If Hunger Were Sold in the Market...

By Dr Mohd Sani Badron - The Star Online - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 /Ramadan 27, 1428

Islam requires mankind to be humble servants of Allah, who are gracious in character, who always strive to purify their heart and control their bestial faculties of anger and desire.

Now, specifically pertaining to the appetitive desire, while animals generally know their limits for food and drink, mankind may more often than not expose himself to appetitive imbalance in the direction of two extremes, being either gluttonous or starving oneself.

As far as gluttony is concerned, in order to rid the pangs of hunger, animals instinctively feed themselves only with food 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 a tendency to eat more, with greater frequency than what is really necessary for their benefit and well-being. This condition gives rise thus to dietetic imbalance and nutritional disorder.

It is in order that we dominate this specific, bestial desire for food and drink that Allah has prescribed for us to savour the taste of hunger by fasting throughout the month of Ramadan and during other months throughout the year.

Allah says in the Quran (al-Baqarah, verse 155), “and most certainly shall We try you by means of fear (of danger), and hunger, and loss of worldly goods, of lives and of labour’s fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient.”

Although all fundamental, obligatory rituals such as zakat and haj, as well as jihad, in one way or another involve spending one’s property, being fearful of the danger, loss of the fruits of one’s labour, sacrificing one’s own life or the lives of those dearest to one, fasting, in particular, defines hunger.

Indeed, in Sufi tradition related in Abu Talib al-Makki’s (d. 386/996) influential Qut al-Qulub, hunger is regarded as one of the four pillars of spiritual struggle (al-mujahadah).

It is in none other than hunger that “the wellspring of Wisdom (yanabi’ al-Hikmah) is found” – so says the Sufi master Abul Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465/1072) in his Risalah.

In the same vein, one of many fine aphorisms found in works of an earlier Sufi leader and commentator of the Quran, Sahl al-Tustari (d. 283/896), “hunger is the provenance of knowledge and wisdom, while satiety is the root of ignorance and disobedience to God.”

Abu Zakariyya Yahya b. Mu’adh al-Razi remarked: “If hunger were sold in the market, then seekers of Hereafter must purchase no other things there.”

We can thus know the experience of hunger, by fasting in the sense of eating less. Less, not in terms of complete abstention, which is impossible, rather less in the sense that there must always be moderation.

But 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 God; and not live to eat, and eat to fatten the body” (Wa kul li-ta’isha wa ‘ish li-tuti’a Rabbaka wa la ta’ish li-ta’kula wa la ta’kul li-tasmana).

Therefore, on the one hand, to eat for the purpose of getting the energy to accomplish the Divine Will and to eat for the purpose of gaining the strength to implement the commandment of Allah and to obtain His pleasure, is an act of devotion and religious observance (‘ibadah), just as fasting is.

Eating permissible, wholesome meals complement fasting.

As such, the act of eating per se is never blameworthy. God 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.

This is why moderation in eating and drinking and in social interactions, in observing reasonable limits to sleep, and to be sober in talk, are the four pillars of spiritual struggle espoused by true Sufism.

It is more important that Muslims devote their purpose, intention, strong determination and resolution towards Divine Pleasure.

On the other hand, to lessen required food, to reduce nourishment and to deliberately weaken the body both physical and intellectual 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, who strikes a balance between overeating and under-nourishment. 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 intellect to decay.

Inasmuch as poor nourishment may result in mental disorders and feeble-mindedness, the Prophet Muhammad sought the protection of Allah against hunger, specifically, going 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.

In the light of that Prophetic tradition concerning the preservation of health and intellect, Ibn Mas’ud (d. 32/653), one of the greatest of the Companions in terms of virtue and intelligence, performed very little optional fasting.

He used to say words to the effect that “when I observe optional fasting, I grow weak in my prayer (salat). And I prefer prayer over non-obligatory fasting”.

Another narrative states that some of the Companions would be weakened in their recitation of the Quran when fasting. Thus, they observed less supererogatory fasting so that it would not undermine their recitation.

We conclude with a poignant maxim by al-Tustari, who used to say to a novice who persisted with abstaining from food over many days: “Keep your wits. God has never had a saint who was mentally deficient (naqis al-’aql).”

The Author is Senior Fellow / Director, Centre for Economics and Social Studies, Ikim

[Picture from FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/].