As regards fasting, we were simply told this: observe the obligatory actions (fara'idh) and meet the required conditions (shurooth). This is simply the recipe. No assurance that the food would be delicious. There needs to be an expertise, a knack, which would add taste to our dishes. We have called this expertise 'kaipunyam' in Malayalam.
The knack of adding taste to fasting, or any religious observances for that matter, is not discussed, nor can it be learned from, law books. But law books have set the backdrop of an average Muslim's world view or weltanschauung ever since his/her tutelage started at madrassas. As a result, without what spiritual masters call hulwun (sweetness/taste) Islam has ended up tasteless.
I am not arguing a case against law books. None who is concerned about dishes can argue for burning recipes.
In the history of Islam, there has been a synthesis between law (fikh) and spirituality (tasawwuf). Law, unless legal scholars and jurists understand and ameliorate the mental backdrop and spiritual essence of individuals to whom legal pronouncements are applied, is dead.
The synthesis of jurisprudence and mysticism was made on many occasions possible in the history of Islam. One of the noted scholars worth mentioning in this regard is Imam Ghazali. In his 'Al-Munqidhu Mina-Dhalal' (Deliverance from Error) and Bidayathul hidhyaya (The Beginning of Guidance)-Montgomery Watt's translation of the two titles was brought out as a compendium by the Islamic Book Trust, Kuala Lumpur- I read the following extract on the taste (hulwun) of fasting:
Fasting beyond abstinence
When you fast, do not imagine that fasting is merely abstaining from food, drink and matrimonial intercourse. The Prophet has said: 'Many a one who fasts has nothing from his fasting save hunger and thirst.' Rather perfect fasting consists in restraining all body organs from what God disapproves. You must keep eyes from looking at things disapproved, the tongue from uttering whatever does not concern you and the ear from listening to what is forbidden-for hearer shares the guilt of the speaker in cases of backbiting. A tradition runs: 'Five things make a man break his fast-lying, backbiting, malicious gossip, the lustful glance and the false oath.' Prophet Muhammad said: 'Fasting is a protection. If one of you is fasting, let him avoid obscene speech, loose living and folly; if anyone attacks him or insults him, let him say: 'I am fasting.'
Excessive food during Ifthar
Then endeavour to break your fast with lawful food, and not to take an excessive amount. The aim of fasting is to oppose your appetites and to double your capacity for works of piety. If you eat at night more than you do normally because you are fasting by day, there is no difference between eating it at one meal at night and at two meals (one during daytime, one at night).
(From 'Deliverance from Error and the Beginning of Guidance', Imam Al-Ghazali, translated by W Montgomery Watt, Islamic Book Trust, Kuala Lumpur)
I think no law books will restrain us from obscene ifthar parties being organised amidst poverty which threatens to enlarge the chasm in the society.
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