Part of the wisdom behind Islam's mandatory fasting is solidarity and empathy with the poor and needy.
There's no better teacher than experience; the one who is riding doesn't know the pain of the one who's walking except by walking himself, even if for a short time.
As a personal anecdote, my years working in restaurants and as a waiter has made me very sensitive to how workers, and especially restaurant workers, are treated. I will not go out to eat, even accept an invitation, with anyone who doesn't tip generously or treat the staff with consideration and respect.
We shouldn't rush to shame people who endeavor to develop such empathy and solidarity, as is common in certain progressive circles. The argument goes: only someone operating from a position of privilege could elect to undergo circumstances that others experience through no choice of their own. Their comfortable, chosen excursion into privation should not, then, give them a false sense of authenticity, thinking that they fully know and now can represent and speak for those who permanently endure those conditions. Although these considerations must be heeded, such results are not a foregone conclusion and should not therefore shut down the endeavor of empathy building entirely. We would do well to ask that if the rich shouldn't develop a sense of empathy and solidarity in this way, what avenues remain for them to do so?
(Adapted from Abi Abdillah Muhammad ibn Abd Al-Rahman Al-Bukhari's Mahasin al-Islam)
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