Ramadan 2008: Would you mind fasting with us?

By George Esunge Fominyen

There is a sizeable Muslim population in Cameroon. Consequently, I have many friends who are Muslims. During the month of Ramadan, and particularly on the feast which marks the end of that period, they invite me to break fast with them. This Ramadan in Dakar, I had a most interesting invitation from a couple of friends. "...Would you mind fasting with us?" they asked. What was the significance of this invitation? How did it happen?

It was on the seventh day of the month of Ramadan. I was heading for the office kitchen when I met two of my colleagues at the corridor. "Is that your little pack for the afternoon?" one of them asked. His eyes peering down at the lunch-box I had in hand.

"Yes," I replied almost feeling guilty. "You know, the lady who supplies African dishes at lunchtime has suspended deliveries until the Ramadan is over," I muttered. "It must be tough for you guys isn't it? Going from sunrise to sunset without food or water," I continued in a commiserating tone. But the guys did not look depressed. Instead, they told me how rewarding this period could be.

The purpose of Ramadan

One of them told me he started fasting as early as the age of nine(9). His father often brought home cakes and other pastries as encouragement to those children who managed to fast. To benefit from these goodies, he also began to do without food or water. In his mid-thirties now, Ramadan is part of his life.

He explained that among other benefits, fasting during Ramadan is meant to have men and women (who normally have what to eat and drink) experience what the less privileged go through. According to my colleague, it is when he started fasting earnestly in his teenage years that he began to imagine what people experiencing famine go through.

"This realisation makes you re-think the way you waste resources which are offered by providence" he concluded. An experience fittingly described in Gulrukh Tausif's "the Spirit of Ramadan".

Further reading informed me that "the act of fasting,provides the fortunate, wealthy members of society an experience of the pain and suffering which millions of people go through everyday without food, water and other basic necessities of life. This experience should then inspire compassion and mercy, which is manifest by generosity of wealth and time to help those in need".

Do you mind fasting with us?

My friends explained that it is in this spirit that during iftar (the meal to break the fast at sunset), people prepare food and invite their neighbours to join. Here in Senegal, kids move from home to home and they are served with food. A Guinean friend added that in his country women prepare pots of food and take to the Mosque for the iftar.

After this education on the significance of fasting at Ramadan, I took a deep breath and a second look at my lunch-box. My friend smiled and then asked me, "would you mind fasting with us?"

I opted to try the operation for two days. Not necessarily in the Muslim or even Christian dimensions of the act. It was an opportunity to fully reflect on the invitation: "Would you mind fasting with us?"

What if we asked that question to the men and women who (mis)-rule, (mis)-manage our countries? Some have lived all their lives in wealth and comfort that they have lost touch with reality. They are oblivious of the impact of the increasing cost of the commodities like bread, rice, fish, beef and corn to the ordinary man.

What if for thirty or forty days, they came down and lived the lives of regular people in our villages and towns? Places with schools without buildings or desks. Villages without clinics. Neighbourhoods without drinking water. Homes built on marshland with gutters filled with sewage at their doorsteps.

Would you mind fasting with us? Would you mind living like us?

Think about it. 

 

Comments

[Nalowa]

Honestly i used to feel really bad for the moslems during this fasting period.It's such a long time to go hungry every day. I watched some college kids on TV recently who are in boarding school and have to eat cold food because they are fasting while other are eating and i felt really terrible. Your article makes it better and comprehensive.Now literally fasting with them i am not so sure i can, but understnding their objectives i believe is a great start. However, i sure love the pastries they prepare to break the fast.

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