According to the United Nations:
- 795 million people (or 1 in 9 persons in the world) do not have enough food.
- 1 in 6 people face hunger in America.
- 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world.
- 1 in 9 people worldwide do not have access to safe and clean drinking water.
The statistics are shocking.
Imagine my disappointment and frustration as, year after year, I observe Muslims wasting food and bottled water during Ramadan at the local mosques. After breaking their fast at Iftar, they leave behind copious amounts of food and drink to waste or to be thrown into the trash. Ironically, Ramadan is a month when we should strive to be more conscientious and empathetic of those who have nothing to eat or drink, as fasting allows us to feel what it is like to be hungry and thirsty. Conscientious Muslims, including myself, would like to see this distressing phenomenon come to an end. Here are some suggestions for remedying the waste of food and drink during Ramadan at the mosque:
- Do not take or put on your plate more food than needed.
- People manning the serving tables should serve only limited portions on plates, requesting people to return for more, if needed.
- Water bottles should be distributed by workers and volunteers, instead of being left out for people to take more than they really need.
- Unfinished bottles of water should be collected and poured out onto lawn and shrubbery of the mosque – something I have been doing for a few years now.
- Workers, employees, and volunteer servers should be offered a brief training session to enable them to curb the problem of waste.
- Recruit more volunteers by letting them commit to a small number of nights or only 30 minutes to 1 hour at a time a night, instead of having to commit to the entire month or more than 1 hour a night.
- Religious leaders or Imams should talk about the issue during sermons at their respective mosques or Islamic centres.
- Community members should respectfully remind each other not to waste food and drinks, when they see someone doing it.
- Mosques can partner with homeless shelters, rescue missions, and other human need organizations, where leftover food can be donated and picked up for free.
- Offer presentations about this issue at local and national Islamic conferences and other venues to increase awareness of the nature and scope of the problem in hope for tangible changes.
Because of the importance of this long standing issue and our passion about it, my friend Naila and I have decided to present this topic at Islamic conferences, for example, at the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA’s) annual conference. We will put our ideas together, gather data, and other information highlighting the scope of the problem, and offer concrete, realistic solutions that can be implemented during Ramadan at mosques and Islamic centres.
Sadly, there are Muslims who do not consider the deeper meaning of why they are fasting, beyond abstaining from food and water during daylight hours. Conversely, if we move from the tradition of physical fasting to the true spiritual observance of Ramadan, we can hope to become more mindful and inclined to implement these strategies, which could end the problem of food and drink waste at Iftar.
About author
