TIMELY FORUM: Shah Kirit Kakulal Govingji (third left) presenting his opening remarks during yesterday’s ‘Soul2Soul 1.0 – Fasting from Youth’s Perspective’ forum. The speakers include (from far left) Ustaz Mohammad Ilyas Mohammad Salleh (UiTM), Balachandran Annamalai (Malaysian Hindu Sangam, Sarawak Branch), Associate Professor Dr Jijar Singh (Sarawak Singh Temple Committee), Brandon Adwien (St Peter’s College, Kuching) and Douglas Tan (Tze Yin Orthodox Buddhist Association). — Photo by Mohd Rais Sanusi

KUCHING: The very timely youth forum on why followers of different religions fast proved to be educational, entertaining and unexpectedly moving, thanks to well-selected speakers from five different religious groups.

An initiative by Islamic Information Centre (IIC) Sarawak and Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam), Soul2Soul 1.0 set out to promote religious harmony and strengthen the spirit of unity by finding common grounds this Ramadan month.

Speakers representing the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Hindu faiths took turns explaining what fasting means in their respective religions, establishing a surprising amount of common ground and revelations over how the practice has a lot of practical basis.

MULTI-RELIGIOUS: Participants of Soul2Soul 1.0 sign up at the registration counter. The forum attracted about 200 participants from various institutions of higher learning. — Photo by Mohd Rais Sanusi

Fasting under the Christian or Catholic context is voluntary avoidance of something, primarily food, as a form of spiritual discipline, said Brandon Adwien from St Peter’s College, Kuching.

“Fasting helps us share what we have. With food, it unites us with those who are suffering and helps us understand what they are going through,” he said, adding that fasting can also be abstaining from things that we love like TV or the Internet.

He noted that with prayer comes fasting, and with fasting comes alms-giving as whatever we save from fasting can be given to those who need it more.

“Fasting is still relevant in churches as it brings out discipline. We cannot practise religion without discipline.”

Balachandran Annamalai from the Sarawak branch of Malaysian Hindu Sangam explained the effects of fasting on the mind and body, including how fasting and meditation allow the body to revert spontaneously to a more natural level of functioning, especially since people tend to indulge.

“We call it ‘upavasa’ which means ‘to reside with the Lord’. Another meaning is ‘going back to life’ when we withdraw from sin.”

On a practical level, fasting saves tons of material to be used for the future, he added.

Associate Professor Dr Jijar Singh from Sarawak Sikh Temple Committee followed this stream of thought with a wakeup call about how much food is being wasted daily in Kuching alone.

“We have no fixed period for fasting. We fast every day. We are told to eat little and sleep little,” he said. “But do we eat to live, or live to eat?”

He said the Sikhs are required to meditate, respect food and eat little, and not just focus all the fasting on one particular period alone.

“What is the use of fasting if we still hate our neighbour?”

Ustaz Mohammad Ilyas Mohammad Salleh spoke on how fasting is a way for them to learn self-restraint.

He added that it is compulsory for all healthy Muslims after puberty, saying children from age seven are already encouraged to begin ‘training’ for it. He also explained that some individuals are exempted from it if they are mentally ill, pregnant, breast feeding, menstruating or travelling.

Speaking on how fasting works for the Buddhists, Douglas Tan explained that Buddha himself once went into extreme fasting and realised that with a famished body, nothing can be achieved.

“With a body too content, nothing can be achieved either,” Tan said, adding that this was how moderation or The Middle Way came about.

He concluded that lessons people can take away from there is to re-examine their attitude towards food, consuming just enough to sustain themselves and indirectly, how not wasting can contribute to the wellbeing of others.

The forum was moderated by Shah Kirit Kakulal Govingji from the Islamic Information and Services (IIS), Kuala Lumpur. It was also attended by IIC CEO Zabariah Matali, Azam CEO Datu Aloysius Dris and Azam general manager Rosalind Yang Misieng.