In a world where eating has become solitary and rushed, Ramadan restores something radical: shared time | Muhammad Abdulsater

"Iftar isn't just eating, it's synchronisation. Everyone waits. Everyone eats together. It is a rare moment of collective rhythm. In a world where eating has become solitary and rushed, Ramadan restores something quietly radical: shared time. Iftar is not simply the moment hunger ends but the moment waiting becomes collective. People pause together, watch the same light fade over the horizon, hear the same call to prayer and reach for food at the same time."

"Playlists are curated, news feeds tailored, working hours flexible. Even within households, dinner can be fragmented with one-person reheating leftovers at six, another ordering delivery at nine. Technology has expanded autonomy over time but paradoxically this has quietly eroded simultaneity. We are free, yet we are often alone. Ramadan disrupts this drift. Fasting is private; no one can fully see another person's hunger. But the breaking of the fast is shared. The discipline of waiting until sunset imposes a common boundary on the day."

Iftar functions as a synchronising ritual that turns individual hunger into a shared temporal event. People pause at sunset, watch light fade, hear the call to prayer and begin eating together, creating a collective rhythm. Modern life prizes customised schedules and personalised timing, which fragments meals and erodes simultaneity; technology increases temporal autonomy but often produces solitude. Fasting itself remains private, yet the breaking of the fast imposes a common boundary across communities and time zones. Sunset acts as a given, celestial deadline that submits human schedules to an older rhythm. The resulting pause emphasises nourishment as physical, social and spiritual rather than mere fuel.

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