A major difference between the Islamic Fast and mere starvation is that the Ramaḍān fast is an exercise in self-discipline involving food intake, use of tongue, hands, eyes, ears, thoughts, and sex, etc.
Many of the undesirable habits and traits of the previous months are automatically corrected during this month. Some of us, God forbid, may have been habituated to a particular type of wrong-doing e.g. gambling, smoking, drinking, backbiting, fornication, fraud, hot temper, domestic violence, etc. Fasting breaks that habit either gradually for some or immediately for those of us with a stronger will power, especially if supported by constant supplications in seeking Allah’s assistance. To do so, it needs faith and determination. The usual antidote is to put an entirely opposite thought in the mind contained in a Qur'anic verse, for immediate implementation, which would block and displace the evil trend.
