There it was, on a huge rock in the middle of a village: oruç tut sıhhat bul, meaning ‘Get healthy by fasting’. It seems the connection between fasting during Ramadan and getting healthy is being made more and more often.
In the first place, it is of course crap to say that fasting during Ramadan makes you healthier. On the contrary: abstaining from food without drinking only leads to toxic substances piling up in your body. Besides, in the middle of summer you can easily faint if you don’t drink, especially all the people working in outdoor jobs. Nothing healthy about that.
But even more importantly, where does it come from, this increasing focus on the non- existent healthy side of fasting during Ramadan? This year more slogans in public places, even those hung between the minarets of mosques, seem to focus on it. Is it needed to motivate people to join the fasting month? What happened to the old-fashioned reasons for religious fasting, namely contemplation and sharing? Are they no longer considered appealing enough these days?