Bohra Tradition Of Sharing Food

Abstract

Within Islamic culture, within the Fatemi texts there is a great emphasis on sharing food because it is a means by which one can do good, a means by which one can serve the creator and the creator is best served when one serve his creation. According to the religious leaders of the Bohra Community if you feed one person, it is equal to feeding a group of people and then there are auspicious days when it is customary, mandatory that you participate in feeding other people and in all capacity not just the act of feeding, if you help in the preparation of food, if you help in the growing of food, if you help in the transportation of food, in the distribution of food, even if you give someone who is thirsty a glass of water even for that, there are a host of spiritual rewards, so food sharing is very important in Bohra culture and it is part of who they are. On this philosophy the religious leader of Dawoodi Bohra Community took an initiative to take care of the basic nutritional needs of every member of the community on a daily basis by providing wholesome meals cooked in well managed hygienic kitchens. This initiative was named as Faiz al Mawaid al Burhaniyah that translates as the nourishment of the Burhani Platter, Faiz in this context means the satisfaction that you gain, the fulfillment that you gain, Mawaid is the plural of Maidat which means a filled platter and Burhaniyah is attributed to the 52nd Dai, His Holiness Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin, they have established this so that each member of the community gets the reward of nourishing other people, feeding other people. Also the food culture in the community highlights that how they all are similar on so many aspects.