The Month of Self-Mastery: Ramadan

The Psychological Wisdom Behind the Annual Islamic 30-Day Fast & Why it is Truly Something to Look Forward to

It’s truly a curious thing how every act of worship prescribed to us by God is solely designed to transform and benefit us while adding absolutely nothing to Him. Fasting is one such act of worship. The fast prescribed to us during the month of Ramadan is not merely a ritualistic abstention from food and drink—it is a radical confrontation with the self. It is the ultimate form of dopamine deprivation. It forces us to disengage from endless cycles of indulgence and the instant gratification that dominates modern life. Fasting is an invitation to witness our raw self, stripped of comfort & distractions. By embracing hunger, we nourish the soul. By rejecting indulgence, we discover fulfilment. This perspective on fasting won’t surprise you if you’ve read Religion's Only Aim is to Perfect Personality —fasting, to me, is a divine tool for self-transcendence and self-mastery.

The Actual Fast

From dawn to sunset, we abstain from food, drink, and sexual needs, focusing instead on self-reflection, community, acts of kindness & service to others, and prayer. The day begins with suhoor, a pre-dawn meal, followed by the Fajr prayer. The fast then commences and any consumption of solid food or liquid breaks the fast. At sunset, we break our fast with Maghrib prayer and iftar, traditionally starting with dates and water, followed by a meal shared with family or community. The night concludes with supplications and further reflection.

The Target: The id / Nafs Al-Ammarra

At the core of fasting is the deliberate denial of our most primal urges—food, drink, sexual gratification. These are not mere biological needs; they are the base pleasures that dictate much of human behaviour. In a society governed by indulgence, where every discomfort is met with an immediate solution, the fast of Ramadan is an act of defiance. It is an exercise in mastery.

The 30-day fast targets the portion of the psyche concerned with immediate satisfaction, pleasure and comfort. Sigmund Freud called this portion of the psyche the id. He conceptualised human personality as composed of three distinct elements: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id represents the most primal part of our psyche—the source of instinctual drives, particularly those related to pleasure, desire, and self-satisfaction. It operates on the pleasure principle, constantly seeking immediate gratification without regard for consequences. In contrast, the superego represents the moral & ethical portion of the psyche that incorporates societal norms, values, and any religious or moral ideals learned from parents, culture, and authority figures. It strives for perfection and provokes the emotional experience of guilt & shame when the id drives behaviour. Balancing these two forces is the ego, which operates on the reality principle—acting as the rational mediator.

Freud’s framework closely resembles the Islamic conception of the soul (Nafs). At any point in time, this Nafs exists in one of three states: (1) the Nafs al-Ammara, (2) the Nafs al-Lawwama, and (3) the Nafs al-Mutma'inna. Freud’s id aligns closely with the Nafs al-Ammara—it is the part of the self that inclines toward base desires, unchecked indulgence, and selfish impulses. Left unrestrained, it leads one toward moral and spiritual corruption. The first stage of self-purification and self-mastery is a movement into the Nafs al-Lawwama state, the self-reproaching soul, which is aware of its weakness, impulsiveness and shortcomings and strives for improvement. This Nafs state is also characterised by a deep sense of guilt. Finally, the Nafs al-Mutma'inna state is one of tranquillity and fulfilment. It is a soul that has achieved mastery over desires and thus has complete freedom and is at peace with divine will.

By voluntarily embracing hunger and thirst, by deliberately denying ourselves what the lowest state of our souls desires, we build a tolerance to discomfort so profound that we may no longer seek to escape it. Perhaps we even begin to find fulfilment in the very act of enduring. Pain, longing, and struggle transform into sources of spiritual elevation. We begin to detach from the material, recognising that true contentment is not found in the fleeting pleasures of the body but in the mastery of the mind and soul.

Full Disclosure

It’s relatively easy to be kind, patient, thoughtful, giving, and well-mannered when when our stomachs are full, and our bodies are rested. The raw nature of a person’s character is revealed not in comfort, but in moments of vulnerability & frustration. Fasting strips away every comfort and every distraction until we are left utterly alone with our most vulnerable selves—unfiltered and exposed. My personal experience of that sort of self-exposure has been incredibly humbling but equally as enlightening. Ramadan is a close observation of the self under the most testing conditions. It is a purification of both the physiological body and the psychological soul, a statement of who we truly are beneath the comforts that often define us.

I find that it also exposes the fragility of our existence as human beings. A single day without food and water is enough to reveal how dependent we are, and how vulnerable we become when stripped of sustenance. It dismantles the illusion of complete self-sufficiency, forcing us to acknowledge our dependence—on our Creator, on each other, on the intricate balance that sustains life itself. Modern life cultivates an illusion of control, a belief that we are independent beings, masters of our own fate. But fasting reminds us that we are delicate, fickle, and profoundly reliant.

Self-Efficacy

I’ve spoken about this more comprehensively in They Convinced you to Love Yourself So you’d Forget to Respect Yourself, but there is something so psychologically profound in making a commitment and seeing it through. In every situation, you are simultaneously both the actor and observer of your life, player and spectator. Thus, you develop a sense of self-efficacy the more often you watch yourself do what you say you will do. Over time, these observations accumulate, shaping our self-perception. The act of fasting in Ramadan is an agreement we make with ourselves and God, a promise to endure, to resist temptation, to persist even when no one is watching. In every moment of hunger, every sip of water delayed, when we commit to the fast and watch ourselves complete it, we reinforce our sense of integrity and self-efficacy. We cultivate self-respect—not the kind that comes from external validation, but the kind that is built within, independent of others.

Conversely, if we are the kind of person who repeatedly neglects our promises and commitments, we erode that self-efficacy. We foster within ourselves disappointment, low self-esteem, and a diminished sense of self-worth. Ramadan offers a framework for self-discipline, a chance to prove to ourselves that we are capable of restraint, of perseverance, of seeing through what we have begun. It is in this discipline that we find true freedom—the freedom from our own weaknesses, from our lower selves.

Ramadan is an opportunity to break the social/spiritual shackles that keep us from self-transcendence. If you are fasting this Ramadan I don’t pray that it is easy for you; I pray that it is hard enough to be transformative, challenging enough to be beautiful, and I pray that you emerge from it formidable and dignified.

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Artist: Doron Langberg

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You Disclaimer: Ramadan is often primarily framed as an opportunity to cultivate empathy—which it absolutely is. By experiencing hunger firsthand, we are given a glimpse into the struggles faced by millions around the world who lack access to necessities. This temporary deprivation awakens a sense of compassion and gratitude, compelling us to extend our generosity and kindness to those in need. It reminds us that food and water are privileges, not guarantees, and instils a responsibility to support and uplift the less fortunate. However, in this essay, I wanted to focus on the psychological and spiritual purposes of the holy month.