Fasting and the value of food

Fasting and the Value of Food

Abstinence from food and drink from dawn to sunset and the consequent experience of the pangs of hunger and thirst impresses upon the consciousness of the believer the value of food and drink. Food and drink or sustenance is not a thing to be taken for granted, not a thing to be wasted. Rather it is providence (Rizq) and hence sacred. The spirituality generated during the long day of fasting invests the food and drink with which the fast is broken with what can most appropriately be termed sacramental value.

Respect for food and drink in turn protects one from the abuse of food and drink – as well as over – indulgence in either or both. That the world is in need of proper respect for food is demonstrated year after year in some of the most affluent countries in the world where food is destroyed in order to prevent prices from tumbling in a market which is oversupplied*.

* Even among Muslims the respect for food is now sometimes lacking which is a thing unknown in the past in Islamic civilization. The writer recalls with horror the spectacle of Arab students dining in the common hall of the Karachi University Student Hostels and, upon the completion of their meal, wiping their hands clean with the soft flat bread which was prepared for their meals. 

In addition there are restaurants in the Muslim world which now have to put up notices warning customers that they would be fined if they waste food.

Source: Fasting and Power 

To Be Continued ....

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