To say I've felt low on energy today would be an understatement, and this despite a relaxing day yesterday and a good night's sleep. It's the sort of thing that happens in Ramadhan. Just when you feel you've adjusted completely to the demands made upon the body, the body decides to let you know something else about itself. I've already had two unintentional naps and feel as if I could happily zonk out for the whole afternoon - though I sense this wouldn't do me any good at all.
And that leads me to consider those whose fasting is not voluntary, those poor souls who just don't and can't get enough to eat on a daily basis. To be permanently physically worn down, to lack the precious energy needed to get through the day - frankly, it's not imaginable. A small aspect of the value of doing the fast is to get a sense of what that condition might be like and, hence, develop at least a tiny degree of understanding, but with the maghrib prayer our burden is eased, replaced by something suspiciously close to a version of joy, and can we really understand what it is to carry that burden always? I don't believe we can.
But we can sympathise, and we can act.
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