Benifits of starting Iftar with dates

In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Benefits of fasting (Sawm):

Dear brother, Swam takes away the burden from the blood circulation system, as it decrease fat and acids to their lowest levels in blood. This protects against arteriosclerosis and joints’ pain. Moreover, Sawm reliefs the kidneys and the excretory system, as the metabolic outcome get less during Sawm. Upon needing energy in Sawm (when no food is eaten), the body starts using the sugar in the liver, the fat under the skin, and finally it uses the proteins in the muscles.
In other words, Sawm is an annual preventive course that protects the body from a lot of disease. Not to mention that Sawm protects the body from senile (geriatric) diseases resulted form overusing the organs. The prophet PBUH said:
((Upon fasting you get healthy))

[Mentioned in the relic]
Some facts about the following Hadith:

The prophet PBUH used to break his Sawm by eating few dates before performing sunset (Maghrib) Salat, and when dates are not available, he used to drink some water. Dear brother, the prophet PBUH said in this regard:
((Break your fast with dates, for it is blessed, or else with water, for it is pure))

The dates, which the Sa’em (person who is performing Sawm) eats with water, is 75% monosaccharide, which are easy to digest, as their metabolism is so fast to the point that it passes from the mouth to the blood in less than ten minutes. This stimulates the point of the sense of satiety giving the person the feeling of satisfaction. Consequently, after eating some dates and performing Maghrib Salat, the Sa’em eats moderately, just as he does on any normal day.

On the other hand, if the Sa’em breaks his Sawm by eating fatty food, and given that fatty food needs more than three hours to be digested, the Sa’em does not feel satiety no matter how much he eats of that fatty food, and instead, he feels fullness. There is a great difference between feeling satisfies by having little food in the stomach, and feeling full by having a full stomach with food and drink. Dear brother, feeling satisfied is based on stimulating the satiety center in the nervous system. Since the sugar in dates is the simplest kind of fructose, it moves faster from the mouth to the blood, and this process takes less than ten minutes. Therefore, upon breaking your Sawm on three dates and performing Maghrib Salat, the date’s sugar reaches the satiety center, so you eat moderately. However, if you break your Sawm on greasy and fatty food, you will never be satisfied until you fill up your stomach completely, and until you reach the point when you say: I can’t eat any more food.

There is a great wisdom behind eating dates, in which Allah puts great goodness.

What does date consist of?

Dear brother, date consists of monosaccharide, and this kind of sugar is the fastest in terms of digesting in human body. Better yet, date consists of fibers have positive effect on the digesting process, and protect the intestine from carcinogenic diseases. Dates also consist of protein which helps the healing process in tissues, and a little amount fat. In addition, dates have five essential vitamins for human body, and eight essential minerals, hence, a hundred grams of dates daily, provides the body with half of its need of minerals.

Dates also consist of laxative substances and twelve kinds of Amino-acids. In addition to the laxative substances in dates, they are also considered as a tranquilizer. There are fifty kinds of diseases caused by constipation, and dates are considered as laxative, they also have positive effects on blood as they protects from Anemia and high blood pressure. Dates also help healing broken bones, not to mention that researches proved that dates can’t be infected by bacteria because of the high sugar they have. This high concentration of sugar absorbs water from every bacterium (and kills it in the process). This is the Sunnah of our prophet PBUH.
Dear brother, scholars understood the following Ayah
((And fruit; that they may choose. And the flesh of fowls that they desire.))
[Al-Waqi’ah, 20-21]

They said that fruit is mentioned in this Ayah before flesh and fatty food, thus they concluded that fruit, which has sugar, helps digesting food, and helps feeling satisfied. So they prefer eating fruit before meals not after them.

Supplication:

O Allah! Guide us together with those You have guided, and protect us together with those You have protected, and be our Guardian as You are of those for whom You have become their Guardian, and bless us with what You have bestowed on us. You always judge with truth while You cannot be judged; and he whom You protect shall never be humiliated, and he whom You turn into an enemy shall never be honored.

Blessed and dignified are You! And all the praise belongs to You for what You have decreed! We ask Your forgiveness and we repent to You. O, Allah, give us and don’t withdraw from us, degnify us and don’t humiliate us, choose us and don’t turn away from us, please us and be pleased with us. O Allah! Make us do well in our deen, which protects our affairs and which is our way of life, and grant us safety on the Day of Judgment for it is our final destination. Make our lives in this world righteous, and make our death the rest from everything that is evil. O Allah, our Lord, the Lord of all the Worlds!

Make me prefer everything You have made lawful to everything You have made unlawful, and let Your Mercy make me independent of all sh3er; O, Allah , let us watch out of being secured of your plans Don’t unveil your shield on us, or make us forget your dhikr (remembrance of Allah). O Allah, give us rain and do not make us among the despondent, don’t punish us with drought, and don’t hold us responsible for sinners acts O Lord of the worlds. Send rain to your thirsty servants, O Lord of the worlds. O Allah, give us a saving rain, good and productive, general and heavy, now and not later, beneficial and not harmful.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations