I am not a religious scholar, but wouldn't God-consciousness include having empathy for all beings? I would partially define being enlightened as being able to experience everything in creation.
I'm not a religious scholar either, but if we're discussing what Islam says is the purpose of fasting, then yeah it couldn't be clearer in that verse. If you want to derive a sense of compassion for all beings from the idea of God-consciousness/piety/taqwa, then yeah you may have a point that it is a secondary effect of fasting, but Arabic has adequate expressiveness to cater for that if that was the prime motive, so I disagree that that is the central reason for fasting.
As an Arabic speaker, the verse in the Qur'an means to me that fasting helps you remember Allah.
Islam has no concept of empathy for all beings, or enlightenment really. The assumption is that without the fear of God and Hell, people would sin by default, and religious practices are meant to please God.
Often progressive Muslims mention Sufis but they have been persecuted enough, for holding God-consciousness type beliefs amongst others, to consider them a different thing altogether.
