Fresh from the month-long day-fasting of Ramadan, the celebrations of Idul Fitri is all the more joyous.
On this blessed celebration, al-Ghazzali (d. 505/1111) pointed out that the heart of those who perform fasting had to depend on Allah and be apprehensive. Being apprehensive refers to the state of suspense between hope and fear of Him. ‘Hope’ that the fasting will be accepted by Allah; ‘fear’ that it will be rejected.
If the fasting has achieved the intended purpose and accepted by Allah, we hope to be among those who are near to Him in terms of qualities and attributes.
But we also fear that our fasting is rejected by Allah, as had befallen on those who were insincere in their fasting and without restraint of all of their bodily limbs from impropriety: those whose fasting is filled with the like of committing lustful glances, lie-mongering, backbiting, tale-bearing, slander, perjury, obscenity, abusive speech, eating unlawful food, or overeating when breaking fast. Either such vices were committed deliberately or negligence of fundamental religious teaching.
The Prophet had said that “Many a man gets nothing out of his fast except hunger and thirst.” Meaning, they may have fast throughout, yet their portion from fasting is nothing other than hunger and thirst.
Unfortunately, this delicate balance between hope and fear is far from being promoted by our media, which merely churn out inane entertainment programmes and not much else.
Hasan al-Basri (d. 110/728) once passed by some people on the day of Idul Fitri, who were rollicking, laughing and amusing themselves. He expressed his surprise and astonishment at those who waste time in indolence and laughter whereas Ramadan (and indeed, the time of our lives) is a race-course where men compete with one another in their worship of Him, and outdoing one another in moral goodness.
In this athletic field of Ramadan, as it were, some have triumphed and were crowned in glory, while others lagged behind, lost, and doomed.
Whilst animals generally know their limits for food and drink, man may more often than not expose himself to appetitive imbalance in the direction of two extremes, being either gluttonous or starved.
As far as gluttony is concerned, to rid the pangs of hunger and the flames of thirst, animals instinctively feed themselves only with food and drink necessary for life and growth. In other words, only that which is beneficial and useful to support physical well-being.
In contrast, human beings have the tendency to eat more with greater frequency than what is really necessary for their benefit. This condition gives rise thus to dietetic imbalance and nutritional disorder.
To overcome this specific, bestial desire for food and drink, Allah has prescribed for us to savour the taste of hunger by day-fasting throughout the month of Ramadan and during the other months throughout the year.
As a means of worship, thus, the intended purpose of fasting is for man to eat less. By “less” is not in terms of complete abstention, which is impossible; rather in the sense moderation must always be practised. However, the limit or “being full” is admittedly relative to the individual, each of whom has a different capacity.
To quote Muhyiddin Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 638/1240), from Chapter 560 of his Futuhat al-Makkiyyah, “one should eat to live, and live to serve Allah; and not live to eat, and eat to fatten the body.”
What he meant was that, man is created with a desire for food, or precisely, nutrition and nourishment. Such a natural desire has objective, which is to ensure bodily health, so that the body may be a means to happiness.
Only the moderate satisfaction of this desire is useful to this end. Excess and deficiency in satisfying appetitive desire are both harmful, destructive qualities.
Satiety makes the limbs too heavy; hunger occupies the mind with the thought of food.
The man who takes a moderate quantity of food will feel free from hunger and heaviness of stomach. Moderation in eating makes him able to be content with that amount of food which causes him to feel neither the heaviness of stomach nor pain of hunger, neither the hardening of mind nor malnutrition. He ‘forgets’ his stomach, and is enabled to pay attention to true knowledge and good action.
As al-Ghazzali observed, controlling the belly with the mean (wasat) in desire for food is called the source of all good. Giving free rein to the stomach is the source of all sins and evil desires. To achieve the mean in desire, that is human struggle.
Thus, on the one hand, eating for the purpose of getting the energy to accomplish the Divine Will and gaining the strength to implement Allah’s command as well as to obtain His pleasure, are acts of devotion and religious observance (‘ibadah), just as fasting is. Moreover, eating permissible, wholesome meals complements fasting.
As such, the act of eating per se is never blameworthy. Allah merely reminds mankind that they should not be distracted by matters of secondary importance such as the ones led to by an over indulgence in food and drink, excessive sleep, frivolous talk, and needless interaction.
Thus, being moderate in eating and drinking, social interactions, observing reasonable limits of sleep, and maintaining sobriety in talks, are the four pillars of spiritual struggle espoused by Islam.
On the other hand, reducing our required food intake and nourishment, and deliberately weakening the body both physically and intellectually to the extent of being unable to perform one’s obligation is a sin and a wicked act.
A Muslim is one who renders his self its due right and strikes a balance between overeating and undernourishment. He should neither burden the limits of his stomach with gluttony, nor should he deprive his organs of sustenance and nourishment which would cause the body to atrophy and the mind to decay.
Inasmuch as poor nourishment may result in mental disorders and feeble-mindedness, the Prophet Muhammad sought the protection of Allah particularly against hunger. The Prophet went so far as to say that hunger is an “evil companion” (bi’su ‘l-daji‘), as recorded in a hadith narrated by al-Bazzar in his Musnad.
An earlier Sufi leader and commentator of the Qur’an, Sahl al-Tustari (d. 283/896), used to say to a spiritual apprentice who persisted with abstaining from food over many days, “Keep your wits. Allah has never had a saint who was mentally deficient (naqis al-‘aql).” Indeed, al-Tustari enjoined being close to Allah in both good health and mind.