The Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah Transcendent said,

“Fasting is Mine and I reward it”.

In the great Arabic dictionary Lisan al-Arab, when explaining the root word j-z-y (from which comes the word for “reward”), the great scholar Ibn Mandhur mentions this hadith qudsi and lists many different explanations of the hadith, including different explanations of the first half, “Fasting is Mine.”

He says that the best one is this:

“That ‘Fasting is Mine’ means that fasting is one of the characteristics or attributes of Allah, because He Transcendent does not eat, and so the faster is characterized by one of the characteristics (sifaat) of our Lord, and that does not happen in any of the works of the limbs (jawarih) except in fasting, while there are many among the works of the heart, such as Knowing, and Willing.”

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The great hadith scholar and Qur’an commentator,  Shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi, explains it and the rest of the phrase, saying:

“Fasting is Mine and I reward it”: Meaning that fasting is one of My characteristics, as He Most High said, “And He feeds and is not fed.”  And there is a hadith that says “Adopt the qualities of Allah”. So He Most High and Transcendent has ordered His slaves to adopt this characteristic, which is to not eat, for a specified period of time. Thus His saying “Fasting is Mine” means: It is in Truth- in Reality- Mine, because I feed and am not fed.

“And I reward it” means: I am its reward. Because he has adopted one of My qualities, so I made his reward: Looking at Me, and so I am his reward. For a man said to the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, “Give me advice”, and so he said to him: “Fast, for it is something that has no equal.”

If the explanation of this hadith  was not as such, it would have no meaning- high and exalted is Allah above saying something that has no meaning! For if we took the hadith according to its apparent meaning, fasting would be like all other actions, because all actions are done for the sake of Allah, and He Most High and Transcendent gives their reward.

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Sources:

Ibn Mandhur, Lisan al-Arab.

Ahmad ibn Idris, al-Iqd al-Nafees, Cairo: Dar Jawaami’ al-Kalim.