Muslim farmhands toiling in Italian fields during Ramadan will not break Islamic law if they have the occasional sip of water, one of Italy’s top imams said on Tuesday.
Speaking ahead of the month-long Islamic fast, expected to start on Wednesday, Imam Ahmad al Sakka of the Rome Mosque sought to head off polemics over the conditions of farmhands working long hours in torrid heat.
During Ramadan, Muslims are strictly prohibited from eating or drinking anything, including water, between dawn and dusk but exceptions are permitted in certain situations.
“There are special cases in which Muslims are allowed to depart from the ban on drinking water during Ramadan daylight hours,” said the imam.
“In particular, there is an exemption for those working in especially demanding conditions, for example, those labouring in fields all day under the burning sun or those working next to furnaces in steelworks”.
The health of Muslim farmhands during Ramadan is a comparatively new issue in Italy, where summer temperatures regularly reach the high 30s.
Although the country’s Muslim population has been growing steadily for the last decade, it is only in the last couple of years that Ramadan has fallen in August and early September.
Last year, a Farm Safety Committee in the northern province of Mantua came under fire after erroneous reports it was threatening to suspend farmhands who refused to drink water during Ramadan.
It later emerged the committee had simply issued a series of recommendations that included drinking water but the group’s chairman Roberto Cagliari stressed that the health of farmhands was at risk.
“The refusal to drink water on the part of various labourers in melon fields during Ramadan last year created considerable problems,” explained Cagliari, who also heads the local chapter of national farmers organization Coldiretti.
At the time, a representative of Mantua’s Islamic community, Ben Mansour, said the recommendation was unnecessary.
“If a Muslim farmhand feels unwell, he can take a break and if he then realises that the feeling is not a passing one, he may take a drink,” he explained. “But that is his own decision and no one else should be able to force that on him”.
Tuesday’s remarks by Imam Al Sakka were made in response to a consultation on the issue by the Lombardy branch of Coldiretti.
The organization issued a statement explaining that around 20% of its farmhands were foreign nationals, a high proportion of which from India, Pakistan and north African countries.
It praised Al Sakka for his “authoritative and sensible” response.
“This clarifies the position for Muslims working in particular conditions, such as in high temperatures or under the sun, when dehydration can represent a real risk to health,” Coldiretti said.
“Drinking water when engaged in demanding physical labour in the fields in high temperatures is a vital necessity for human beings”.
Ramadan will continue to fall during summer months over the next few years.
The month-long fast, from which only the sick, pregnant, elderly or children are routinely exempt, is a cornerstone of Islam and is followed by most Muslims worldwide, even the less devout.
Anyone falling genuinely ill during Ramadan is allowed to break the fast.
Working hours in many Islamic countries are often adapted to take Ramadan into account when it falls during the longer, hotter days of summer. photo: Ramadan celebration in Turin last year.