penguins.
Unlike all species of penguins, there is another kind
called "the Emperor" which does not build nests for the
young. Actually, it spends winter in the North Frozen Zone
wherein it lays its eggs; the mother lays the eggs, not on
snow, but on its hind feet. Sometimes, the male penguin (the
father) may relieve her and they remain in a state of
fasting throughout the winter season.
With the advent of spring, the ice melts and the eggs are
incubated reproducing those young penguins. The secret
behind this strict kind of fasting is that the (penguin's)
eggs require this specific degree of coldness. Practically,
when the young penguins grow up, they start observing
fasting through abstaining from food until their down falls
out and their bodies are covered with feathers. At this very
moment, they rush into water declaring the end of this
fasting through having food and drink.
As for the old penguins, they also observe fasting for
another period that is sufficient to replace their old
feathers with another which is more glowing and flourishing.
They throw themselves into the sea merrily as if they
imitate the human beings when they wear new clothes on the
coming of the Eid that comes after fasting in Ramadan or as
if the human beings imitate these wondrous creatures. More
accurately, we can say, "It is a recurring Sunnah in Allah's
creation." |
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Fasting Insects on Peaks of Mountains |
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Wonderfully,
in the world of insects beetles tend to spend the winter
season on peaks of mountains, with their freezing
temperature. As soon as they feel the coldness of air and
the approach of the winter season, they hasten to peaks of
mountains as if they call their species to swim against the
current. It is well known that peaks of mountains and
lofty locations in the European countries are very cold to
the extent that they are covered with snow and consequently
the (degree of) temperature lowers to thirty degrees
centigrade below zero. No doubt, such a freezing temperature
will have effect on these insects, in the sense of making
them in dire need of extra amount of energy, though their
bodies are filled with fatty substances on which they can
depend throughout the hibernation and fasting period; that
extra energy will provide them with warmness, especially in
the latter days of the winter season, when alimentary canal
normally runs out of its reserves. A question arises here:
What about those insects whose time of breaking fast isn't
due yet? Do they give in to such critical condition or Allah
Almighty grants them a proper means to overcome it?
Of course, Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, Who has
fashioned all His creatures in a very beautiful manner and
perfection, has bestowed on each creature the proper means
to lead a satisfied life. So, Allah does not let these
insects or other creatures down. Actually, an important
process happens within bodies of these insects during their
migration to mountains' peaks. During this period, they eat
voraciously and store the extra amounts in the form of fats.
At the same time, they abstain from drinking water.
Hence, the ratio of water diminishes in their bodies and the
free water existing in their bodies takes another form, i.e.
bounded water. This kind of water dissolves some alimentary
ingredients and turns them into a high-condensed shape of
water. This process is of paramount importance for these
insects which, thereby, gain the ability to endure the low
degrees of temperature. Consequently, water in their bodies
does not freeze when (the degree of) temperature becomes
below zero.
If the temperature diminishes severely to an
unprecedented degree that cannot be endured, Allah's mercy
with these creatures provides them with another important
characteristic, which enables them to get a wondrous thermal
energy through the water reserved in their bodies, and it's
normally within the inherent temperature of water. If the
air temperature lowers to thirty degrees centigrade below
zero, the insects will release water's energy and thus the
temperature of their bodies will rise to zero. |
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The
world of insects introduces us patterns of fasting that
indicate Allah's Omnipotence and Wonder in His creation.
Although it is well known that food is among the factors of
growth for living organisms, silkworms prove that fasting
and abstaining absolutely from food and drink do not impair
the body. Rather, it reforms these creatures in a
captivating and wondrous way. In order to grasp the secrets
of this fasting, firstly we should delve into some facts
about the lifecycle of this creature; this can be shown as
follows: In the beginning of spring, the eggs incubate
small gluttonous larvae. The newly hatched larvae do not
take long before they feed on mulberry leaves for five days.
Their bodies, thereby, grow up too quickly to the extent
that their skin cannot bear this rapid development and thus
be replaced by another spacious one. Thus, they are obliged
to observe fasting for one or two days until their bodies
are physiologically adapted to cast away the old skin. This
process recurs five times during the earliest stage before
the completion of this metamorphosis in a period amounting
to thirty days. Eventually, they will have completed the
stage of development and reached a remarkable bulk.
When the larva reaches this bulk, it inevitably enters
into another kind of fasting that extends for about six
days. Thus, it takes shelter in a quiet location to spin a
covering for their pupae stage. Truly speaking, it's very
captivating to know that the larva spins only one thread of
fine, strong, lustrous fiber whose length ranges from 400 to
1200 meters. This covering is called cocoons, which are the
source of commercial silk that souls yearn to wear garments
made of it but for Allah, Most High, has prohibited it
(silky clothes) to men and made it lawful for women. At this
very moment, we can say that the worm has entered into the
no-feeding stage (between the larva and adult in the
metamorphosis of holometabolous insects), during which the
larva typically undergoes complete transformation within a
protective cocoon. The pupae stage needs complete quietness
for it is not actually one of the stages of development or
hibernation however it seems as such. Rather, it resembles
an important stage in the life of this wondrous insect,
which is subject to various kinds of sequent and rapid
transformations. This stage prepares these insects to
transform and reshape into another following stage.
Eventually, the dormant fasting worm turns into a
rebellious giant that destroys fetters to get out into the
spacious world. It secretes a caustic liquid that dissolves
a part of this cocoon to raise the covering, producing a
beautiful organism called the silkworm moth, which lays its
eggs after fertilization. It spends the remaining five days
of its life in a state of fasting after it lays its
fertilized eggs, which will be hatched in the coming spring
to restart the cycle once again. Glory be to Allah, the
Originator, the Restorer! |
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