Overeating during Iftar defeats true essence of fasting

Muslims perform the Eid al-Adha morning prayer around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, on the first day of the holiday marking the end of the hajj pilgrimage, on June 16, 2024. [AFP]

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, the renowned scholar, jurist, theologian, and mystic, offers a profound exploration of fasting in one of his most celebrated works, Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din (The Revival of Religious Sciences).

In this seminal text, he delves into both the outward and inward principles of fasting, placing particular emphasis on what he terms the 'secrets of fasting'-a deeper, spiritual understanding of this sacred practice.