Second Sunday in Lent
By Khalil Abdur-Rashid,
Muslim Chaplain of Harvard University
(The following is a transcript of the service audio, March 1, 2026)
A reading from the passage of the Quran 4:163, "We have sent down revelation to you as we did to Noah and the prophets after him to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes. To Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon. To David, we gave the Book of Psalms. And as we did to other messengers, we have already mentioned to you and also to some, we have not. To Moses, God spoke directly. They were messengers bearing good news and a warning so that mankind would have no excuses before God after receiving the messages. God is almighty and all-wise, but God himself bears witness to what he has sent down to you. He sent it down with his full knowledge. The angels to bear witness, though God is sufficient witness."
This too is a time to bear witness. It is a time for prayer, time for strengthening faith and conviction, time for giving. Certainly a time for fasting. The prophetic path is a path of faith, for we are tasked to demonstrate our conviction through love and through service to others. It's a path of prayer because prayer is the basis of our covenant. Our connection with the divine is what fuels us, gives us hope, uplifts us, helps us bond with others. The path of the prophets is a path of giving and witnessing not only others' needs but also our need for others.
I was blessed to have a conversation with Lonnie Ali, the widow of the late great champion, Muhammad Ali. And she said, "Muhammad was the most generous person I knew, especially when he was fasting in Ramadan." She said, "You hear about these stories where people are so kind and so generous they would give you the shirt off their back." She said, "That's the way Muhammad was." She said, "One day I was in the airport with him and he was so tired. We were walking together and he walked as he normally would and people recognized him and people would come up to him. And one day," she said, "At that moment, somebody was walking by him and saw him and Muhammad saw him and he kept walking and Muhammad and I kept walking and she said, and he stopped and he put his hand in his pocket, reached, pulled out some money and went back through the crowd and sought that man out and tapped him on the shoulder and turned around and shook his hand and gave him the money in his hand, greeted others." And she said, when we finally got back together, we kept walking. She said, "Why did you do that?" And he said, "Because he looked like he needed it, and I've been in that condition."
That's what faith does. That's what love does. That is an example of the prophetic path. Fasting, too, is the path of the prophets. This is a time of fasting for many in various faith traditions, whether it's through observing the fast of Lent, the fast of Esther, the fast of Ramadan, or the 19-day fast as part of the practice of members of the Bahá'í community. Fasting is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of the prophetic path because it involves restraint, and restraint is not an easy thing. Restraint is a true testament to our conviction and to what we believe, and it's a true test of our fortitude. As an act of restraint, it's also an act of spiritual cultivation. For those of us that desire to walk in the path of the prophets, we also are willing to walk the path of spiritual development.
There is a passage from the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad that says, "God says that every act of devotion of the child of Adam, of the children of Adam, is for their own benefit, except for fasting. For fasting is for nearness to me alone, and I alone shall provide the reward for that act." And after that statement in the passage of the Islamic text, the prophet turns to his community and says, about fasting, "When one of you fasts and engages in the act of restraint, that is an act of love. And therefore, one must not engage in obscene talk or yelling or shouting at one another or hurl insults to one another or harm one another or be aggressive towards one another. And if one is moved towards aggression, that one is to say and to repeat to themselves, 'I am fasting. I am fasting.'"
In another passage, the prophet said, "God is not in need of a person giving up food or drink if that person has no need to give up harsh words in evil conduct." The core of what love, faith, devotion is all about is summed up in not only prayer, but also in fasting. Indeed, the times we're in now is a time where restraint is urgently needed. The world could use a little more restraint nowadays.
From the lessons of the prophets, specifically in the Islamic tradition, we understand that fasting has three different lessons, purposes, regardless of the type of fast, regardless of the nature of the fast, that at its core, its fundamental basis, there are three purposes. The first is the act of giving up something simple in the Islamic tradition that involves the basic fundamentals of nourishment for a time period in the day, food, and drink. But the purpose is at that level, that first level is not just to give up food and drink, but it is to begin a slow, arduous, albeit transformation of trying to shift away from consumption and to focus more on production. We are not put here to just consume. We are put here to make a difference, to do something, to be more. And that involves giving more than we receive or as we receive, we should give as well.
So that is the first lesson of the fast for many in our tradition. After that, the second lesson or the second level is fasting with the goal of curtailing the desire, the temptation to just act, or shall I say, to just react. And we should not be slaves of our whims, that we should be products and producers of our mind, and from our mind, we should think before we act, and restraint helps facilitate thought. And therefore, the fast is not just about not drinking or not eating. But more importantly, it's about not lashing out when one is angry, not speaking harsh words when one is pushed to the brink, not beating the drums of war when others call for it. But it is about thinking deeply about relationships and how to make ourselves, our lives, and our communities a better place. That is done by reaction. That is done by action.
So the lesson of the fast is to think, how can we act better? How can we go beyond our base desires? How can we act in ways that are reflective of our true purpose in life, and not be so hasty to get what is only fleeting and temporary and not lasting? And finally, the last lesson for fasting, which is consistent with other devotional acts, is to cultivate mindfulness of God, and in cultivating mindfulness of the divine, one may do so in two frames.
One is to think before one acts or as one is acting, and to think and to reflect that God sees me. I'm forever under the gaze of the divine. Therefore, I should think very carefully about how I behave, how I interact, the kinds of differences that I want to make, because I'm under the beautiful gaze of the divine. And so act as if one recognizes the divine all the time. And through that recognition, we see each other. Through that recognition, we deal with each other. Through that lens, our blind spots are healed, vision is enabled. And if we cannot act with each other as if we see God, that at the very least, we should keep in mind that God sees us. So either we operate with others by remembering the artist behind the art or at the very least, seeing the artist first and then the art through the lens of the artist.
The challenges of this path do exist. But fasting is not about perfection. Prayer is not about perfection; giving is not about perfection. They are about purification. Purification of hearts so that hearts do not remain spiritually in need. For God does not look at our shapes, our forms, our color, the languages that we speak, the passports that we hold. These things are fleeting things in the eyes of the divine. But God looks at our hearts and what we do, who we are.
So in conclusion, let us work together in our devotions and the times we're in our unique ways, both individually and collectively, together to revive our hearts, to reaffirm our faith as we recommit to prayers, as we practice giving more than receiving, as we cultivate restraint through feelings of empathy towards each other, as we develop better mindfulness of the divine. And let us restore our convictions in our faith, and reorient ourselves to working towards a better world, working towards a shared goal, to repair what's broken around us and our world, in our communities.
And this is only done when we seek the blessed countenance of our Lord and our maker, glorified and exalted, and blessed be his name, his presence, forever and always, and us through his will. Amen.