In celebration of the holy month of Ramadan, and in respect of the tradition, Prime Minister Edi Rama and his wife Linda Rama hosted an Iftar dinner in the premises of the Palace of Congresses in Tirana, with the participation of politicians, ministers, artists, journalists, law enforcement officers, representatives of religious communities of Catholic, Orthodox, Bektashi and Evangelical and other guests.
“For anyone who does not belong to the Islamic religion, participating in this Iftar is a kind of fasting in itself, a setting aside of prejudices, a humility to the spiritual traditions of the other, the expression of a simple but meaningful message of peace” – said, among other things, Prime Minister Rama in the traditional greeting addressed to the guests, as he wished for accepted prayers to all believers.
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Dear friends and guests,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for accepting the invitation to participate in this traditional Iftar feast.
Just as the fasting people welcome it, I also, for the sake of the truth, look forward to offering this Iftar together with Linda and with the help of anyone who commits hosting the spirit of an evening where neither religion, nor language, nor work brings us together, but a feeling of belonging to something the same, of being connected to something similar to which we find different names for.
The Iftar meal is not an ordinary meal, it is a sharing of bread between the strongest, those who by fasting overcome the weaknesses of the body, and the less strong who could not or did not want to fast.
It is certainly a virtue to submit to the strong discipline of fasting, in this month which is called Magnificent for a reason, that is, exalting, but since I myself, despite the height of my stature, belong to the category of the least strong here tonight, I also see it as virtuous to sit non-fasting people at the Iftar table.
For anyone who does not belong to the Islamic religion, who does not walk the path of fasting commanded by the prophet, who does not come to this mahogany from the persistent demands of forgiveness, participation in Iftar is a kind of fasting in itself, a setting aside of prejudices, a humility towards the spiritual traditions of the other, the expression of a simple but meaningful word of peace, the performance of a gesture of humanity among the different in a country like this where, because of popular wisdom, differences in religion has not made us people who quarrel among themselves for The God we believe in or the religion we belong to.
So, by having an Iftar, we paradoxically come together from different paths in the respect and goodness of the fasting ritual of the brothers and sisters of the Islamic faith, but also in the acceptance of a humanity beyond the borders or distances of the everyday which connects both those who give God a name, and those who do not find, or do not want to find a name for God.
There are voices that have told me to give up this tradition, from the loudest voices of the laziest minds, generally from cynical people whose arguments are one of those temptations that, as Hazrat Isa also says in the Gospel, peace be upon him, can only be overcome by prayer and fasting.
The majority are not voices of ill-wishers towards Islam, but they believe God as the leader of an army against God of others, they are superficial and insensitive observers of the spiritual world who are not wise enough to be silent when they throw their words in the parliament or in their comments on social networks even when, in fact, they have nothing worthwhile to say.
I am often reminded of these empty arguments, an early debate that flared up a long time ago like a lightning bolt in the blue sky from the pen of a Muslim believer named Haki Stërmillit in the early 40s, the writer who loved Albania to be on the tracks of progress and modernity, he recommended, without harm, but quite wrongly, that people abandon the traditional visits to their spouses on the occasion of Eid, as something forced and mundane.
A good and open-minded Muslim, like any believer who does not want his Lord to be a teacher in a war with the beliefs and doctrines of others, and who in fact admired Stërmilli’s literary work, gave him a modest answer, showing how unprogressive the writer’s recommendation really was, how much the community lost by abandoning the peaceful displays of humanity, especially during spiritual celebrations.
As far as I am concerned, I say that I have properly learned what it means to have one more Ramadan or one less Iftar. I remember, already after so many years, the traditional union with the Muslim community, and I can convey it to you tonight with the words of the great Hafiz Ali Korça, “Ramadan will pass, friends will say goodbye, but I don’t know which of us will wait a few minutes around the Iftar table and say: Goodbye, may we gather again for the good only. Ramadan will pass but who is the one who will stay for 5 minutes thinking and shedding 5 tears for the honest guest that God sent. Ramadan, your loved ones welcomed you with smiling lips and joy and are following you because they don’t know if God will forgive them or not. That the desire and hope of his faithful is nothing but forgiveness and repentance from sins and purification of the heart, the soul according to the divine will”.
Ramadan is a threshold between two worlds for every mortal, but not between this life and that life, but between this self outside each of us and that self, within each of us, where we are alone in the depths of the soul that lies beyond what we see, hear, say, live and experience here.
And on that threshold where, through fasting, Ramadan asks the body to open the way to the soul and the mind, neglecting the body’s demands, the Iftar table is a consolation for the suffering of the body and a reward for the prayers accepted, uniting physically and spiritually around the bread of family, relatives, friends, known and unknown.
If this threshold were a place, not a time, I would have proposed to write at its entrance, the words of the mystic Shefqet Bukhariu, “I do not tell you to exile and abandon yourself, I advise you one thing, speak loudly on the doors of hearts”.
“Pernjimen”, said the great father of Albanian Catholics Gjergj Fishta, “the iftar unites us in mahogany like the lights of the candles, which like a string of stars connect the mosque of Fushë Çela, with the church of Gjuhadoli”.
Ramadan, therefore, completely beyond the conventions of one party or the other is in its essence a priceless gift, under the cover of which are two of the virtues of the true strength of Islam, peace and justice.
The Iftar table is not an invitation to apathy and chatter. The Prophet, may God’s peace be upon him, leaves the table without the dishes being laid and never sitting down. He is the witness of the truth that peace and justice are the fruits of the cultivation of the soul, the devotion of the mind and the mobilization of the body, against the gnawing appetite and the blunt dagger.
Hoping that I did not bore you and believing that you share with me, if not all that I have said, at least the special pleasure of being together in this traditional Iftar, I am ending the speech where I started, something written 95 years ago by the unforgettable Hafiz Ali Korça. “Ramadan, you are a guest sent by God, those who honor you do so for themselves, those who dishonor you do so for themselves. God, the one who sent you, what need does He have, or what harm comes from Him? Nothing! So God bless us.”
God bless us all indeed, may he accept your fasting and may you have a peaceful journey towards Eid, even for those who, through this Iftar, joined in fasting, not coming from fasting, but for accepting the honor of the month. Thank you!
