God does not like the wasteful

We are extremly proud of the effort that our students are putting in and the journey they are embarking on to become people of the Qur’an.

Recently in our group sessions we discussed the verse in The Heights [7] where God states Children of Adam, dress well at every time and place of prayer, and eat and drink [as We have permitted] but do not be wasteful: God does not like the wasteful [7:31]. We then applied it to food wastage in Saudi Arabia where its Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture says large amount of meat ends up in trash during Ramadan and the waste creates challenges for the farming sector. Additionally, The average person in the Kingdom wastes more than 184 kg of food each year, amounting to a total worth $10.7 billion and a total of 3.6 billion kgs of food wasted. Students were asked to write a short letter to the Ministry explaining why they should reduce food waste and give possible solutions. Here are some of our students’ letters:

Dear Saudi Arabian Ministry, It has come to my and various other peoples attention that there is a large amount of food being wasted in your kingdom especially Ramadan. I recommend cutting down on food waste and overconsumption as it is detrimental to farmers and the planet. As well as this, Ramadan is a time of self-control and discipline so lots of food shouldn't be made (because lots of people are fasting) let alone wasted. I recommend creating more storage sites and telling producers to not send too many foods over to the shops at a time. People should also be reminded of the harm of overconsumption and waste and there should be an average food intake for each household (which accommodates to different family sizes) this shouldn't force people to stop buying more than they need for their families (as there are certain occasions where you need to buy lots of food) But at checkouts and other places to let them know when they have gone over the limit. I hope this helps makes our planet and your kingdom a better place.

Yours sincerely T, 11

To the Ministry of E,W and A, I am writing to you to enforce stricter rules on food wastage in KSA. Especially in Ramadan food from all over the country is thrown away. In an almost Muslim dominated country, waste is still an urgent matter. Imagine $10.7 billion is getting thrown away in a year?! Well that’s really happening!

This is completely going against God's code and book and urgent action is required.

Yours sincerely, N, 9

Dear Saudi Arabia , It has come the worlds attention that you have one of the largest food wastage per capita on the planet (2021). In the Quran it states that " Eat and drink but do not waste : God does not like the wasteful. " This shows that although your country is predominantly an Islamic country, it is devastating that you are unable to follow the words of Allah. Ramadan is a month of self-control and discipline and a case study went out showing that large amounts of meat ends up in the trash every day. More needs to be done so that Allah’s words takes are not taken so lightly.

Yours sincerely,