Ifṭār
Definition
Iftar is the moment of breaking the fast at sunset — marked by the Prophet ﷺ with a specific supplication and the practice of breaking it promptly with dates or water before any other food. Al-Ghazali highlights the spiritual significance of iftar: it is the moment that validates the entire day's fast, the arrival of a promise. He cites the prophetic hadith that the fasting person has two moments of joy — one at iftar, one at meeting Allah. The Muslim who savours the spiritual dimension of iftar — the gratitude, the relief, the sense of having honoured a covenant with Allah — has already begun to access the deeper levels of what fasting offers.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Ifṭār.
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"It is narrated from Al-Rumaisa, Umm Sulaym, may God have mercy on her, that her son died while her husband Abu Talha was away. She laid him down in a corner of the house, then prepared the iftar meal for her husband. When Abu Talha came in, she served him his meal, and he asked, "How is the boy? She replied, "He is in the best state, by the grace of God and His generosity, for he has never been as tranquil as he is tonight."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 32: Patience and Gratitude
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"Allah dislikes a stomach filled with the lawful. How can one achieve the benefit of fasting in overpowering the enemy of Allah and breaking desires if they compensate at Iftar for what they missed during the day, possibly even increasing the variety of food consumed? It is known that the purpose of fasting is emptiness and breaking desire so that the soul may be strengthened in piety."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 6: The Book of Fasting
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"They might fast endlessly or on sacred days, yet fail to restrain their tongues from gossip, their thoughts from vanity, or their stomachs from the unlawful at iftar. Meanwhile, they think well of themselves, neglect obligatory duties, pursue voluntary ones, and then fail to fulfill their rights, which is the utmost delusion."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 30: The Condemnation of Self-Delusion
Appears in
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