Breaking the Fast

In the course of the month of Ramadan we have thought a lot about the meaning and objective of fasting: about its advantages for our health; about the self-discipline that is practiced; about turning away from one's own desires in order to be able to turn towards something higher; about the consciousness that our daily food and our wellbeing are not to be taken for granted; about compassion and solidarity with the poor. Probably we have also taken more time to read the Qur'an, to pray and to refresh our spiritual life.

I am not going to talk about fasting again but about eating. Islam is, after all, not an ascetic religion. Fasting at specific times is certainly a religious obligation and an important part of our self-education and character building, but it is neither an end nor a virtue in itself. Accordingly, extremes like uninterrupted fasting or fasting everyday throughout the year are not permitted. As we have heard in the verse from the Qur'an quoted in the beginning, we are sometimes even expressedly told to eat.

So we may enjoy everything good and be grateful. By the way, gratefulness is, according to the Qur'an, a motivating force for good actions. Fear might be behind avoiding evil in order to prevent its evil consequences. In contrast to that, gratefulness, being linked with joy, is an impulse to share the joy with others and to make an effort to promote what is good and enjoyable. Thus, food not only gives us the physical strength that is necessary to live and serve God but also the strength of gratefulness that causes us to praise God in our prayers and to glorify Him with our actions. Eaten with the right intention, food is not just physical nourishment but can become part of our spiritual sustenance.

Elsewhere in the Qur'an we read:

You people, eat from that which is permitted and good on earth and do not follow the footsteps of evil; it is your obvious enemy. (Surah 2:168)

Following the footsteps of evil would mean, for example, to example, to exaggerate or waste, to act carelessly, unjust or irresponsibily against other human beings and other living species, to be stingy against others and against oneself or to let oneself be driven by foolishness or superstition. Obviously we are our own worst enemies if we permit ourselves to be driven by base instincts like greed, stinginess or debauchery or deny ourselves the natural joy of life.

And eat of that which God has given you, permitted, pure, and be conscious of God in whom you have faith. (Surah 5:88)

Taqwa is the consciousness of God's presence and responsible behaviour as a consequence oft this. In this context, human beings are in a special position because our abilities and possibilities have a far wider scope than that of other living beings, both in the positive and in the negative sense. Consequently we bear an important responsibility, both for ourselves, including our dealing with food and resources, and for our society and environment. The concept that our task on earth includes implementing economic justice, not only refers to distributing food, clothes, shelter etc. in a way that each human being can live in dignity but it also means that we arrange our economic activities in a way that avoids grave imbalance, harming other other species and destroying resources. Water, for example, is the source of all life on earth and we are to share it with each other for drinking and washing but also give other species access to clean water, not killing them by polluting and poisoning it or indirectly by turning an area into a desert by misusung and wasting it.

It is He who makes gardens grow with trellises and without trellises as well as date palms and fields of grain with various fruits and olives and pomegranates, similar and dissimilar. Eat of their fruits when they bear fruit but spend their rightful share on the day of the harvest and do not waste. He does not love those who waste. And among the livestock there are animals for carrying loads and animals for slaughtering. Eat of what God has given you and do not follow the footsteps of evil. It is your obvious enemy. (Surah 6:141-142)

We may eat of the plants that we cultivate and of the edible animals. Everything is there in abundance. We are, however, enjoined to spend a rightful share, that is, to give to those who need it and therefore have a right to it. In many other places in the Qur'an we are enjoined to "give of what God has given". Life is not stubborn clinging to something but giving, exchange, comunication. Whatever we share with others causes joy and increases; whatever we share with others binds us together.

Children of Adam, wear your ornaments at any place of prayer and eat and drink but do not waste. He does not love those who waste. (Surah 7:31)

Joy of life is not confined to eating and drinking but extends to clothes and ornaments as well as to our friendly and loving ways of communicating with each other and finally to our ways of praising and glorifying our Creator. These aspects of life are not separate from each other.

We also enjoy spiritual nourishment. This is how we are to understand the story in the Qur'an where the disciples ask Jesus to pray to God to send down a table with food from heaven "that it may be a festival for the first of us and the last of us ..." Just as a physical meal binds people together in a community, spiritual nourishment can be shared and experienced as a festival to be celebrated together so that the signs of God's bounty become visible. This applies even beyond our life on earth and that is why these are the images used to describe Paradise.

As for God's chosen servants, they receive well-known sustenance - fruits - and they are honoured in gardens of bliss, on high seats facing each other. A cup from a flowing fountain is to be circulated among them, white, tasty for those who drink, neither intoxicating nor exhausting. (Surah 37:38-47)

May God forgive our mistakes and bless our efforts, that we may harvest, together, the fruits of our efforts for the good and that we may overcome all barriers that prevent us from joining in all our variety to celebrate God's unity.

(c) Halima Krausen, 2005