🔴 Ramadan Strategies: "Iftar," Part One

✍️ Mustafa Amiri

The first choice after the Maghrib call to prayer: Iftar beverages.

1️⃣ First Iftar Option: Warm Water and Dates

🔹The initial Iftar choice for fasting individuals involves warm water accompanied by natural sweeteners such as dates, honey, raisins, barley, brown sugar, and halva. In Islamic teachings, it is recommended to consume warm water during Iftar, as narrated by Imam Sadiq, as it strengthens the liver and heart (Al-Kafi, Vol.4, p.152).

2️⃣ Dates or Raisins?

🔸The Prophet preferred dates during Iftar, and if unavailable, he would choose raisins. According to our belief, no other food item compares to them for breaking the fast.

3️⃣ Rewards of Prayer: Quadruple Benefits

🔹Utilizing dates and raisins in quantities of three, five, or seven, as mentioned in various traditions, multiplies the rewards of prayer four hundred times (Ibn Tawus, Al-Iqbal, Vol.1, p.242). This signifies the compassion and wisdom of the Almighty in maintaining the health of fasting individuals and guests in His sanctuary. Even if motivated by abundant rewards, the bodies of fasting individuals become healthier.

4️⃣ Wisdom of Iftar with Dates and Raisins

🔸Consuming dates and raisins during Iftar rehydrates and warms the dry and contracted stomach caused by fasting. Sugars and minerals needed by the body are immediately absorbed from the stomach wall into the liver, invigorating it and preparing the blood to receive the Iftar meal.

🔹Date sugar is rapidly absorbed, preventing overeating and false satiety after Iftar. Additionally, dates are considered beneficial for addressing anemia, bone density, nervous weakness, fatigue, and lethargy.

5️⃣ Alternatives in Order

🔹Dates and raisins are highly emphasized in traditions, along with other natural sweeteners such as barley, raisins, figs, brown sugar, honey, and halva, serving as excellent alternatives to dates during Iftar with warm water.

6️⃣ Rosewater, Water, and Honey: The Healing Essence of Iftar

🔸Adding three tablespoons of pure rosewater to warm water and honey during Iftar enhances the healing properties of the meal due to the anti-nausea quality of rosewater, making it more medicinal. Moreover, the digestive system becomes prepared to receive the dinner.

🔹According to traditions, rosewater is beneficial for strengthening the stomach, promoting freshness, dispelling grief, and eliminating unhealthy phlegm in the stomach. Honey is also a healing remedy, simultaneously alleviating bile, black bile, and phlegm.

7️⃣ Dates and Obesity Prevention

🔸The best choice at the beginning of Iftar is "a few dates with a cup of warm water" and rosewater. This rapidly increases blood sugar and alleviates weakness resulting from fasting. It warms the stomach and digestive system, adjusting appetite and preventing renewed overeating and obesity.

8️⃣ Prophet's Syrup during Iftar

🔹All that was mentioned in the above traditions is beautifully summarized in a comprehensive hadith from Imam Sadiq. The Prophet, when breaking his fast, would start with sweet items like dates, and if unavailable, he would use sugar or a few dates. If these were not available, he would break his fast with warm water and say: "It purifies the stomach and liver, sweetens the taste and mouth, strengthens the molars, strengthens the eyes, clears the vision, soothes turbulent veins, cuts phlegm, cools the stomach, and relieves headaches" (Al-Kafi, Vol.4, p.152-153).

9️⃣ Medicinal Properties of Fasting Concealed in Iftar

🔸Hoping to avoid selling the 14-hour fast for a half-hour's feast during Iftar. Until that half-hour, refrain from consuming anything to allow the body to cleanse the stomach, expelling accumulated waste, and within that time, perform Maghrib and Isha prayers. Then, you can indulge in cheese, greens, soup, porridge, and more.

🌐 @rahyafte_en #Ramadan #Iftar #HealthyFasting #PropheticDiet #NutritionTips #IslamicHealth #Dates #Rosewater #Honey #FastingBenefits

🔴 Ramadan Strategies: Part Two - "Iftar"

The Tale of Iftar and the Importance of Utensils: Is Cheese and Greens a Good Choice?

1️⃣ Wisdom in Commencing Iftar with Warm Water

🔹Initiating iftar with warm water has a purpose. Due to hunger and thirst, the stomach's temperature rises, leading to the movement of moist substances and waste from other organs into the stomach. Therefore, it is advised to start with warm water to flush out these substances and facilitate their elimination from the stomach and body.

2️⃣ Pour Warm Water to Cool Down

🔸For a mental analogy: Have you ever noticed that when something is stuck and its path is blocked, it is suggested to pour hot water to open it up? The wisdom behind consuming warm water during iftar is similar. After a day of fasting, toxins accumulate in the stomach, ready to exit the body. Drinking warm water at the beginning of iftar ensures these toxins are expelled. Consuming cold water or food right at iftar may lead to the re-entry of these substances into other organs.

3️⃣ Cold Water Means Farewell to Fasting

🔸It's important to note that mucus and other residues accumulate in the stomach towards the end of the day and during iftar. Bad breath also results from these residues. If the stomach, needing appropriate heat for digestion, is cooled down with cold water or ice, it disrupts the digestive process, compounding external (drinking cold water) and internal (accumulated mucus in the stomach) factors, leading to digestive issues.

4️⃣ Opening Iftar with Cheese and Greens - Forbidden?

🔹Considering the accumulation of waste and toxins from other organs in the stomach during iftar, choosing cold water or heavy foods immediately after iftar, such as cheese and greens, can have detrimental effects. The combination of food with these toxins in the stomach reintroduces them to other organs, exacerbating and intensifying diseases. Hence, the common practice of immediately consuming cheese, greens, soup, and bread after the Maghrib call to prayer is incorrect and contributes to the return of accumulated substances in the stomach to the bloodstream.

5️⃣ Opening Iftar with Fruits?

🔹This notion is also incorrect. The body needs "warm substances" during iftar, not fruits. Therefore, it is recommended to start iftar with warm water, dates, and honey for the first half-hour. Afterward, you can consume cheese, greens, soup, etc.

6️⃣ Be Patient and Abstain for Half an Hour

🔸Begin iftar with warm water containing seven dates or two spoons of honey. Abstain from consuming anything for half an hour to allow the body to cleanse the stomach and expel accumulated waste. During this time, perform the Maghrib and Isha prayers. Then, you can enjoy cheese, greens, soup, bread, and more.

7️⃣ Ice Water and the Story of Utensils in Iftar

🔹A common mistake is consuming a large amount of cold water immediately after hearing the Maghrib call to quench thirst. However, this is detrimental to health. Drinking excessive cold water does not alleviate thirst; it can even lead to heartburn. The stomach, being empty, cannot handle and absorb very cold water, immediately passing it into the intestines.

🔸Therefore, starting iftar with cold water is condemned from a traditional and medical perspective. Initiating iftar with cold water can cause severe stomach contraction due to increased stomach temperature after a fasting period, leading to stomach pain and various digestive issues.

🔹Imagine pouring cold water onto a hot china dish. What will happen? The dish cracks. Similar to the peril that befalls a china dish, it will also impact your stomach.

🌐 @rahyafte_en #Ramadan #IftarWisdom #HealthyEating #FastingTips #NutritionAdvice #IslamicHealth #WisdomInFasting

🌙 May Allah accept your fast and prayers, and grant you healing in your Iftar! 🌙

#Ramadan #Iftar #IslamicHealth #ProphetTraditions #Fasting

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🔴 Ramadan Practices: "Iftar" – Part 2

✍️ Mostafa Amiri

1️⃣ The Wisdom of Starting Iftar with Warm Water

🔹 The reason for beginning Iftar with warm water is that during fasting, the stomach’s heat increases, causing bodily waste and excess fluids to move toward the stomach. Therefore, drinking warm water first helps wash out these toxins and expel them from the body.

2️⃣ Pour Warm Water to Flush It Out

🔸 Imagine a clogged drain—what’s the first advice? "Pour hot water to clear it."
🔹 The same principle applies at Iftar. Throughout the fasting day, toxins accumulate in the stomach, ready to be expelled. Drinking warm water at Iftar helps flush them out, while drinking cold water or eating immediately traps these toxins inside the body, mixing them with food and recirculating them into the organs.

🔹 Ideal first Iftar food must meet two key conditions:
✅ It should cleanse the stomach.
✅ It should restore blood sugar lost during fasting.
(Warm water and dates fulfill both.)

3️⃣ Cold Water Means Goodbye to the Benefits of Fasting

🔸 By the end of the fasting day, waste products and mucus accumulate in the stomach, leading to bad breath.
🔹 If you drink cold water immediately, the stomach’s necessary digestive heat decreases, disrupting digestion. The combination of internal waste and external cold water results in digestive disorders.

4️⃣ Breaking Fast with Cheese and Herbs – A Mistake?

🔹 At Iftar, toxins from various body organs accumulate in the stomach. If you drink cold water or eat heavy food (including cheese and herbs) immediately after Adhan, those toxins mix with food and are reabsorbed into the body, worsening health conditions.

🔸 That’s why scholars emphasize: "The medicinal benefits of fasting depend on proper Iftar."

🔹 Eating cheese, herbs, porridge, or pudding immediately after Adhan is a common mistake that reintroduces toxins into the bloodstream instead of eliminating them.

5️⃣ Breaking the Fast with Fruits? Another Mistake

🔹 The body needs warmth at Iftar, not raw fruits.
🔸 First, drink warm water with dates or honey. After 30 minutes, you may eat cheese, herbs, soup, and other light foods.

6️⃣ Be Patient—Wait 30 Minutes Before Eating

🔸 Start Iftar with warm water, seven dates, or two spoonfuls of honey.
🔹 Wait 30 minutes before eating anything else. This allows the stomach to cleanse itself, flushing out waste accumulated during fasting.

🔸 Use this time to pray Maghrib and Isha. After that, you can eat soup, porridge, pudding, or other light meals.

🔹 You have fasted for hours—what's 30 more minutes? Be patient and let fasting complete its full healing cycle!

7️⃣ Ice-Cold Water and the Fragile Porcelain Effect at Iftar

🔹 A common mistake is drinking a large amount of ice-cold water the moment Adhan is heard. Not only does it fail to quench thirst, but it causes stomach pain.

🔸 Drinking ice-cold water at Iftar is harmful according to both traditional medicine and modern science.
🔹 After a long fast, the stomach’s heat is elevated. If you suddenly introduce cold water, it shocks the stomach, leading to:
✅ Severe stomach cramps and digestive issues.
✅ Immediate flushing of cold water to the intestines (without proper absorption).
✅ A strong parasympathetic reflex that may, in extreme cases, contribute to fainting or even sudden death.

🔹 Analogy:
Imagine pouring cold water on a hot porcelain dish—what happens? It cracks. The same happens to your stomach if you break your fast with ice-cold water.

🌙 Practice mindful and healthy Iftar for the best physical and spiritual benefits of fasting! 🌙

#Ramadan #Iftar #HealthyFasting #IslamicHealth #Sunnah

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🌐 @rahyafte_en