During Ramadan, a person refrains from eating and drinking. Fasting is a means of inculcating the 'sawm spirit' in a person. Eating and drinking are a person's essential requirements. Food and drink are the ultimate essentials from which a person may be asked to abstain. Therefore, requiring a person to refrain from even his indispensable needs teaches him a lesson that he has to give up those things which God has commanded him to give up. A person must refrain from those things which God has prohibited, even if doing so is extremely hard on him.
