May all your wishes & prayers be heard, and all of our people be free.
Image: Mixed media sign. Melak Khaleel, 2024.
Iftar is intended to focus on gathering family and loved ones around a shared meal after hours of hunger and thirst. Breaking bread and bonding over the shared daily struggle, while catching up with relatives and busy friends, are at the core of creating a community. Every person is therefore equal in restricting their living resources – from the wealthiest person at the Iftar table to the most humble one, get to experience hunger and thirst the same. And those same individuals are expected to donate the same percentage of their wealth annually to others. This means that the 2026 %2.5 ruling for Zakat applies to every Muslim who is capable of donating that much from their overall wealth, but this is an added expectation during Ramadan, too.
Therefore, fasting in itself is a radically political act.
Feeling angry and thirsty, knowing I have a home that has food and running water, and still choosing to fast, is a privilege. And when one chooses to observe the fourth pillar of Islam as a part of the religious practice, they are actively participating in a politically charged act.
Fasting is meant to evoke empathy on a cellular level with millions of fellow humans who experience this as their daily reality without a choice.
We have enough resources on this earth to feed everyone on this planet and some. Yet, this manmade global starvation crisis is a systemically implemented political choice. Governments choose whether they nationalise food and water resources for their populations. The Australian government knows exactly how many children are hungry on this continent right now, and keeping them hungry is a political choice. The same government that has not guaranteed clean water supplies to Indigenous communities is letting them rely on plastic-bottled water for living.
While one part of the world is overconsumed with gluttonous greed, the other half is being starved to death.
So ask yourself:
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Why am I fasting?
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Why am I meant to feel hungry?
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And what are my responsibilities to ensure that this is no longer the reality for those around me?
Free Palestine, Congo, Sudan, and all oppressed people.
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https://melakkhaleel.substack.com/p/fasting-by-choice-is-a-privilege