Ramadhan is time for spiritual nourishment and not feasting

 It is again that time of year when Muslims the world over fast from dawn to dusk for the entire month of Ramadhan.

Fasting is an act of worship that purifies the soul, cleanses the body and makes a person feel the hunger experienced by one deprived of food. Contrary to the spirit of Ramadhan, in many Muslim societies, fasting is more associated with eating and feasting rather than self-deprivation of food.

Walking around mosques in Muslim neighbourhoods in the evenings during the month of Ramadhan, one encounters rows of food-laden tables filled with snacks, fruits and a host of food items waiting for the hungry fasting person.

 The situation is not different at home where at the time of Iftar (breaking the fast meal), an array of mouthwatering sumptuous meals, many of them never seen during the last eleven months, grace the dinner tables. The month of fasting where self-deprivation of food is supposed to remind a person of God’s blessings has been turned into a period of feasting negating the spirit of the blessed month.

At the time of breaking the fast, majority of diners waste more than they consume resulting in vast wastage of food as the leftover meals end up in the garbage bins in flagrant disregard of Islamic teachings. To compound on this, unhealthy foods which include deep-fried delicacies, fatty foods and processed fizzy drinks that are harmful to the body form a significant portion of the iftar meals.

 Instead of trimming the waistline, people emerge at the end of Ramadhan as overweight and obese due to the bad health habits in the last month. In some families, traditional meals such as ugali, githeri, mukimo suddenly disappear from the menu in Ramadhan as there are not seen to be consistent with the Ramadhan diet and are replaced with food considered to be sumptuous meals such as pilau, biriyani, chapatti and others.

For women, instead of taking advantage of this blessed period to amass spiritual gains, they instead spend several hours in the kitchen to prepare foods to be displayed at iftar time. The vast display of food appears to suggest that those who have spent the whole day fasting are on a revenge mission to make up what they missed during breakfast and lunch.

 It is not a surprise, therefore, that many non-Muslims associate fasting with food rather than fasting. In his profound advice during eating, Prophet Muhammad said, “The son of Adam does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Adam to eat a few morsels to keep him alive. If he must fill it, then onethird for his food, one-third for his drink, and onethird for air.”

 Among the wisdom of Ramadhan is to cut back on household expenditures considerably reducing the family budget as the usual day time meals are missing. On the contrary, in many homes, expenses on food items during the month of Ramadhan significantly go up and in some cases are even higher than the other eleven months combined.

Avoid wastage While there is no prohibition one eating sumptuous meals after breaking one’s fast, the Ramadhan spirit is that iftar meals need to be simple while extravagance and food wastage are expressly prohibited as mentioned in the Quran.

 “O Children of Adam…eat and drink, but not excessively: verily, God does not like the excessive” (7:31). It was the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to break his fasts with dates followed by a light meal and overeating and extravagance negates the wisdom of Ramadhan.

 “Ramadhan is a month of reflection which makes a person appreciate the blessings of life. Among these blessings is food which should be consumed in moderation.”